Allianz National Football League Division One: Tyrone v Armagh (tomorrow, O’Neill’s Healy Park, 1.45pm)
YOU’VE got a Tyrone team building a head of steam at home against an Armagh side that hasn’t put more than 13 scores on the board in their last four games and lost Rian O’Neill to injury during the week.
The versatile Crossmaglen star tore a quad muscle at training on Tuesday night and is facing six-to-eight weeks on the sidelines. Armagh’s joint-captain, O’Neill has been the Orchard County’s top-scorer this season and has also been used as a ball-winner in midfielder and a tower-of-strength in the Orchard County defence.
This derby rarely goes along scripted lines but there can only be one winner unless Armagh somehow find a way to fill O’Neill’s shoes and come out and play against their auld enemy.
Doing so would be a welcome change after last weekend’s loss to Galway which was the low-point of Armagh’s season so far.
Once again supporters turned up in droves, once again they were served up a mundane main course as the home side made a meal of putting scores on the board (they managed just 1-6) and the goal came from goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty whose rampaging form has been one of the few things the Orchard faithful has had to cheer about.
From an Armagh perspective, the hope will be that the only way is up now but if Monaghan beat Mayo and they lose in Omagh they are going down to Division Two.
Amid all the gloom and doom that surrounds them, you’d guess that Armagh’s objective at the start of this campaign would have been to stay in Division One. It hasn’t been convincing, entertaining, or pretty but they’ve almost done enough to do that and they haven’t been beaten by more than a kick of the ball (two three-point defeats and a one-point loss in Kerry) in any game.
O’Neill’s injury is a hammerblow but there was some good news that Maghery midfielder Ben Crealey is fit again. If he is thrown back in against Tyrone he could give Armagh a foothold at centrefield, freeing up Andrew Murnin to take up position on the edge of the square and get that forward-thinking football back on again.
If Armagh’s strategic plan was to do enough to survive in the League and save their best for an Ulster Championship push it would explain their puzzling change of tactics. However, the Galway game was a wake-up call and defeat in Omagh will make it difficult for them to turn their season around. Losing is a difficult habit to shake-off.
While Armagh have won one of their last four, Tyrone won one of their first four and were in grave danger of relegation three weeks’ ago when Mayo beat them by 10 points.
Since then they’ve got their act together: First against Kerry at home and, last Sunday, they stitched together an impressive eight-point win against Monaghan in Clones.
Monaghan are struggling this season but Tyrone seem to be finding a bit of their old form at just the right time. After Monaghan’s opening score, the Red Hands didn’t concede from play for over an hour, their midfield duo Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick won ball and took turns providing a potent full-forward outlet. In attack, Darragh Canavan (0-3) and Darren McCurry (0-4) were bright and busy.
All-in-all it was an encouraging afternoon’s work for the Red Hands but Armagh, the team that beat them in League and Championship by six points last year, have the potential to be a much tougher nut to crack.
Of course, that depends on which Armagh turns up. Arguably the best passage of football Armagh produced this season came late on against Mayo when, looking beaten, they threw off their tactical straightjacket and went into full-attack mode to claim a draw.
Starting with that attitude is their best chance tomorrow because it’s hard to see the counter-attacking style employed against Kerry and Galway putting a match-winning dent in this Tyrone side.
It was feisty last year - four men from Tyrone and one from Armagh were sent off after a pile-on at the Athletic Grounds – and it’ll be feisty tomorrow.
A Monaghan win in Castlebar will throw the cat among the pigeons so both teams have to target a win and relegation pressure, the auld enemy and the stigma of last weekend’s drab display simply has to drive Armagh on to their best performance of the season.
O’Neill is a huge loss however and Tyrone have to start as favourites to get the win that, if results go their way elsewhere, could yet see them claim a place in the Division One final.
