Armagh can step up and be a major force in Division Two, says McCorry

WHEN Armagh lost a posse of experienced players at the start of the season, it was felt that this would jettison their chances of making headway in the league and Championship.

Indeed, it was believed that the absence of Stefan Campbell, Jamie Clarke, Ciaron O’Hanlon and Caolan Rafferty would render the task of management duo Kieran McGeeney and Jim McCorry particularly difficult.

Yet the Orchard County managed to win promotion to Division Two before making a reasonable impact in the All-Ireland series before succumbing to Roscommon.

And if the presence of the old hands was initially missed, then it was the unavailability of a quartet of the most exciting talent within the squad that was ultimately to eradicate the team’s arrival in the Super 8s.

Injuries kept Ethan Rafferty, Paul Hughes, Ben Crealey and Aaron McKay out of the picture at what was a critical period of the season but now McCorry, who along with McGeeney will assess players in tonight’s Ballymacnab v Maghery Championship semi-final and in Sunday’s second semi between Crossmaglen Rangers and St Patrick’s, feels that if Armagh can get up to something like full strength again, they can become a force in Division Two.

“We lost experienced players in the first instance and then we lost some of our brightest young players so these were difficult blows to absorb,” reflected McCorry. “We are now going up a level to Division Two and if you look at the quality of the sides we will be meeting — the likes of Donegal, Kildare, Meath, Tipperary and Cork — you can quickly see that it is going to be difficult.

“But having said that, we are looking forward to these games because it means we will be getting the chance to test ourselves against better sides.

“I cannot think of better preparation for the Championship. We were tested in Division Three and came out with flying colours and now we want to do the same in Division Two.”

The non-availability of key players has been an ongoing problem for manager McGeeney virtually since he took over the Orchard side but neither he nor McCorry are in any way despondent as they set their sights on 2019.

Indeed, the absence of certain faces has allowed players like Ryan McShane, Joe McElroy, Ross McQuillan, Connaire Mackin and Ryan Owens to familiarise themselves with action at inter-county level and the hope is that they can progress further next year.

“It’s always a problem to lose players for whatever reason but most managers encounter this and have to deal with it,” pointed out McCorry.

“We will have a look at players this weekend and then take things from there. The two Championship semi-finals will see a lot of experienced players and some more youthful talent in action so it should be interesting.” Talent trawl: Jim McCorry is keen to boost Armagh squad