Allianz National Football League Division Two: Armagh v Fermanagh (today, Crossmaglen, 3pm)
YOU’D need to be flush from a successful Cheltenham to bet big on either of these familiar foes.
With so much at stake there is a Championship feel to this Ulster derby: If Fermanagh win, they’re almost up. If Armagh lose, they could be on their way down and that is a complete reversal of what many pundits had predicted before the Leagues began.
Luck has deserted Armagh but Fermanagh have made their own and remain the only unbeaten team in the second division with two games to go.
The Erne squad is not blessed with Armagh’s footballing ability. Attacking talents like Jamie Clarke, Stefan Campbell and Rory Grugan would stroll into this Erne county side and the list doesn’t end with them.
Of course, if Rory Gallagher had those players he wouldn’t set his team up the way he does. He has plenty of gifted players at his disposal – Eoin Donnelly, Ryan Jones, Che Cullen… but he has cut his cloth to get the best out of his unit and coached a meticulous system based on giving absolutely nothing away, patience with the ball, discipline, hard work and ruthlessness in front of goal.
Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney has cut his cloth too and his side retains the hallmarks of the Orchard county’s off-the-cuff flair. They play with forwards and flourish best against the sides that do the same and meet them head on. Fermanagh will not do that this afternoon.
“It’s a game both teams really want to win,” said Armagh assistant-manager Jim McCorry.
“Fermanagh are secured for Division Two next year but they want the two points badly to get up into Division One. We’re sitting on four points at the bottom end of it with two games left and we want to get the points to stay up.
“It’s a crucial game for both sides and that makes it all the more appetising.”
A late free in Kildare and a freak goal from a sideline ball in Newry denied Armagh wins in their first two games. Those dropped points and defeats in Navan and Ballybofey have left them in a perilous position with time running out.
“We have to learn from leaving points behind in Kildare and in Newry against Clare,” said McCorry.
“We left at least a point behind in Donegal and we probably could have got something out of the game in Meath as well because we got it back to a point with a strong wind behind us.
“In all the games we didn’t win, another point scored or kept out and we could have been in a better place but that’s football, that’s the way it is.
“Armagh’s record this year is no different to a lot of teams down through the years – you find that you’re playing really good, entertaining football but you’re not cracking the result end of it but that can turn around in one game.”
While Armagh have struggled to put points on the board, Fermanagh (who also came up last year) have prospered. The Ernemen have scored 2-46 to Armagh’s 3-63 over five games yet they are four points better off in the table and go into today’s game on the back of three wins on-the-trot over Kildare, Donegal and Clare.
“Their own expectations aren’t exceeded at all, knowing Gallagher and McMenamin,” said McCorry.
“They are fantastic coaches, Gallagher has a proven track record and he has set his stall out and they have done really well.
“Everybody talks about the defensive style of Fermanagh but every team has to have a defensive strategy and an attacking strategy.
“You can have a defensive strategy with 15 men behind the ball and Fermanagh do that but you still have to have the quality of players to stop other teams from scoring with that structure and quality counter-attacking forwards who can put scores on the board.
“Fermanagh can do that and it may not be super-attractive in terms of high-scoring games but the bottom line is that they are sitting at the top of the League on it and I have no doubt that Saturday will no different to the rest of their games.
“They’ve all been fairly close and I think it’ll be a similar pattern – there’ll certainly be no quarter given by either team. I expect this to be a close encounter and I expect us to come out the other end of it but to do that we have to put in our best performance against them over the last two years in this fourth game.”
Fermanagh will try to isolate Armagh’s inside forwards and challenge the Orchardmen to kick it long or play through them. With James McMahon operating in a sweeper role, Che Cullen is likely to return to pick up Stefan Campbell and the combative Ultan Kelm and Johnny Cassidy will track Jamie Clarke and playmaker Rory Grugan. Centre half-back Greg McCabe is likely to be an important player for the Orchardmen.
At the other end, Aaron McKay will keep an eye on Sean Quigley but Fermanagh’s players will avoid contact on the ball and you won’t see anyone in green trying to charge through the men in orange. They’ll inch forward out of their own half on a line the width of the pitch and when they see a gap in the Armagh defence they’ll look to exploit it and if the ball is not on they will reset and start again.
With James Morgan and Stephen Sheridan suspended and experienced quartet Aidan Forker, Niall Grimley, Mark Shields and Brendan Donaghy all struggling with injuries, you could say Fermanagh have got Armagh at the perfect time.
If Armagh have ambitions in the Ulster Championship, they need a performance today but this is a difficult test for them. Early on they will stick to the gameplan but Fermanagh will frustrate them, pull them out of position and force them to revert to the type of game they know best.
Armagh will need to play smart and positive from the outset to win this but they haven’t been getting over the line in tight games and so Fermanagh get the nod to maintain their momentum, edge a low-scoring, tense affair and set a foot into Division One.
