Armagh SFC T-Met round two Qualifer: St Patrick's, Cullyhanna v Granemore (Friday, Athletic Grounds, 8.30pm)
The first of the weekend’s round two Qualifiers takes place on Friday, with St Patrick’s, Cullyhanna up against Granemore at the Athletic Grounds.
The winners will meet Maghery at the quarter-final stage. Granemore have already scaled one 'back door’ outing with a comfortable win over Carrickcruppen, but will find St Pat’s, who lost their round two replay to Armagh Harps, a harder nut to crack.
Cullyhanna manager Mick O'Dowd believes team morale hasn't been unduly affected by that loss, but bemoans the scheduling of Friday night's match.
"Hopefully, there’s no hangover from the Harps match, but the lads have responded well in training anyway," O'Dowd said.
"It’s fairly hard to find a training regime with lads working, you basically get one night, but in fairness the boys responded well apart from a few knocks and injuries. We will be back out in the Athletic Grounds at 8.30pm again, this time on on a Friday night which is pretty difficult. With lads working all week and then having to wait until the evening to play under lights after training all year, surely there has to be be a better way of doing things."
He added: "But all teams are dealt the same hand, hopefully we get up for it and get over the line."
Despite conceding three first half goals against Harps, St Pat’s showed tremendous character in the early stages of the second period when they cut a 10-point deficit to two. Without Ciarán McKeever, their anchor man for so long, and top forward Tony Donnelly, who is in America, the Cullyhanna men may be struggling to find the form that took them to their first county final in 2013. However, they have been boosted by the return of Pearse Casey from injury.
O'Dowd said on Thursday: "It was great to see Pearse back – the poor lad’s been injured for nearly two years now, so it was great to see him get half an hour in the Harps game and hopefully he'll be able to contribute something this Friday night as well.
"Ciarán McKeever was our captain for the year and playing outstanding football, so he’s a big miss to us. Tony Donnelly should be back shortly, but I’ve no idea what shape he’ll be in."
O'Dowd also revealed that Robbie Tasker, Seán Irwin and Conor Connolly are unavailable for Friday's match. Despite these set-backs, county players Michael Murray and Seán Connell are part of a strong defensive set-up and Mal Mackin and Barry McConville form a formidable midfield pairing. The south Armagh representatives will be looking more from their vanguard and the likes of Aidan Nugent, Eugene Casey and Kieran and Shea Hoey will have to deliver if they are to progress.
Granemore, who lost heavily to Pearse Óg in the opening round, redeemed themselves with a much-improved showing against Carrickcruppen last day out, first half goals from Christopher O’Connor, Brendan Boylan and Shane and Ryan Rafferty setting them up for a 4-14 to 4-7 victory. Despite finishing in the lower end of the league table, the St Mary’s outfit are not short of talent, with the likes of county man Caolan Rafferty, Tony McClelland, Pádraig Hollywood, Rory Conroy, Jason O’Neill and Declan Doyle all on board.
However, it would look as if St Pat’s should make it through.
Meanwhile, Dromintee’s second round game with Pearse Óg, which had been pencilled in for Saturday at Crossmaglen, has been put back a week due to the tragic death of Dromintee club member Peter Hughes.
In the other second round Qualifiers, Killeavy take on Wolfe Tone's on Saturday at 6.15pm, while in Sunday's match Ballymacnab play Sarsfield's.
