BY the time this match starts, Fingal will know whether or not they're allowed to compete in this year's Nicky Rackard Cup, with a motion on that subject before Congress today writes Kenny Archer.
By the time it finishes, Armagh will have a much clearer idea of how far they are from that level of hurling. Winners of the Rackard in 2010 and 2012, Armagh have found it hard to compete in the second tier, and lost by 16 points at home to Down last weekend in round one of the league.
However, Orchard County manager John Lennon commented: "we'd like to think we're more of a match for Fingal than we were for Down, who are one of the top teams in the division."
Yet he added, about their chances being good of beating Fingal: "we'd like to think so, but they hit 3-9 against Mayo in a one-point game, so they have a bit of scoring power, although I don't know how good Mayo are."
Armagh will be boosted by the availability of Cathal Carville, who was included in the Ulster Inter-pro squad last year, after being out of the country due to business commitments. His young Middletown clubmate shea Gaffney also comes into the squad.
Armagh fielded quite a young side against Down but Lennon did not put the margin of defeat completely down to inexperience, saying: "we shot 10 or 12 wides in the first half with the wind at our back. "Credit to Down, they played much better in the second half, hitting points from long distance, so credit to them more than us saying we didn't play well."
The bottom two teams in this division will go into a relegation play-off, and Armagh may find that hard to avoid, acknowledged Lennon: "we could do without going into the play-off, but we're still in heavy training so it's about getting the balance right - you can only push the younger lads so hard. "I think sunday might tell a bit of a story, we'll see where we are, we'll know better. Last sunday was really our first competitive game, the Kehoe games were really only for training."