THE manner of Armagh’s loss to Mayo last Saturday might have given Orchard county supporters’ reason to expect better next season but Aidan Forker has warned that inter-county football doesn’t necessarily work like that.
Having missed the chance to make the Ulster final for the first time in 11 years, Armagh might have been in round four of the Qualifiers if they’d taken either of the goal-scoring opportunities they created in Castlebar. They didn’t and so their season ended with a one-point loss to Mayo.
In the ultra-competitive world of Championship football, going close one year doesn’t mean a team will make the breakthrough the next.
“There are no guarantees,” said Forker.
“There’s very little chat now (in the dressingroom) after the game and boys go their separate ways. We’ll probably meet up and have a few drinks or whatever but there’s very little chat about football and, in my experience, there’s always a big gap (until next season) now.
“Boys will go to their clubs but if we can make sure that gap is as small as possible then we’ll only take the learnings from this year. You only learn when you reflect on what’s happened so time will tell.”
The Orchardmen trailed by five points midway through the second half at Castlebar but they came tantalisingly close to taking the coveted Mayo scalp on Saturday night. However, Maghery clubman Forker took no solace from Armagh’s brave rally in the closing stages.
“They had their purple patch but I knew there was a belief in this team that we could come back,” he said.
“Our decision-making at times was questionable.
“I’m bitterly disappointed because the game was there. I thought we played some good football but, credit where it’s due, Mayo are a top team, very physical and there were times when we were really feeling it, we were under the cosh and they probably didn’t capitalise on their chances as well.
“We’re gutted, we thought we could come down here and get a win. We played decent but it’s no consolation… It’s hard to know to be honest because we were right in the mix, I thought we competed with them physically and the boys really thrive on a bit of competition and we got that but their wee bit of guile, wee bit of experience counted.
“Any time we were getting a bit of momentum they went down and slowed the play up so it’s a massive learning curve for us, the last three games have been a massive learning curve so hopefully we can take that and go forward.”
After starting his career as a forward, Forker gradually developed into an attacking wing-back and is now being used as a man-marker. During Armagh’s Championship campaign he was used to keep tabs on Martin Reilly (Cavan), Conor McManus (Monaghan) and, on Saturday, Mayo’s Darren Coen.
“If I’m in the first 15 I don’t care where I’m playing,” he said.
“Training is hot and heavy and competition is fierce and Kieran will play whoever is playing well in training. We’re down to the bare bones at times with injuries so he had no other choice but to put me in there and I seemed to do a good job and he was happy with what I was doing.
“I get a few jokes out of it – Paddy McKeever still reckons I’m a forward – but I’m happy wherever I am and I like coming on to the ball as well so it doesn’t really matter. Everybody is an attacker when you have the ball.”
