ARMAGH “didn’t become a bad team in a week” said Kieran McGeeney as he looked ahead to Sunday’s crucial league clash with Galway.
After his side was dismantled by Cavan last Saturday night, manager McGeeney admitted the Orchard men hadn’t shown up at Kingspan Breffni Park, but he remained confident his players will recover from the 17-point loss in time to take on Galway at the Athletic Grounds.
With three games to go, Armagh are bottom of Division Two and - with Ulster derbies against Tyrone and Derry to come - another defeat will leave them teetering on the brink of dropping back into the third tier.
“I always believe you can,” said McGeeney when asked if Armagh could bounce back from their loss in Cavan.
“We didn’t become a bad team in a week. We have a tough game with Galway coming to us and they probably, to date, have been the second strongest team in the division. Whether Cavan take over that particular mantle, it’s hard to say, but Galway have a few players to come back in as well. It’s a tough game at home, but this is where we wanted to be. We know how far off the mark we are now for the summer, so we have a lot of work to do.”
Armagh will return to Breffni Park for an Ulster quarter-final on May 29 and they can erase the memory of a performance described by one former inter-county manager as the worst he’d ever seen from an Armagh team.
“It’s not doom and gloom for Armagh,” McGeeney countered.
“I believe we have good players, we just need to get better at what we do. Terry Hyland has had bad days too over the past four or five years, other people have had them and I’m going to have them too.
“I have loads of people telling me what I should do and what I shouldn’t do or whether I should be here and whether I shouldn’t be. But I’m big enough to take that on the chin and I know that I have to do more and do better with the boys.”
Cahair O'Kane, Neil Loughran and Andy Watters look forward to this weekend's game:
When asked whether Armagh would be more competitive in the Championship, he replied: “I would like to think so, but I thought it was going to be competitive tonight and it wasn’t.”
A good finish to the league will be essential if Armagh are to return to Cavan with any confidence. Sunday’s visitors Galway won at the Athletic Grounds in last year’s Qualifiers and currently sit second in Division Two, three points behind Tyrone.
Kevin Walsh’s side has beaten Laois and Derry, lost to Tyrone and drew with Meath last weekend. In that game against the Royals, Galway battled back from nine points behind at half-time and looked to have the game in the bag before the Royals hit three late scores to salvage a draw.
“The boys came out in the second-half and worked hard. Probably a bit of tiredness kicked in during the last 10 minutes,” said Walsh.
“It is a point each, but we aren’t sitting too badly. We have things to learn but, at half-time, it was important that we came out to show some fight.”
