All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifier Round 1B: Armagh v Wicklow (today, Athletic Grounds, 2.30pm)
AT first glance, Armagh’s resounding defeat to Donegal 13 days ago was one of the hardest Championship falls of the summer so far.
Nobody anticipated such an easy win for the defending Ulster champions on Orchard soil, particularly the Donegal players.
Defender Eamon McGee said: “Everyone was saying after the Tyrone match: ‘That was some battle’.
“But I was telling them: ‘Well, it’s going to be a carbon copy of it against Armagh’. Everybody expected that and everybody was prepared for a battle.”
It never materialised.
“I think the start helped and once we got a bit of a lead it was hard for them,” McGee added.
It’s impossible to imagine Armagh making as many mistakes again in the opening 20 minutes of a Championship game for the remainder of Kieran McGeeney tenure.
The Orchard players must have winced reviewing the DVD. Patrick McBrearty blew an early hole in Armagh's defensive set-up.
In the fourth minute, Andy Mallon’s fist pass went astray. In the fifth minute, James Morgan was punished for failing to collect a short kick-out.
A minute later Finnian Morriarty’s misplaced fist pass resulted in a converted Michael Murphy free at the other end of the field.
In the ninth minute, Andy Mallon’s looping fist pass failed to find Jamie Clarke which nearly led to a second Donegal goal.
In the 11th minute, Jamie Clarke’s fist pass was intercepted. A minute later, Micael McKenna’s poor pass to Clarke was broken down and Martin McElhinney broke to score. More mistakes followed.
By the 15th minute, Armagh trailed 1-4 to 0-1. Donegal were out of sight.
And yet, Armagh won a fair amount of turnovers during that nightmare period.
They simply made too many unforced errors in possession – and Donegal were ruthless.
However, the more you reflect on the events of the Athletic Grounds on June 14, the more giddy the pre-match optimism for an Armagh win seemed.
Too much was made of their epic All-Ireland quarter-final struggle of last August.
“I think the dynamic was different last year,” commented Donegal boss Rory Gallagher, “because Armagh had five or six Championship games going into that All-Ireland quarter-final and there was a totally different dynamic this year.
“I think Tipperary and Clare, who were operating out of Division Three this year, were well beaten by Kerry and Cork in the Championship.”
A host of McGeeney’s crew simply hadn’t been exposed enough to teams like Donegal.
Should we really have been surprised by the difference in class?
Expectations in Armagh have been subsequently lowered. That will suit McGeeney and this Armagh squad.
McGeeney was one of the most resilient footballers in the modern era and he has shown similar qualities as a manager.
In elite competition there are falls and there are falls.
If Armagh’s fall was hard 13 days ago, it doesn’t compare to the one ‘Geezer’ experienced on his Championship debut with Kildare when they lost to Mick O’Dwyer’s Wicklow side in 2008.
And yet, the Lilywhites recovered sufficently that summer to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals, only to lose by a goal to Cork.
Many are still tipping Armagh to put a run together and reach the last eight again.
Their rehabilitation begins this afternoon at home to a familiar back-door opponent Wicklow.
For the Armagh players, the opponent doesn’t really matter. They simply need to exorcise that 20-minute nightmare they endured against Donegal.
Thirteen of the side that started against the defending Ulster champions can redeem themselves today. Sean Connell and Michael Murray are the new additions with Morriarty and Aaron Findon (ankle) missing out.
A few years ago, Wicklow would have been a tougher nut to crack but their chances of upsetting the odds - Armagh are a ridiculous 1/50 in some bookmakers - are remote.
Johnny Magee’s men endured a miserable Division Four campaign, losing to Waterford, Offaly, Longford, Antrim and London. Only London finished below them in the bottom division.
They averaged a meagre 11 points per game in this year’s NFL but they bagged an impressive 3-12 [1-9 from play] in their Leinster Championship defeat to an under-strength Meath side 13 days ago.
It was a two-point game with 13 minutes remaining in Navan and had John McGrath converted a free with 10 minutes to go, the score would have made it a one-point game.
Despite losing by four points, Wicklow produced arguably their best performance of 2015.
But they won’t beat Armagh. Losing is unthinkable for the Orchard men. The feeling is there's still some summer road for Geezer’s men to travel.
Armagh: M McNeice; M Murray, C Vernon, S Connell; A Mallon, C McKeever, J Morgan; C Rafferty, E Rafferty; A Forker, M McKenna, T Kernan; S Campbell, A Murnin, J Clarke
Wicklow (SFC v Armagh): R Lambert; A Murphy, P Cunningham, C Hyland; D Healy, P McLoughlin, M Kenny; A McLoughlin, D Woods; N Gaffney, S Kelly, D Hayden; P Cronin, T Kelly, J McGrath
