McGeeney: Tyrone “another step up”

By Shaun Casey

THE prospect of facing arch-rivals Tyrone, as All-Ireland champions, will raise the blood pressure for many Armagh supporters but for their manager Kieran McGeeney, Saturday’s showdown will just be another day at the office.

The rivalry shared between the two counties reached its tipping point during McGeeney’s playing days. Armagh and Tyrone were the dominant forces in Ulster, and both got their hands on the Sam Maguire Cup throughout the early noughties.

For now, a place in the Ulster final is all that is at stake and the Orchard County are aiming to end their 17-year wait for a provincial title and not only that, but they’re also eyeing up a third consecutive appearance in the decider.

McGeeney, now in his 11th season in charge of his native county, knows better than most the challenge his side face this weekend. He is expecting an upgrade in opposition having navigated their way past Antrim in the opening round.

“Tyrone have some special players, the Canavans (Darragh and Ruairi). (Darren) McCurry too, they have got everything up front and probably one of the best goalkeepers in the country (Niall Morgan) in terms of how he orchestrates things.

“It’s going to be another step up,” said the All-Ireland winning captain and manager. “You’re going from the third division (against Antrim) to the top division and there’ll be a lot more physicality as well, so we’ll need everybody back.”

For long periods of their quarter-final clash with the Saffrons, Armagh looked to be in bother. But their quality told after the turnaround and eventually they pulled well clear against their battling hosts.

While getting through to the next round was the ultimate goal, there were a few players that stood out and certainly caught the eye of their manager. With a couple household names missing out, it provided the others with a chance to raise their hand and show their worth.

From the team that started the All-Ireland final last July, Armagh could only call upon five starters for their opening round clash at Corrigan Park. Only two of their front six were available while they fielded a completely new midfield pairing.

Young Player of the Year Oisin Conaty along with Conor Turbitt and Joe McElroy were all sidelined through injury. Rian O’Neill is no longer part of the setup. Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey remain on the treatment table.

Paddy Burns suffered an allergic reaction the week of the game. Ciaran Mackin looks to have suffered a second knee injury in as many years, so his season looks to be all but over. Jason Duffy wasn’t togged out either.

Championship debutant Callum O’Neill was one of the newbies that caught the eye, not only kicking 0-4 from play but putting in a massive shift around the middle of the field while Oisin O’Neill slotted over three two-pointers after entering the fray at half time.

“The two O’Neills in general have great feet. Callum O’Neill who came in would be first cousin of Oisin. Callum scored four points and Tomas (McCormack) scored 1-1, which is great for us as well.

“Oisin would suffer from the huge expectations from us, because we would know the talent that he has,” McGeeney continued. “He is just getting back into himself now, he was injured for most of the year, the same with TK (Tiernan Kelly).

“It is good to have those boys coming back in and other fellas pushing. It’s a big thing to get players in pushing for places.

“We had Peter McGrane come in and continue on from last year, you want to have the likes of Conaty and ‘Turbo’ (Conor Turbitt) on the pitch too.

“I’m glad to get through because it has been a tough few weeks with injuries and stuff.

“I think we only had five from last year’s (All-Ireland final) team, we had a lot of debutants today and a lot of boys who haven’t had much game time.

“TK didn’t play since last year; Antrim was his first game. Tomas McCormick, that was a good start, Callum, Darragh McMullan, that was his first clean start in the championship too and had a really good game for us,

“Ross McQuillan has continued his form now and that was brilliant to see. It was good to get Jarly Og in from the start too, he put in a good shift so there’s a lot of positives from it as well. It’s been a decent year for us, just hoping not to pick up any more injuries.”