10 YEARS AGO

ARMAGH may be heavy hitters in the Ulster Championship these days, but it wasn’t always thus during Kieran McGeeney’s tenure, and he rued missed opportunities when they bowed out at the quarter-final stage of the 2016 championship at the hands of Cavan. Stefan Campbell missed a penalty in the 57th minute that would have cut Cavan’s lead to three points, and in the final end up they fell short by 2-16 to 0-14. Finding the net for Cavan were Martin Reilly and Dara McVeety, while Seanie Johnston was their top scorer with a seven-point haul in an impressive performance from the Breffni side.

The Orchard County minors fared better in the curtain-raiser, however, winning that tussle by 2-14 to 1-12. Among those lining out that day were present Armagh stars Barry McCambridge, Callum O’Neill and Ross McQuillan, while Rian O’Neill top-scored with 1-5. The Donegal minors, meanwhile, came back from five points down with 11 minutes remaining to overcome Antrim.

20 YEARS AGO

IT was a memorable weekend for Paddy Crozier’s Derry as they dumped reigning All-Ireland champions Tyrone out of the Ulster Championship in front of 18,000 spectators at Healy Park. Tyrone were poor up front, managing a miserly 0-5 tally across the 70 plus minutes, while Enda Muldoon landed the killer blow with a second-half goal on a day where the Oak Leafers earned bragging rights over their age-old rivals.

Elsewhere, Donegal proved too strong for Cavan in the first round of the Ulster Minor Championship while on the camogie front, Derry easily accounted for Laois in the All-Ireland Junior Championship while Armagh fell short against Waterford.

30 YEARS AGO

DERRY clinched a 1-13 to 1-6 victory in a tetchy Ulster Senior Championship quarter-final clash with Armagh. The Orchard County started the game like an express train with four unanswered points, but their scoring return started to deteriorate and Derry took control.

By half-time the game was all square with Joe Brolly exerting a considerable influence, and the game’s defining moment came seven minutes after the break when Brolly found the net. He celebrated the goal in the traditional manner by blowing kisses to the crowd.

A word too for Kieran McKeever as it was his terrific block on Martin Toye to prevent a goal that set in motion the counter-attacking move that culminated in Brolly’s goal. After that there was no way back with Armagh with Damien Barton, Anthony Tohill and Gary Coleman all in top form for the Oak Leafers.

10 YEARS AGO…Cavan proved too strong for Armagh in the Ulster Championship

20 YEARS AGO…Derry overcame the All-Ireland champions Tyrone

30 YEARS AGO…Joe Brolly blew kisses after finding the net against Armagh