By Niall McCoy

ARMAGH defender Shauna Grey has said that the Orchard county will be taking the defence of their Ulster title very seriously despite the provincial series being shoe-horned into a mid-season slot.

The Orchard county will face Monaghan in the first round on Friday night with Cavan and Donegal also meeting this weekend. The competition’s conclusion will be around the same time as the start of the All-Ireland campaigns, but Grey said that they were fully focused on Ulster.

“We are taking it very seriously,” said Grey. “We were annoyed not to reach the league semi-finals but one positive from it was that we were able to concentrate on Ulster.

“It would have been jam-packed if we had made it through. You would have been playing last weekend, Monaghan this weekend, and then the league final, if you made it, the next weekend.

“Last year the Ulster was pushed back so when we finished the All-Ireland at least we had Ulster to look forward to. We are out to win it, of course, and we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”

This will be part two of a three-game saga with the Oriel county with the teams pencilled in to face each other in the first All-Ireland group game on July 10.

It was Monaghan who won their recent league meeting at the Athletic Grounds, but Grey believes that Ronan Murphy’s side should be a bit sharper this time around.

“Even last year, Monaghan had a very strong team,” she said.

“We played Tyrone in our first league game and then Monaghan, and you could see that Monaghan were a lot stronger than Tyrone.

“We maybe weren’t as ready as we should have been. We didn’t have the challenge games to set us up.

“We know what we have to work on. Monaghan have a very strong panel and great players like Cora Courtney and Muireann Atkinson.

“We know our problems though and how to fix them. All the league games were tight, so there was nothing to panic about.

“We did a few silly things against Monaghan and they got the winner. It was the opposite against Tyrone when we were lucky to get the winning score late on.

“The Cavan defeat was tight too so we are not far behind. We’re not too worried.”

The Dromintee player has been involved in the panel on and off since 2012, with stints in America interrupting her involvement.

Murphy has placed a lot of faith in her in a deeper role than she was used to playing with Grey often working in the full-back line or covering as a sweeper.

“Last year I was supposed to start in the first game but was injured so didn’t. I got my chance then in a different position, corner-back, and that’s something I didn’t expect.

“I enjoy it. The girls are always backing you up. If you do want to push out, get involved in the support play, there will be girls there to take your marker and the management are fine with that.”