Orchard head west in search of victory

By Shaun Casey

IT’S nearing the halfway point of the Nickey Rackard Cup and already Sunday’s round three meeting of Armagh and Roscommon has an important feel to it as both aim to secure their status in the competition.

After the opening two rounds, Armagh currently sit on two points thanks to an opening day victory over Fermanagh.

The Rossies are just below them following a draw with Sligo last weekend, while the Erne County are bottom of the pack on zero.

Karl McKeegan’s Armagh are still licking their wounds following a hefty defeat to Mayo on home turf last weekend. The Orchard County only scored once in the first half and lost by 21 points in the end.

While the game was beyond doubt when the teams switched sides at half time, Armagh did give a much better account of themselves and troubled Mayo more on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t enough to really contest the result.

Stephen Keenan, Odhran Curry and Danny Magee all made telling impacts from the bench and got their names on the scoresheet. They could be in with a shout of claiming starting berths as Armagh head west this weekend.

Armagh and Roscommon are well acquainted at this stage and in terms of the recent history, the Connacht men have held the upper hand as of late.

They defeated the men in orange and white in the first round of the league, also at King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park.

Roscommon, who also lost to Mayo in the first round of the Nickey Rackard Cup, edged last year’s championship meeting with Armagh by the minimum of margins so they’ll be confident of repeating that feat.

Armagh remain without their main scoring chief in Shea Harvey through injury, but the return of Curry and Paudie Lappin from injury have bolstered their options.