WITH nothing between the teams, the side that manages the key moments wins Saturday’s derby in Omagh, says Armagh assistant-manager Ciaran McKeever.
A win for Armagh will see them progress to the final round of games with the chance to top the group and go straight into the quarter-finals while, after losing to Galway in their opener, Tyrone need victory to keep pace with their neighbours.
It’s a crossroads clash between two evenly-matched sides, says McKeever.
“It’s a 50-50 game,” said the Cullyhanna native.
“Whoever executes best when the opportunities arise and limits their mistakes will come out with the win. We’re under no illusion that it’ll be a difficult task because Tyrone need points and we want the points because we want to leave ourselves in a position where we can go and play Galway to top the group.
“We want to come out Omagh of with a result. We’ve played each other a lot over the last few years and we’ve shown that when we execute and do what we’re meant to do we can leave ourselves in a really good position. It’ll all boil down to who can perform best in critical stages.”
Armagh over-hauled Westmeath at the Athletic Grounds last Saturday thanks to a late goal from substitute Conor Turbitt. They didn’t look particularly convincing but getting two points was all that mattered in that game.
“We started really well and we could have had 1-8 on the board to a point in the first 14 minutes,” said McKeever.
“We didn’t take the chances and Westmeath went up the field and scored 1-2 and that put us on the back foot. It made us panic a wee bit and we played straight into their hands. We tried to force things and we gave them easy possession.
“We got regrouped at half-time and once we got a foothold in the game I thought the boys were excellent going down the home straight and getting scores when we needed them.
“Sometimes playing poorly and getting the result is good. Something this group has been labelled with is that they couldn’t play poorly and (still) get a win. Ultimately it was all about getting two points and we’re hoping that the hangover from the Ulster final is out of their system and we’ll be in a better place going into this weekend.”
McKeever was at centre half-back when Armagh unexpectedly won an All-Ireland Qualifier in Omagh back in 2014. Tyrone are slight favourites going into this year’s clash having won the Division One meeting back in March. However Armagh were minus Rian O’Neill that day and lost Andrew Murnin to injury during the first half. Both are fully fit for this weekend.
“We have a clean bill of health,” said McKeever.
“All hands are on deck, everybody is in good form so we have a full deck to pick from for Saturday night.”
Armagh had to come through extra-time and penalties in the Ulster final and, after a two-week break, returned to play Westmeath last weekend. Meanwhile, Tyrone exited Ulster in mid-April and haven’t played since their trip to Salthill on May 20 but McKeever has no complaints with the schedule.
“To be honest, we don’t really mind it,” he said.
“We always talk about: ‘It’s hard to beat matches’ and they’re coming thick and fast. The key thing for us is to try and keep the squad healthy with a wee bit of rotation here and there to keep the boys fresh.
“After the Ulster final I think it was important we got a game pretty quickly. In previous years’ you might have to wait four-or-five weeks’ but we were delighted Westmeath was coming up so quick because it meant we couldn’t dwell on the Ulster final.
“There needs to be a bit of leeway built into this structure for potential replays because there are matches that you should have another crack at.”
