By Niall McCoy

ARMAGH have suffered a huge blow as one of their key defenders, Ryan Kennedy, has opted out of the panel.

The Ballymacnab man has been a regular under Kieran McGeeney when fit and, along with Aidan Forker, is considered one of the main man-markers on the squad.

Kennedy was part of the Armagh squad that reached the Ulster U21 final in 2009, but it’s only really in recent seasons that he has emerged as a serious option for the senior team.

That was mostly down to some superb displays as the Nab reached back-to-back county finals in 2018 and ’19.

Kennedy made his championship debut against Down in 2019 and missed just three championship games after that – all because of injury.