IF you like a flutter, get your money on this Ulster Final being level at the end of normal time.
Not only are Armagh and Derry very evenly-matched but the two counties have never drawn in 20 previous senior football champions meetings, with Derry ahead 11-9 in wins.
Armagh won the last meeting, in 2020 in Celtic Park, Derry by 0-17 to 0-15, the only meeting since Derry comfortably won a 2011 Ulster SFC semi-final in Clones.
The Orchard County have the edge in terms of Ulster Finals, winning in 1977 and 2000, with the Oak Leafers successful in the 1987 decider.
Armagh are in their 36th Ulster final, having won 14 and lost 21. Their last triumph came in 2008, after a replay against Fermanagh, but, despite racking up 21 defeats, they haven't lost a provincial decider since 1990, when defeated by Donegal – winning seven finals since then.
Holders Derry are in their 19th Ulster finale, with last year their eighth win after 10 losses, most recently in 2011, also against Donegal.
Armagh won four Ulster titles before Derry's first, in 1958, with the Oak Leafers having lost out in 1921, 1955, and 1957.
Both counties have gone 24 years between Ulster triumphs – Armagh from 1953 to 1977 and Derry from 1998 up to last year.
Armagh effected one of the biggest turnarounds in sporting history between their 1976 meeting with Derry and the re-match 13 months later.
The Orchard County men were destroyed in the first encounter, an Ulster SFC quarter-final at Healy Park in Omagh, which the Oak Leafers won by 15 points, 1-19 to 2-1. Derry went on to lift the Anglo-Celt Cup, beating Tyrone then seeing off Cavan in a final replay, before losing out heavily themselves to Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
Yet just over a year later Armagh were a team transformed and dethroned the reigning provincial champions in the Ulster Final, beating them by 11 points in Clones, 3-10 to 1-5.
A 26-point swing.
Armagh, under the management of Gerry O'Neill, older brother of future Celtic and Republic of Ireland soccer boss Martin, went on to pip Roscommon in an All-Ireland semi-final replay before losing the decider to holders Dublin.
The Oak Leafers were a monkey on Armagh's back after that 1977 final though. Derry won the next four championship meetings, in 1987, 1995, 1996, and 1998, those last three by 10, seven, and seven points again respectively.
Yet Derry's big win in 1995 was also a catalyst for major improvement by Armagh.
The Oak Leafers cruised to a 10-point victory, winning by double scores, 1-17 to 0-10, in the Athletic Grounds.
Although Derry were one of the top teams in the country, having recently won the National Football League and been All-Ireland Champions in 1993, the comfortable manner of their win still stung Armagh.
The Orchardmen turned to two former players, the 'two Brians', McAlinden and Canavan, who had been captain and vice-captain respectively in that 1987 Ulster Final.
The improvement came slowly, but it clicked in 1999, with Armagh ending a 17-year wait for the Anglo-Celt Cup. Three years later they were All-Ireland champions, for the first time ever, under the management of Joe Kernan.
Armagh-Derry in the Ulster SFC:
Armagh wins (1953, 1954, 1959, 1977, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2020)
Derry wins (1955, 1960, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2007, 2011)
Armagh's Ulster Final wins: 1890, 1902, 1950, 1953, 1977 (v Derry), 1980, 1982, 1999, 2000 (v Derry), 2002, 2004, 2005 (replay), 2006, and 2008 (replay).
Armagh's Ulster Final defeats: 1891, 1901–02, 1904 (second replay), 1912, 1917, 1920, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1939 (replay), 1949, 1954, 1961, 1981, 1984, 1987 (v Derry), 1990
Derry's Ulster Final wins:1958, 1970, 1975, 1976 (replay), 1987 (v Armagh), 1993, 1998, and 2022.
Derry's Ulster Final defeats:1921, 1955, 1957, 1971, 1977 (v Armagh), 1985, 1992, 1997, 2000 (v Armagh), 2011.
1977 Ulster SFC Final: Armagh 3-10 Derry 1-5
Armagh: Brian McAlinden; Denis Stevenson, Jim Finnegan, Jim McKerr; Kevin Rafferty, Tom McCreesh, John Donnelly; Joe Kernan, Colm McKinstry; Larry Kearns, Jimmy Smyth (capt.), Noel Marley; Peter Loughran, Paddy Moriarty. Peter Trainor.
Derry: John Somers; Liam Murphy, Frank Trainor, Gerry Forrest; Gerry O'Loughlin, Anthony McGurk, Gabriel Bradley; Colm McGuigan, Eugene Lavery; Tom McGuinness, Mickey Lynch, Gerry McElhinney; Terence McWilliams, Seamus Lagan, Peter Stevenson (capt.).
1987 Ulster SFC Final: Derry 0-11 Armagh 0-9
Derry: Damien McCusker; Hugh McGurk, Danny Quinn, Tony Scullion; Paul McCormack, Joe Irwin, Paul McCann; Plunkett Murphy (capt.), Brian McGilligan; Enda Gormley, Dermot McNicholl, Damien Barton; Damien Cassidy, Brian Kealey, Kevin McWilliams.
Armagh: Brian McAlinden (capt.); Vinny Loughran, Thomas Cassidy, Jim McCorry; Brian Canavan, Kieran McNally, Aidan Short; Martin McQuillan, Kieran McGurk; Neil Smyth, Paul Grimley, Ger Houlihan; Shane Skelton, Denis Seeley, Jim McConville.
2000 Ulster SFC Final: Armagh 1-12 Derry 1-11
Armagh: Benny Tierney; Enda McNulty, Ger Reid, Justin McNulty (0-1); Kieran Hughes, Kieran McGeeney (capt.), Andy McCann; John McEntee (0-1), Paul McGrane (0-1); Cathal O'Rourke (0-4 frees), Barry O'Hagan (0-1), Paddy McKeever; Steven McDonnell (1-1), Tony McEntee, Oisin McConville (0-3, 0-2 frees).
Substitutes: Alan O'Neill for McKeever (63); James Byrne for O'Hagan (69).
Derry: Eoin McCloskey; Sean Marty Lockhart, Kieran McKeever, Gary Coleman; Paul McFlynn, Henry Downey, Niall McCusker; Anthony Tohill (capt.) (0-4, 0-3 frees), Dermot Heaney; Eamonn Burns, Dermot Dougan (0-1), Joe Cassidy (0-1); Paddy Bradley, Enda Muldoon (0-2), Johnny McBride (1-3).
Substitutes: Joe Brolly for Bradley (h-t); Ronan Rocks for Burns (h-t); Seamus Downey for Dougan (51); Fergal P McCusker for Cassidy (64).
