RORY Grugan says Armagh are intent on shaking the ‘nearly men’ tag and hopes they’ve learned enough harsh lessons in Division One this season ahead of their “do-or-die” relegation play-off with Roscommon on Sunday.
A draw with Donegal on the last day of Division One North round robin series pushed Armagh to third and raised Declan Bonner’s men to top spot.
Armagh had led by four points with six minutes of normal time remaining but were pegged back in the closing stages – but have home advantage for this weekend’s vital clash.
“Nobody wants to be known as the nearly men or a team that has moral victories,” Grugan said.
“I think it is fair to say that we have competed very well over the three games, we have a win and draw, and a defeat and the margins were very fine against Tyrone in the defeat and not holding on and ending up with a draw against Donegal.
“I just think there are harsh lessons there and I think it is important that we refocus. We know that despite it all we have one game where we can give everything to stay in Division One.”
Armagh are likely to be without key defenders Aidan Forker, Ben Kennedy, Mark Shields and Patrick Burns for Sunday’s make-or-break tie.
The Ballymacnab playmaker says there is an insatiable desire within the squad to stay in the top flight with the hope of getting a crack at the likes of Dublin, Kerry and possibly Mayo next season.
“It is funny, people may have been saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ and all this stuff about going to Division One, but what county players are you going to speak to that is going to say: ‘I am just going to play it safe here just stay at the lower level and not test myself’.
“Everyone wants to try to be the best and to play against the best and as much as they might find it difficult or they might get a hiding or whatever, at least you know where you are and where you have to improve.
“That is what we do it for, that is why we love it. There is the history of an Armagh team that came through nearly 20 years ago now who we would love to emulate but you have to deserve to be at that level again first, so we have to sustain our position in Division One and play these teams more regularly and start to learn how to play at the top and challenge for Championships, that’s where we want to be.”
Roscommon suffered straight defeats to Dublin (nine points), Galway (six points) and Kerry (six points) in Division One South because both the Rossies and Armagh had home advantage for two of their games, the Ulstermen won the toss for home advantage on Sunday.
Grugan hopes the limited crowd can make the same noise as they did against Donegal and help the side secure their hard-earned top flight status.
“To be honest, it was brilliant hearing the roar again [against Donegal], it is actually a bit surreal because we were saying how hard it was to come out at the start of the second half.
“You come out and it is just silence and you go, ‘oh God, this is flat’ whereas last week we had a quite a good first half and there was a big roar when we came out and it really gets you going.
“I suppose the toss worked out in our favour, and it is nice to know that we are going to be there on Sunday.”
