Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GRUGAN’S EYE ON MAIN PRIZE
RORY GRUGAN would take a good National League with Armagh over a first Mckenna Cup win.
Orchard boss Kieran Mcgeeney played on the last Armagh team to win the trophy in 1994 but back-to-back wins over Monaghan and Donegal in the past week has set up a showdown with Tyrone in the final on Saturday night.
A week later newly promoted Armagh will kick off their Division Two campaign against Kildare and having been relegated the last time they were in the second tier in 2016, Grugan insists the Allianz League must take priority.
“Any time you are in with a chance of winning silverware it is nice for the supporters,” Grugan said.
“But overall, our bigger objective would be Division Two and the actual game preparation. Obviously it is a bit of a step up when you are going into a team that was top two last year (Tyrone). At this time of the year it’s good opportunities to play against top quality opposition.”
Armagh were fielding much stronger teams than their opponents, but still deserve credit for beating Monaghan and Donegal back-to-back to advance to the final.
The return of star forwards Jamie Clarke and Stefan Campbell, after both opted out last year, means Armagh will carry a huge threat as the year goes on.
For a deep-lying playmaker like Grugan, having those two inside makes his job a lot easier.
“Jamie and Stefan are coming in from a year away and Rian (O’neill) is only 20 years of age playing for the first time, so you have a full-forward line who haven’t played that much for Armagh yet.
“The type of game I like to play, it is great to have the like of those boys there, always showing. You know the ball in is going to stick.”