Football

Never mind entertaining, we want Ulster final spot insists Armagh assistant Jim McCorry

Armagh assistant boss Jim McCorry admitted he was 'both disappointed and relieved' after yesterday's dramatic draw in Clones
Armagh assistant boss Jim McCorry admitted he was 'both disappointed and relieved' after yesterday's dramatic draw in Clones Armagh assistant boss Jim McCorry admitted he was 'both disappointed and relieved' after yesterday's dramatic draw in Clones

Ulster SFC semi-final: Cavan 0-17 Armagh 1-14 (after extra-time)

NOBODY can say Armagh haven’t given value for money so far in this year’s Ulster Championship - but that will count for nothing unless they get past Cavan at the second time of asking, according to assistant boss Jim McCorry.

After the thrills and spills of their quarter-final derby clash with Down, there was yet more drama in Clones yesterday as they went the distance again, but this time the Orchard and Cavan couldn’t be separated even after 90-plus minutes of football.

The replay brings them back to St Tiernach’s Park on Sunday as part of a double-header alongside the Qualifier clash between Monaghan and Fermanagh.

McCorry admitted he was “both disappointed and relieved” at the final whistle, but insists entertainment value is no good when there’s an Ulster final spot up for grabs.

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“Someone said at £25 a ticket you want value for money so I think everyone got value for money,” smiled the Lurgan man.

“We’d prefer for it not to be value for money next week and to finish in normal time and Armagh win. That would be the ideal end.

“Somebody said to me was if a fair result? For neutral people probably. We certainly feel we did enough to win the game and there are things that we need to improve upon to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes next week.”

Continuing, he said: “We missed 1-4 in the first half that was quite scoreable so that was disappointing, and there’d be a wee bit of self criticism for ourselves in terms of our game management towards the end, turnover ball inside our own 50 that allowed them to get the equalising score.

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“But it’s heartening that we’re still in it.”

And one man Armagh hope to have available for that semi-final replay is Brendan Donaghy.

The experienced Clonmore man was shown a straight red card after a coming together with Killian Clarke at the end of regulation time, but McCorry says they will be appealing Derek O’Mahoney’s decision.

“The referee said Brendan had come down on the man, Brendan was fairly adamant that he hadn’t so we’ll have a look at the video and we’ll probably be appealing that one because Brendan’s a key player for us.

“The umpire had indicated to Brendan as well that there was nothing in that, so we’ll have to see how that one pans through this week.”

Man-of-the-match Jarlath Og Burns was replaced by Charlie Vernon early in extra-time after receiving a knock to the head early, but McCorry says it was a “precautionary” move to bring the Silverbridge man back on and expects him to be available this weekend.

“He got a very bad bang on the head; a bad cut on his eye.

“He was a wee bit fuzzy so it was precautionary that we left him off in case it was a concussion. I thought he was the driving force. Today you saw the aerial ability he has, the distribution he has and the scoring power he has and I was delighted for him… so hopefully he will be okay for next week.

“It wasn’t the full concussion but we thought it best not to put him back in.”