ARMAGH hurling manager Padraig ‘Tadagh’ O’Connor feels that his team need at least two points from their next two games if they are to reach the semi-final of the Nicky Rackard Cup.
Next up for the Orchard is a tricky away trip against Warwickshire, which takes place in Pairc na hEireann, in Birmingham, today (Saturday) at 1pm, and the Armagh boss knows his side have a tough assignment.
Warwickshire got their campaign off to an excellent start last weekend with a 1-15 to 1-12 win over Longford, with John Collins in impressive form, while Armagh finished strongly in last quarter to beat a decent Monaghan by six points in the Athletic Grounds.
Armagh flew out to Birmingham last night (Friday) and the Orchard boss insists that an overnight stay can make all the difference.
“It doesn’t matter where it is, when you get on a plane it puts everyone in great form and when it lands a team feels like going into party mood, it’s only natural,” said O’Connor.
“But by staying overnight, they can enjoy that buzz and then get up fresh in the morning and focused on the game, whereas if we flew over and back on Saturday that would be difficult.”
Dean Gaffney, Nathan Curry, Dylan McKenna and Danny Magee were put in excellent performances, with a combined score of 2-15 from their winning score of 2-20 to 2-14 and the significance of that win wasn’t lost on the Armagh manager.
“It would have been a totally different mood had we lost [against Monaghan] and going to Birmingham not knowing what we are facing,” O’Connor said.
“Our season may have taken a totally different route but now we are looking that two points out of the next two games [Warwickshire and Longford], which should be enough to guarantee a semi-final spot.”
And it is only at the latter stages where the Armagh boss feels his side will find out what standard they are at
“The target is to get out of the group and perform well in a semi-final,” said O’Connor.
“We are building a base and we want to be competitive and if we reach a semi-final we are likely to come up against Tyrone or Mayo and that would be a big ask. But we will be able to gage where we are if we reach a Nicky Rackard Cup semi-final.”
