MAGHERY are hopeful they will to be able to call upon the experienced Aidan Forker for tomorrow night’s Armagh SFC semi-final meeting with reigning champions Crossmaglen.
Forker picked up a knock early on in the last eight victory over Cullyhanna 11 days ago and, although he played the remainder of the game, there were some concerns about his availability for the Cross clash.
The Loughshore men are bidding to return to the county final stage after back-to-back appearances in 2016 and 2017, and their chances would no doubt be enhanced by being able to call on Forker.
“He got hurt at the start of the Cullyhanna match and he played through it,” said boss Finnian Moriarty.
“It just depends - he hasn’t trained this week but hopefully he’ll be alright for Saturday night.”
The Sean McDermott’s come into tomorrow night’s game as heavy underdogs, with Cross widely tipped to go on and defend the crown they won against Ballymacnab last October.
Moriarty insists he pays no attention to the bookies’ odds, which offer Maghery at up to 5/1, but knows Cross represent a major challenge.
“They have an unbelievable record, they’re the reigning champions,” he added.
“If you’re going to win the championship, invariably you’re going to come up against Cross.”
Despite their glittering array of attacking talent however - spearheaded by Allstar nominee Rian O’Neill - there have been question marks over the Cross defence ever since their 4-11 to 0-16 defeat to eventual Ulster club champions Gaoth Dobhair 11 months ago.
The south Armagh men conceded just seven points en route to quarter-final victory over Silverbridge, and Moriarty feels talk of defensive weakness has been overplayed.
“Good footballers can adapt to anything,” said the former Armagh defender.
“Generally this year Silverbridge have played with quite a few men behind the ball, so you have to adapt to counteract that, otherwise you’re playing into the opposition’s hands.
“Cross have good defenders. People say they’re open, but that’s only really coming off one game from last season. It’s one of those things people throw out and then it sticks.
“Maybe because they have such attacking threats everybody’s trying to pick holes in their defence. Any team that has Paul Hughes, Aaron Kernan, Callum Comiskey - possibly Paul McKeown - in their defence, they’re not half bad.”
