ARMAGH assistant Ciaran McKeever believes the Orchard men need to be “more ruthless” in front of goal and suspects they will have to raise a couple of green flags to overcome Cavan in Saturday’s Ulster SFC quarter-final at Breffni Park.
The Armagh camp endured some criticism for their lack of attacking threat during a Division One campaign which resulted in a surprise demotion on the last day of the season.
While Armagh improved their defensive set-up, they appeared to lose something in attack. The lack of goals has been a charge levelled at Kieran McGeeney’s side, hitting the net on just two occasions in seven League games and averaging a paltry 13.5 points per game.
They got their Championship campaign up and running with a business-like win over Antrim on April 8, but didn’t take any goal chances that came their way.
Facing a step-up in class on Saturday night, McKeever didn’t shy away from what Armagh need to do.
“A lot of aspects of our game were good against Antrim,” said the Cullyhanna man. “We probably just need to be more ruthless in front of goal when opportunities arise.
“One thing we’ve been doing is creating the opportunities; we didn’t need any goals the last day but we potentially might need one or two this weekend and if we create goal chances our boys have the capabilities to put them away.
“We look at that kind of thing in all our training sessions and focus on that part of our game. [But] The way teams are set up now, they’re very good defensively: the likes of Galway, Kerry and Roscommon, so it’s very hard to penetrate them but when you do get the chances it’s very important that your skill execution is clinical.”
What Armagh did reveal against Antrim was the squad’s underbelly is in good health. In the absence of Rian O’Neill Jarlath Og Burns and Andy Murnin, Shane McPartlan of Clan na Gael made his first start and was a man-of-the-match contender alongside Conor Turbitt.
“In Armagh, we feel we’ve got a bit of squad depth and Shane McPartlan was probably the stand-out player in club football last year by a good bit,” McKeever said.
“But when you come in out of club football, it is a step up. Shane was making steady progress throughout the League campaign and it was an opportunity to fire him in against Antrim to see how he goes, and we now know that he’s another player that we can rely on further down the track.”
Those who missed out on the Antrim game, either through injury or illness, are in line to be recalled ahead of Saturday night’s showdown with Cavan.
“We feel the squad is getting to a healthier place again,” McKeever , who retired from county duty in 2017, confirmed.
“Our two big concerns ahead of the Antrim game were Rian and Andrew and we’re hopeful they’ll make the match-day squad for the weekend.”
With Monaghan and Tyrone emptying the tanking in the name of the Anglo-Celt Cup last Sunday, McKeever says Armagh have tried to pull the lens back on their year, acknowledging that an Ulster title has probably lost a bit of its prestige due to the Championship tweaks in 2023.
“Look, everybody knows how the whole split season is going and how important the Super 16s are for most teams. We’re all competitors in Ulster and every time you go out you want to win. We’re preparing for this Cavan game on Saturday and we want to win. We want to get through to the next round.
“At the same time we have one eye on the Super 16s and we want to have a healthy squad for that and tweaking parts of our game to be at full tilt for the business end of the year.”
The sides met in a McKenna Cup match in Breffni Park where Cavan eased to a five-point victory – but both teams emptied their benches in the pre-season clash and therefore little could be gleaned from the game.
“They made a number of changes during the second half and we changed our entire team at half-time, so there’s nothing to delve into there. But we probably have a bit of history with Cavan through the years.
“They’re very strong – right up the spine of their team and have some very decent players: Ciaran Brady, the Smiths [James and Gerard], [Conor] Madden, so we’re under no illusions that Saturday night is going to be a difficult test. I suppose they’re coming in with confidence with back-to-back promotions.
“They’ve a good blend of size and athletic ability which is what you want, and they’ve Dara McVeety back who is an excellent player and seems to have steadied the ship for them around the middle eight.”
The fact that Armagh are on their travels for Saturday’s clash, McKeever feels, may suit them given the dimensions of Breffni Park.
“If anything, Breffni Park might suit us that wee bit better because it’s a big pitch and very close to the dimensions of Croke Park,” he said.
“Armagh always get great support and if we get any momentum in the game, it’ll probably feel like a home match to us, but I really don’t think home advantage has any bearing on these games.”
