Scars of 2018 are still relevant says Rowland

By Shaun Casey

ARMAGH go to Brewster Park on Saturday afternoon as unbackable favourites to overcome their hosts and coast into the semi-finals of the Ulster Championship. But voyages to Enniskillen have rarely been as straightforward. Ask any Armagh fan.

Sure, Kieran McGeeney’s men thrashed Fermanagh at that same venue two years ago, before going on to lift the Sam Maguire, but memories of their 2018 visit will still be relevant inside the Orchard changing rooms, says former Armagh player Niall Rowland.

The Culloville clubman played in that 2018 first round meeting, when Armagh were expected to end a four-year wait for a provincial win.

Having beaten Fermanagh in the Division Three league final six weeks previous, this visiting side were set to repeat the dose, but things didn’t quite go to plan.

Blaine Hughes, Paddy Burns, Aaron McKay, Greg McCabe, Ben Crealey and Andrew Murnin all started that day. Joe McElroy and Rory Grugan both came off the bench. Aidan Forker and Ethan Rafferty remain part of the Orchard panel.

They’ll understand better than most that if Armagh have their eyes fixed on further down the line, Fermanagh will have no problem in delivering a reality check.

“The confidence was high going into it,” Rowland recalled eight years on. “We had a good league campaign; we were promoted with a game to spare and we had beaten Fermanagh in the league final in Croker.

“Things were going really well, and I think we had a training camp in Portugal so in our camp, things were good and we had our sights set on bigger things. We weren’t looking past Fermanagh, but we felt we could go further in Ulster and the All-Ireland series.

“The game itself, Fermanagh got on top and we struggled to get anything going. They were very up for it. Rory Gallagher was over them and Ryan McMenamin, they were probably more animated on the line than some of the players were on the field.

“They just made it very hard, and nothing went right for us. We got a man sent off that day too (Niall Grimley) and we maybe got a wee bit ahead of ourselves and that should be the lesson for now.”

A lesson in taking your eye off the ball. McGeeney and the senior players in that Armagh team have been around too long and suffered too many dark days to let that happen again.

“Fermanagh have nothing to lose and they’re going to get stuck into Armagh. It’s about getting over the line, similar to what happened against Tyrone. They just need to make sure they’re in the pot for the following fortnight.

“Armagh still have a group of players that have been through the dark days. You can take an Oisin Conaty and he doesn’t know what it’s like not to play in Croke Park.

“His first year in, we reached the All-Ireland quarter-final. The next year we win the All-Ireland and he wins Young Player of the Year and an All-Star and there’s a number of other players like that as well.

“It is important that there are lads that are still there that can say it’s not long ago that Armagh were in Division Three and they’ll know that they can’t take any team for granted.”

Armagh go into the game having already picked up a championship win, defeating Tyrone in the preliminary round, and Rowland was happy for them to see off their neighbours.

“Everybody was expecting fireworks, but it was cagey. They were both trying to suss each other out, but I’d say when Geezer got home and sat down with a cup of tea, he was just relieved to beat Tyrone in the first round of Ulster and get into round two.”

Rowland offers a cautionary prediction and while he hopes Armagh aren’t planning too far ahead of themselves that they could get caught on the hop, he does believe McGeeney’s side will have too much for the Erne County.

“I think Armagh will have too much and they have a stronger 15,” the 2024 All-Ireland winner continued. “And they’ll probably have a point to prove after the Tyrone game, a couple of boys who have been really good had quieter games.

“They’ll be looking to get something under their belt before that semi-final against either Donegal or Down.

“With the wealth of experience that’s on the bench, getting more gametime into (Rory) Grugan, Joe (McElroy), hopefully we’ll see Andy (Murnin) and Barry (McCambridge) and hopefully Oisin O’Neill and Turbo (Conor Turbitt) can keep their good form off the bench.

“In that sense, I think Armagh are just going to have too much when it comes down the stretch because of the boys that they can spring on.”