Allianz Football League Division Three: Offaly v Armagh (Sunday, Tullamore, 2.30pm)
THE hard-bitten supporters of Offaly won’t forget the scoreline the last time they encountered Armagh. Just short of a year ago, the Faithful County left The Athletic Grounds with their tail between their legs.
They headed back down the road after being on the receiving end of a whopping 30-point defeat. And yet, they still managed to stay in Division Three – albeit on scoring difference – last season.
Offaly have since changed management and the squad has been overhauled. Twelve months on from that instantly forgettable day for Offaly football, they are undoubtedly better.
There are still a dozen players on the current Offaly panel who were involved in last year’s chastening defeat in the Cathedral City.
It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that new manager Stephen Wallace will be reminding those players of the hurt they felt leaving Armagh.
Even though they’ve lost their opening three games, the Kerry native claims there are green shoots emerging in Offaly.
He says the side have performed better with each passing game and, in fairness, they have played two of the stronger sides in Division Three [Longford and Fermanagh] – and probably face the ultimate test in Armagh tomorrow.
But, with upcoming games against Sligo and Wexford, Offaly won’t regard their NFL campaign as a lost cause - even if they lose tomorrow.
They will want to recover some of the pride they lost against Armagh last year.
In the early stages of last week’s clash with Derry, the Offaly players didn’t appear up for the fight.
They trailed 1-6 to no score after 15 minutes.
They could easily have folded again, but they showed impressive resilience to turn the tide at Celtic Park.
Between the 16th and 40th minutes, they scored an unanswered seven points which proved they have more backbone than perhaps 12 months ago.
Defender Declan Hogan took the game to Derry ghosting forward to grab two first half scores which settled them.
And when they managed to funnel good possession into corner-forwards Bernard Allen and Nigel Dunne, Derry’s makeshift full-back line couldn’t contain them.
Offaly, in fairness, were Derry’s equal for the vast majority of last week’s encounter but paid the price for their lethargic start.
“We’re four months into a three-year gig and we’re down probably 10 or 11 players from last year’s panel – not many counties, if any, can take that sort of a hit let alone a small county like Offaly," said Wallace.
“But there were lots of positives against Derry so there are green shoots there.”
Every team suffers dips during their League campaigns. In the recent past, Armagh’s problem was their dips usually cost them any chance of promotion.
But perhaps 2018 is different.
They played really poorly 13 days ago against Longford but still pinched the win in stoppage-time. Armagh of the last couple of seasons would have dropped points in those circumstances.
Contrary to popular belief, Kieran McGeeney has decent depth to their ranks despite the much talked about absentees.
Ethan Rafferty, Rory Grugan, Aidan Forker and Stephen Sheridan are moving well for the Orchard men, while their defence won’t afford the same space Derry gave to danger men Allen and Dunne.
Armagh should make it four wins out of four.
Offaly (Allianz FL v Armagh): P Dunican; D Hogan, P McConway, S Pender; D Dempsey, S Nally, N Darby; P Cunningham, Ml Brazil; J Hayes, A Sullivan, C Donohue; B Allen, C Carroll, N Dunne
Armagh: TBC
