Allianz National Football League Division Three: Armagh v Longford (tomorrow, The Athletic Grounds, 2pm)
PROMOTION prospects will be upgraded from possible to probable for the winner of tomorrow’s top-of-the-table showdown at The Athletic Grounds.
Both sides have two-out-of-two and Longford, in second place, travel north with confidence high after scoring 4-31 in wins over Derry and Offaly. Meanwhile, top dogs Armagh posted an aggregate of 4-34 after beating Sligo and Westmeath and so with forwards in both sides in fine form a high-scoring encounter looks likely tomorrow.
That was the case when the sides met last season and the Orchardmen won a memorable encounter 3-11 to 3-9 in Longford Town.
Their three goalscorers that day, Stefan Campbell, Oisin O’Neill and Jamie Clarke (now training with New York), are all unavailable this season but, as Westmeath manager Colin Kelly remarked after losing to Armagh last Sunday: “Maybe there’s not enough made of the players and there’s too much made of the players that don’t want to commit.”
The players that are available to manager Kieran McGeeney stood tall last Sunday when Kelly’s Westmeath produced an unexpected rally to briefly take a second half lead. McGeeney has put a lot of work into his panel and it showed as they came roaring back into the game, scoring 1-9 in the final 20 minutes to win by nine points.
Mark Rowland, Ethan Rafferty, Ronan Lappin, Patrick Burns and Rory McCabe all caught the eye in an encouraging display from Armagh that saw them further enhance their status as the team to beat in Division Three, but McGeeney is expecting another thorough examination from Longford tomorrow afternoon.
“We know from last year that Longford are notoriously difficult to beat anywhere, but especially at home,” said the Orchard county boss.
“We have them at home next weekend and they are going to be hard to beat. They have really steadied the ship there and they’re doing really well. It’s been a great start to the League for them and it’s us, them and Fermanagh with two wins so far, so it’s going to be one of those pressure games.”
Armagh played Rafferty at full-forward last weekend and the Grange clubman recovered from an uncertain start to land six points.
He is tall and strong enough to play as a targetman and mobile enough to break for the ball and hold it up for the likes of Ronan Lappin, Aidan Forker and Rory Grugan, who operates as a playmaker on the half-forward line, to come up in support.
Charlie Vernon is in a rich vein of form at midfield and, with Aaron McKay flourishing at full-back, the Armagh Harps clubman looks set for an extended run in the Armagh engineroom alongside Stephen Sheridan.
Longford’s form last season won them some admirers, but barely enough points and they hung on to their Division Three status by the skin of their teeth.
Their Championship form was poor too, but Dennis Connerton’s charges have hit the ground running this season and they began it with a quietly impressive win over Louth in Leinster’s O’Byrne Cup. The well organised midlanders played with width across the pitch and didn’t over-commit in attack in that 2-13 to 1-10 success and went on to reach the semi-finals of the competition before losing to Meath on free-kicks.
Robbie Smyth, Rian Brady and Sean McCormack (2-14 between them against Offaly) give the side a cutting edge while Michael Quinn and full-back Padraig McCormack, who will have his hands full with Rafferty, marshal the defence.
Longford have form behind them and the ease with which Westmeath scored their goal last Sunday will give them hope that they can break down Armagh’s defence tomorrow.
But with Vernon and Sheridan in fine form in midfield, Longford will struggle to break through the defensive line Armagh will set up on their 45-yard line. The Orchardmen will dominate possession and, if they can improve their finishing, they are a good bet to see off their rivals with a bit to spare and take another step towards Division Two football next year.
Armagh: TBC
Longford: TBC
