CIARON O’HANLON insists Armagh are heading in the right direction despite their disappointing start to life back in Division Two.
The Orchard men have lost to Meath and Laois so far, but O’Hanlon is confident they can turn results around, starting with Saturday night’s Ulster derby showdown against Fermanagh at the Athletic Grounds.
“It’s not ideal where we’re sitting at the minute, but we’re doing things right - we’re just not getting the results we need,” said the Killeavy star.
“We’re moving in the right direction but, obviously, we need to get results to stay up too. We need to be given a shake-up before we get going. It shouldn’t be the case, we should be doing that automatically and, if we go a couple of points down, we need to understand that ‘look, the game is going away from us here, we need a big score to get us back on track again’.
“I think it is coming. You get out of it what you put in, but I’d say if we had a wee bit of luck against Laois, the result might have been different. We just need to work harder and get better and see where it takes us.”
O’Hanlon has worn the number 14 jersey this season, but operated as a sweeper against Laois: “It’s probably not a position that I have ever played through my underage career,” he said.
“I would be midfield upwards, I’d wouldn’t ever have had to think defensively through my younger career but, if that’s where ‘Geezer’ needs me to fulfil a role, I’m going to take it on no problem. There’s no worries about that.”
O’Hanlon missed the 2014 season when Armagh were relegated from Division Two, but returned last year when the side bounced back at the first attempt. He has noticed a step up in class.
“Last year, we would have played against teams that were a lot more defensive-thinking whereas, in the last two games, both teams have nearly went man-to-man, which is good to see because it brings that excitement back into the game again,” he said.
RTE pundit Tomas O Se remarked after the loss to Laois that Armagh’s current side shouldn’t be compared to the team that dominated Ulster for a decade and won the All-Ireland in 2002.
But O’Hanlon says what happened in the past has no bearing on the current Armagh side: “I think that the jersey has been passed on to us to make our own history. I think we have the talent and the players there to make our own history.
“I don’t see why we can’t take on some of the teams people think we’re going to struggle against, I’ve no issue being put up against the likes of them because we always seem to step up a gear when we play better teams."
