By Shaun Casey

RIAN O’Neill played his first inter-county game since last years All-Ireland final and the 2024 All-Star chipped in with a first half point as the Orchard County began the All-Ireland series with a win over Derry.

The Crossmaglen clubman missed Armagh’s entire league campaign as they secured their Division One status. He appeared with the team on Ulster final day, but wasn’t togged out and therefore couldn’t play.

O’Neill was a late inclusion to the starting lineup on Saturday, replacing the injured Aidan Forker before throw in. O’Neill earned the biggest cheer of the day when he slotted over a score during the opening period of the game.

“The game has changed. I know it sounds bad but the way the rules are designed, they don’t want forwards to work,” said Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney following their 2-21 to 2-17 victory.

“They just want them to score and shoot and we call them our better players but it’s funny that we have to change the rules to help them. But that’s the way it is.

RIan O’Neill takes on Paudi McGrogan in Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC game on Saturday evening

“Rian, even though he’s missed a bit of time, because of the new rules, he doesn’t have to have the same fitness behind him but in fairness to him, he’s kept strong and he’s going well.

“The biggest thing is that he can bring scores to the game and that’s huge. The way the game has been going, it’s all about scores.”

On the game itself, McGeeney was disappointed that his side didn’t see out the result more comfortably having been 13-points clear and one stage and insists they have plenty to work on before their trip to Croke Park on Sunday.

“It was probably a mix of very good and some really bad stuff. I thought for both halves, for two thirds of them, we played really well, controlled the game, took our shots but then we went to sleep in the last ten minutes of both halves and that almost cost us dearly.

“In fairness, we put on a lot of subs and maybe they didn’t settle into the game as quickly as we’d have liked but it was good to get game time into the likes of Niall (Grimley) and Joe (McElory) and obviously Rian coming in to. Lots of positives but still loads to work on.”