Football

A high-stakes game to savour as Armagh take on Fermanagh in last-chance saloon

"It’s do-or-die for both teams, it’s sudden death from here on," says Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath
"It’s do-or-die for both teams, it’s sudden death from here on," says Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath "It’s do-or-die for both teams, it’s sudden death from here on," says Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifying Round 1B: Armagh v Fermanagh (Sunday, the Athletic Grounds, 6.30pm)

THE Sunday evening graveyard slot means we can turn our full attention to events at the Athletic Grounds after almost everything else has been put to bed on a busy Championship weekend.

With all due respect to Offaly and Cavan (which throws in at the same time), you can’t afford to take your eyes of this intriguing game because both counties desperately need to win it.

The stakes are high and the ramifications for defeat cannot be overstated.

While the winners will live to fight another day, the losers will disappear off the Championship grid having made no impression this year.

Defeat for Fermanagh could signal the end of Pete McGrath’s three-year tenure and it’s hard to see how Kieran McGeeney (who will watch from the stands) can continue in office in Armagh if his side falls again in front of their home supporters.

Those supporters might wonder how it ever came to this if they cast their minds back to Armagh’s win over Fermanagh in the 2015 Division Three final.

The Orchardmen, All-Ireland quarter-finalists the previous season and with McGeeney newly installed at their helm, won by five points and the counties were expected to go in opposite directions afterwards. They did, but not in the way we expected.

Armagh have failed to progress, while Fermanagh have repeatedly punched above their weight in the Championship.

Under McGrath, the Ernemen have won two games in Ulster and four in the Qualifiers. It took Dublin to end their remarkable charge in 2015 (after Fermanagh had scored 2-15 in the All-Ireland quarter-final) and Mayo to see them off last year after the Ernemen had gone in at half-time leading by six points.

Over the same period, Armagh played seven Championship games and won just one - a Qualifier against Wicklow at home in 2015.

“Both camps will look on Sunday’s game as a tricky one,” said Fermanagh boss McGrath, twice an All-Ireland winner with Down.

“It’s definitely tricky. If you look back over our meetings in the last number of years in League football they have been very, very close. There’s been very little between the teams and this is the first time they’ve met in Championship football and obviously it’s do-or-die for both teams, it’s sudden death from here on in.

“It has the prospects of being a lively, competitive and interesting game and we’re looking on it as a major challenge.”

On current form, there isn’t much to choose between the sides. Both will play in Division Three next year after Fermanagh were relegated and Armagh allowed promotion to the second tier to slip from their grasp.

In the Ulster Championship the Ernemen were well beaten by Monaghan in a lacklustre provincial opener while Armagh came unstuck against rivals Down thanks to an insipid second half performance in Newry.

The major concern for the Orchard faithful is that if Fermanagh set up like Down did (or Antrim did in the League) Armagh will struggle to break them down.

When they had space work with in the first half in Newry, the Orchardmen played some superb attacking football, but the second half was a different story.

According to reports, Armagh had spent the weeks prior to that game devising strategies to combat a blanket defence, but when it came to the real thing it looked like they hadn’t come across it before.

Without a discernible gameplan, Orchard attacks stalled on the Down ‘40' again and again and when a tentative ball was played forward the greater hunger of the Mourne defenders held sway.

Armagh can expect more of the same tomorrow evening and (if the team named is accurate) Fermanagh won’t have to deal with the height and power of Stefan Campbell or Crossmaglen’s Oisin O’Neill.

Both have been left out leaving Andy Murnin and Jamie Clarke as the two main scoring threats. Murnin proved a handful in Newry and he should give Che Cullen headaches tomorrow while Clarke – who was roughed up by Darren O’Hagan in Newry – will have Mickey Jones for company.

Ryan McCluskey will continue as sweeper and Fermanagh will soak up space and challenge Armagh to shoot from distance – something they have been reluctant to do this year.

The Ernemen will be difficult to break down, but do they have the firepower to win the game?

Their two main scoring outlets are Tomas Corrigan – deadly from frees and sideline balls – and the burly Seamus Quigley who is a real handful when fit and motivated.

James Morgan will shadow Corrigan while Charlie Vernon, who struggled to stay with the nippy Down forwards, should be better suited to Quigley.

Armagh will look to hit the ground running and attack in numbers from the throw-in. Fermanagh will be well aware of that and will look to crowd their own half and pick off scores on the break.

The Fermanagh team of last year or the year before could win this game, but on the evidence of this year they have lost their sparkle. At their best they are well organised and effective, but with Ryan Jones injured and Richard O’Callaghan absent they conceded a lot of scores in the League.

This is a game that Armagh, on paper at least, could win but in McGeeney’s time as manager the Orchardmen have repeatedly found ways to lose high-pressure games when the chips are down.

Fermanagh will turn up, but you can’t say the same about Armagh with any certainty and their tendency to switch off means the game will be close right to the finish.

If Jones was fully fit and O’Callaghan was alongside Eoin Donnelly in midfield, Fermanagh would get the nod here.

But with that pair missing Armagh, who have more strength on their bench (if they use it properly) and home advantage, have the scoring options to squeeze through in a nerve-jangling encounter.