O’Hanlon and Higgins step away from Armagh duty

By Niall McCoy

ONE of Armagh’s longest-serving players, Ciaron O’Hanlon, has stepped away from Orchard County duties, as has Maghery’s Ciaran Higgins.

Killeavy man O’Hanlon joined the panel amid much fanfare, making his debut as an 18-year-old in an Ulster Championship tie with Cavan in 2013 having starred for St Paul’s, Bessbrook on their run to a first-ever MacRory Cup final appearance.

Despite clocking over well over a decade in orange, O’Hanlon had only two managers at county level – Paul Grimley and current boss Kieran McGeeney.

O’Hanlon has been one of the county’s top club players in recent seasons but struggled to break into McGeeney’s starting plans over the last couple of years but did play an important role as the side moved up through the divisions.

He helped the squad reach the pinnacle in 2024 as he got his hands on a Celtic Cross as Armagh defeated Galway in the All-Ireland final.

Higgins, meanwhile, played a role in what would eventually prove a crucial game in that glorious campaign for the county.

The Maghery man came in to the side for their drawn group encounter with Galway, a result that saw them top the group.

Gaelic Life understands a number of other Armagh players may not be involved next season.

One man definitely set to miss the early stages of the 2026 season is defender Barry McCambridge.

The Clann Éireann man is facing up to five months on the sidelines after tearing ligaments in his toe in the side’s Armagh quarter-final win over Killeavy. The South Armagh men were without Conor O’Neill for that encounter with manager Stevie McDonnell telling Gaelic Life that he was going travelling for the next number of months.

Connaire Mackin is also set to miss the first part of the season as he too is away on his travels. Mackin is in Australia currently with his sister Blaithin in line to make her return from an MCL injury for Melbourne on Friday against Essendon should she pass a fitness test.

Rory Grugan, meanwhile, will spend 10 weeks in France later this year coaching Gaelic football in clubs and schools through the medium of French.

The experienced Ballymacnab man is expected to be back on Armagh duty at some stage in 2026 though.

“I’m really excited by the opportunity and can’t wait to get started,” Grugan told GAA.ie.

“One of my passions is teaching and the other is my GAA. To get the chance to coach in France through their native language is a challenge for me but something that I’m really looking forward to.

“It’ll be a combination of working with clubs where I’ll be coaching the kids and also doing a bit of coach development and I’ll be coaching in schools as well.

“Gaelic games is in six schools already over there and there’ll be another seven that will also benefit from this.”