Gal will be estroy each other
ING TO BE ARD’S DAY
It’ll be the same whenever Casement Park is finished and takes over as the main GAA ground in Ulster.
For me, the Ulster Championship and its final is a feeling, it doesn’t matter where we play it.
Clear
Jim McGuinness has made it clear he loves the thing; it annoys him to see people disrespect it — which I’ve continually done since I’ve stood back and watched the Championships play out.
The way Jim set Donegal up against Tyrone and Derry shows he views the Ulster Championship as attritional warfare.
The higher press Donegal played at times in the League wasn’t seen, Jim just wants to win the thing and I expect a fiery interview afterwards where Jim gives the two fingers to any provincial doubters —should they do so.
For Donegal to come through
Tyrone and Derry and lose to Armagh would be frustrating — and that is a word I’d use with
Armagh quite a lot if I was supporting them.
They have so much potential and just continually flatter to deceive.
Now they did do just enough to get over the line against Down, their last score was intelligent, wellworked and a brilliant team score but where was that for the rest of the game? Why let the game become a dog fight?
Score
A well organised, upfor-the-fight Division Three team really made Armagh sweat.
That last score against Down is what worries me going into this game. That’s the passage of play that Kieran McGeeney and Co will be honing in on.
I’d say McGeeney is more frustrated than anyone watching on.
For what he’s given to Armagh during his time in management, he deserves an Ulster title but football Gods laugh at the word ‘deserves’.
There had been talk about getting someone new into the manager’s role and McGeeney wasn’t certain to be given another year.
But the players wanted him to stay on and that’s as good a barometer as you can get for the feeling in the squad.
McGeeney has taken in good men to work with him so I feel he’s ticked a lot of boxes, but Armagh have issues at times that they should have binned long ago. I think they can be overly aggressive, and with a tendency to do silly things on the field.
Do Armagh press up on Shaun Patton? Tyrone made it clear that their intention was to drop off from every kick if Patton was on the ball, I think Armagh will too — but not every time.
They did well on Patton’s kickouts in the Division Two final so they’ll take joy from that.
On the other side the mood music from Armagh is that Ethan Rafferty (left) is fit to go and, if I’m McGeeney and feeling the pressure, I’m going to roll the dice and play him.
From general play, Rafferty is a man that can break a line and, in the Tyrone game, Niall Morgan was in the running for man of the match because of the way Donegal set up.
I think Rafferty can benefit the same way.
Worries
I don’t see Donegal changing too much and they’ll pick up the Armagh dangermen, trusting the zonal defence to cater for everyone else.
I think Armagh will have learned plenty from the Down game and that worries me.
You can chat away about it being Armagh’s time and that they deserve this one and so on.
But it will come down to what they’ve learned and if they’re able to apply the lessons. Unfortunately I think they will.
Armagh are sick of people being frustrated with them.
It will be their day in Clones.