THE time has come for Armagh to deliver in a high-stakes game says Orchard county forward Aidan Forker.
Speaking after the two-point loss to neighbours Down on Sunday, Maghery clubman Forker said he was proud of his team-mates but admitted he was bitterly disappointed with another ‘coulda-shoulda’ display. Yesterday’s Qualifier draw paired the Orchardmen in another Ulster derby with Fermanagh and that is another game that will test Armagh’s mettle.
“We could have won, we should have won…. You’re saying that all the time with Armagh,” said Forker.
“We know what we have, we’re a sleeping giant in my opinion and we have serious quality but unfortunately it just hasn’t come together yet.
“I think there’s a belief there that it will and that it will come together at the right time. It’s okay going into the Qualifiers and beating a team you’re expected to beat, but we need to produce it in one of these nip-and-tuck games.
“If we can get that win we’ll get that confidence and we know what we can do.
“Then we’ll get that bit of belief that perhaps we’re lacking, but it doesn’t feel like that within the squad. Everybody knows what we’re capable of and the training is very competitive, we’ll just keep going.”
First half goals from Mark Shields and Andy Murnin gave Armagh a one-point lead at half-time at Pairc Esler in Sunday’s Ulster quarter-final. But the Orchardmen lost their way in the second half and fell at the first hurdle in the province for the third year on-the-trot.
Forker, who landed a first half point, sent a goal chance just wide after the break as Armagh struggled to find the quality required to break through a well organised Down defence. Despite the defeat, he insisted that Armagh are on “the right path” under manager Kieran McGeeney.
“I’m proud of all the boys,” he said.
“We’ll stick together and we know we’re on the right path under Kieran and the rest of them. We’ll prepare ourselves for the Qualifiers.”
The Orchardmen take on Pete McGrath’s Ernemen on June 24 and they will intend to go on a prolonged run in the ‘backdoor’. To do so they’ll need to get Sunday’s loss out of their system quickly.
“We were well in the game,” said Forker after the 0-15 to 2-7 defeat.
“There was a strong breeze there in the first half for us and we probably didn’t capitalise on it but the ball came off the post a couple of times.
“In the second half we didn’t take our chances and we were going for goals at times instead of taking our points.
“You can never underestimate the importance of a point in a Championship match - it was a two-point game at the end and we’re left ruing it.
“They made a few changes at half-time and pushed up on us a bit more. I had a fair bit of space in the first half and I never really got it in the second. They had the breeze and those wee things all add up.
“They got scores at important times and we found it hard to break them down. We maybe dwelled on the ball a little bit and we weren’t patient enough at times.
“We have to back to the drawing board because we’re not that far away.”
