BAR Division Four-bound Cavan, who have lost their way since last year’s thrilling Championship run, all the Ulster counties have reasons to be cheerful after the National Football League.
Paddy Cunningham-inspired Antrim made a handy habit of winning tight games and forced their way out of Division Four with a series of seat-of-their-pants victories and, with the hurlers going well too, the county is on the crest of a wave.
Meanwhile, Derry have been mighty impressive in Division Three. The Oak Leafers posted some huge scores and tomorrow’s Croke Park final is valuable preparation for the Championship. Also in the third tier, Fermanagh missed out on the final but showed resilience to force their way into the semi-finals.
In Division Two, newly-promoted Down recovered from a nightmare start (a mauling from Mayo) to consolidate their status thanks to an impressive play-off win over Laois.
In dog-eat-dog Division One North, forward strides of various lengths were made by the four Ulster counties and, most importantly, they will all play in the top flight again next year.
Tyrone reached the semi-finals but came off second best against Kerry’s galactico forward division. Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher rang the changes throughout the campaign, Cathal McShane’s return is imminent and the Red Hands will be a different animal when the ball is thrown in for their opener against Cavan.
Donegal, the other Ulster semi-finalist, came off second best against Dublin in what amounted to a challenge game because of the poorly thought-out format. When Michael Murphy returns from his hamstring injury, the Tir Chonaill men will obviously be a force in the Championship.
After the first round of games, Monaghan looked in relegation trouble but then fought tooth and nail to retain their spot among the top dogs. The draw with Donegal in round two was a sign of the fortitude in the Farney ranks but, despite another draw in Omagh, they slipped into a relegation play-off against Galway.
That game was the best of the season so far and Monaghan showed spirit of the highest order to battle back and force extra-time thanks to Darren Hughes’s goal and then a last-gasp point from the peerless Conor McManus. After all his injury problems, it was great to see Jack McCarron score the winner in the final seconds of a breathless Clones classic. Monaghan will feel nothing is beyond them now and they’ll be counting down the minutes to the Championship.
But the county that made most progress was Armagh. Back in Division One for the first time since 2012, Kieran McGeeney’s side lost just once – against Tyrone – and they left the field at the Athletic Grounds after that game regretting the chances they had missed.
Going into round three, Armagh were devastated by injuries but had the better of it for the best part of an hour against Donegal before the Tir Chonaill men finished strongly to draw and consign Armagh into a relegation play-off against Roscommon.
After falling 5-1 behind, it looked once again that Armagh might fail to live up to their hype but the performance they produced from the first water break onwards served notice that they should be force to be reckoned with this summer.
Yes, the Orchardmen had home advantage and Roscommon totally ran out of ideas but the manner in which Armagh shut them down and closed out the game was mighty impressive and there was no sign of the jitters that have derailed the side repeatedly in recent years.
Now in his seventh season, manager McGeeney is the second longest-serving bainisteoir in the country (behind Clare’s Colm Collins) and the longest-serving manager in Ulster by some distance.
He’d admit that Armagh have had some dark days on his watch in the Championship.
His first Championship outing was a men-against-boys hammering from Donegal at the Athletic Grounds and the last was Donegal again, at Kingspan Breffni last year, when it seemed the gulf between the counties had grown wider.
Perhaps the lowest point of all was the loss to Fermanagh in 2018 when Armagh failed to raise a gallop. If rumours are to be believed, McGeeney came close to quitting after that defeat but he persisted and the county board has shown commendable patience with the captain of 2002.
That patience may be about to pay off.
Going into this season there were concerns that the departure of three-quarters of the management team - Jim McCorry, Paddy McKeever and John Toal – could prove costly but the backroom shake-up has worked well.
Ciaran McKeever has made his presence felt while the recruitment of Kerry legend Kieran Donaghy has been masterstroke. His knowhow and winners’ mentality seems to have rubbed off on the players.
As the teams emerged for the second half against Tyrone, ‘Star’ walked out in deep conversation with Oisin O’Neill and the influence the Tralee native has had on the Crossmaglen clubman and younger brother Rian is certainly paying dividends. The O’Neills have led the way and the supporting cast – Rory Grugan, Stefan Campbell, Andy Murnin and Conor Turbitt – are all showing good form.
With the ball in their hands, the Armagh forward unit is as good as most and one thing is for sure: no defence could be confident of keeping them all quiet.
There are concerns over the defensive set-up but you wouldn’t have said so for three-quarters of the game against Roscommon when Armagh looked increasingly difficult to break down.
Of course, one victory over Roscommon doesn’t make a summer. Championship football is the ultimate test and next up is Enda McGinley’s battling Antrim.
The Saffrons have the wind in their sails and it will be interesting to see how Armagh cope with the favourites’ tag in the Championship.
ONE moment of drama and skill lasts a lifetime in the memory of the boys and girls who would ordinarily be enjoying this summer’s Ulster clashes.
It remains to be seen how many fans will be able to enjoy the game and while TV coverage is often excellent, getting kids to sit and watch a match in these days of wall-to-wall Roblox, Fortnite and YouTube is increasingly difficult. Nothing recreates the drama of being at a game.
Whether it’s kids enjoying a family day out - ice-cream, head-bands, a chance to experience the atmosphere of a big game and maybe meet their heroes (and ask for their gloves); young people heading off on the bus with their mates; or the veterans enjoying tea and sandwiches out of the boot of the car, nothing beats the unique atmosphere of the Championship and all three stages have a limited timespan.
Supporters missed out last year and Covid-19 restrictions mean that, at best, grounds will only be able to accommodate around a quarter of their normal capacity but that would be an improvement on what we have now.
That the powers that be on the hill can address the issue is good news for many reasons and sport is among them because, as everyone who was lucky to enjoy what we took for granted for so long knows, nothing beats being there.
