ARMAGH minor manager Ciaran McKeever says the Orchard County still has some road to travel as they bid to close the gap on some of their Ulster rivals.
McKeever’s U17 side enter the back door of the Ulster Championship tomorrow evening at The Athletic Grounds against Antrim after losing to Derry last weekend who are one of the leading lights in the province.
There was some criticism around the county over the way in which Armagh set up for the Derry clash, eventually losing 1-5 to 0-4 in gale-force conditions.
McKeever reminded the critics where Armagh are at in the pecking order in Ulster.
“You listen to people complaining about how Armagh set up [against Derry] last week, but some of them don’t deal in facts or content,” he said.
“We’ve played Derry in this age bracket four times over the last 12 months.
“In the U17 Championship last year Derry beat Armagh by 17 points. Our club U16 champions Madden played the Derry club champions Lavey and were beaten by 18 points. Our club minor champions Crossmaglen played the Derry champions Bellaghy and were beaten by 21 points. And we (U17s) played Derry in the league this year and were beaten by 15 points. So that's a scoring difference of 70 points.”
McKeever added: “I’ve had these boys for two years from U16 level. I haven’t sugar-coated anything with the players since November. We knew where we were at, we knew what teams we had to close down and how we had to go about that. There had to be a hold shift in mindset and how we’d prepare for matches.
“Some of these teams have had a three-year head-start on us in terms of athletic development and in tactical awareness. So they are the key areas that we have honed in on.”
To illustrate the yawning gap Armagh is attempting to close, McKeever bitterly recalls asking the referee to call a halt to a match between his U16 team and Kildare last season.
“Fifteen minutes into the second half I walked onto the pitch to tell the referee to stop the game. The score was 17-24 to one point. That’s where we were at.
“Whether people like it or not football has changed a lot over the last 10 years. We’re only starting to move with it now in our academy structures. We’ve made progress in the last six months – there is no doubt about that and we’ll continue to make progress.”
Armagh hit 2-12 in a warm-up game against Dublin the week before hosting Paddy Campbell’s fancied Derry side in their Championship opener – but Storm ‘Hannah’ made the conditions at The Athletic Grounds virtually impossible.
“Young Enda Downey of Derry is an exceptional player. He hit a free-kick at the edge of the ‘D’ in the first half and it didn’t even go wide, it went for a sideline. Those were the conditions these lads were playing in. At the end of the day these lads are 16 and 17-years-of-age.”
Antrim, meanwhile, gave Monaghan a fright at Corrigan Park last Saturday evening following a late goal from Sarsfields Joe McNally that reduced the defending champions’ lead to just one point.
But the clock had beaten them.
Saffron minor boss Collie McAllister said afterwards his players had “put a bit of pride back into the Antrim jersey” and that they could take a bit more self-belief into the back door.
McKeever said: “This Saturday will be a completely different game. I will start with a different 15 because each team throws up different scenarios and we have to prepare properly for that.”
