ARMAGH hope to have former captains Aidan Forker and Rory Grugan back in harness for Saturday night’s Cathedral City clash with Division Two rivals Kildare.
Both were missing at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise last weekend and their absence was felt as the Orchardmen, who started the League with an emphatic win over Cavan on home soil, were soundly beaten 0-16 to 0-10 by Laois.
Manager Kieran McGeeney was able to welcome back Jamie Clarke last Saturday night. The former Crossmaglen ace marked his return with two pointed frees and McGeeney would like to have tenacious forward-turned-defender Forker and playmaker Grugan available for the visit of the Lilywhites.
“I’m hoping,” he said.
“They are two big players to lose in one week but you have to be able to stand up.
“They are two big leaders but we had enough leaders on the pitch to do the job (against Laois) and we just didn’t do it.”
McGeeney spent six seasons as Kildare manager (2007 to the 2012 season) and during that spell he steered the Leinster county to Division One and the brink of an All-Ireland final in 2010.
Now managed by former Kerry All-Ireland-winner Jack O’Connor, Kildare are expected to be in the shake-up for promotion this year but, like Armagh, they suffered an unexpected loss last weekend. O’Connor’s men missed out on the chance to go top after Clare won 0-11 to 0-10 in Ennis.
“Jack (O’Connor) is an out-and-out winner,” said McGeeney.
“He’ll be wanting to come to Armagh to get his two points. We have Kildare ahead of us and then Roscommon, Clare, Fermanagh… You don’t have any soft ones, so you’re looking for every point.”
Back in 2016 a bad night in Cavan cost Armagh their Division Two status on score-difference. A 3-18 top 0-10 defeat at Kingspan Breffni meant the Orchard County was relegated despite finishing on six points, just one behind third-placed Galway.
The second tier is traditionally claustrophobic and this year – with two points separating top from bottom – is shaping up to be no different.
“As far as I can remember, both times (2014 and 2016) we were relegated it was on score difference,” said McGeeney.
“That’s how tight it gets. One of the years when we went down, if we had won one more game (the game against Cavan) we actually would have went up but we lost it and our points difference was poor so we went down.
“That’s how tight it can be but at the minute we’re sitting on two points after two games so it’s not good and it’s not bad, it’s somewhere in-between.”
So the message to Armagh supporters is ‘don’t panic’ because there are still five games to go starting with the Lilywhites on Saturday night. After that game Armagh only have one more home fixture (against Roscommon) in between road trips to Westmeath, Fermanagh and Clare.
“We had a good few back but they were all rusty,” said McGeeney after Saturday night’s defeat.
“We had a strong bench and we put a strong team out but we got well beaten, we gave away too many frees and gave the ball away too many times with very little pressure on us.
“We were poor but that’s not taking anything away from Laois. They controlled the game well when they went in front and frustrated our boys and fair play to them, they beat us well.
It’s a great pitch out there, it’s a great place to play but for some unknown reason, when we come down here we play… I’ll not use the words, but it’s not good.”
