OISIN McConville says Armagh “have to come out swinging” when League action resumes to get their season back on track.
The former Allstar and 2002 All-Ireland winner says we haven’t seen the best of an Orchard county side that sits second-from-bottom in Division Three after surrendering winning positions against Sligo and Laois.
Despite their poor start, McConville expects Kieran McGeeney’s men to turn their season around starting with their trip to Longford on February 26.
“I think that we haven’t seen the best of this Armagh team,” said McConville.
“There are good players there but they are under pressure now, they’ve backed themselves into a corner and they are just going to have to come out swinging. If they do that they won’t be far away.”
The Crossmaglen All-Ireland winner was in the stands at the Athletic Grounds last Sunday when Armagh contrived to let a six-point lead slip against Laois. That loss means the Orchardmen have taken one point from two games.
“A lot of people are looking at Armagh and rightly so, but really and truly, they should have four points out of four,” he said.
“They were architects of their own downfall – they should have won the two games that they’ve played. It’s still important to get out of Division Three and unearth a couple more players.”
Back in 2012, McGeeney’s Kildare lost their first two League games but recovered to win promotion and beat Tyrone in the Division Two final on their way to the top flight. To do something similar McConville says Armagh have to learn how to “close a game out”.
“They just have to do it once and then it becomes second nature,” he said.
“But you have to get over the line to do that. In many respects it’s like winning an Ulster title or something – a certain bunch of players have to get over the line once and when you do it once you have a good opportunity of replicating it because you draw on the experience of the previous time.
“The first two results haven’t been good but the performances – definitely in patches – have been a lot better than last year. I think we’re going in the right direction, it’s just a case of adding the results into it.”
After going to Longford, Armagh face difficult games against neighbours Louth (traditionally a bogey team) and last season’s All-Ireland semi-finalists Tipperary.
“They’re in a precarious position,” said McConville.
“At the very worst Armagh want to be playing in Division Three next year. Division Four would be an absolute nightmare, but I really don’t see that on the horizon.
“At the start of the year I would have expected Armagh to get out of this division but once you’re down there it really is tricky to get out.”
With the pressure on to get points, manager McGeeney doesn’t have the luxury of developing players for the Championship clashes of the summer. McConville says the team desperately needs an injection of confidence – but that will only come from winning games.
“You need some semblance of form in the League to be able to kick on in the Championship,” he said.
“The most important thing about Armagh is they need to gain a bit of confidence, at the minute they just don’t have the confidence to see those games out.
“All it takes is one really good win and you kick on, put them back-to-back and confidence keeps growing.
“I was at the match last week and you could only see one winner – Armagh dominated the ball completely in the second half but they managed to lose the game. “For ‘Geezer’ the most disappointing thing is that the first two performances warranted four points’ but you’re sitting there with one and people are starting to have a go at you. All it takes is one win, but it’s not nice to be sitting on one point in Division Three.”
