Kieran McGeeney reckons Armagh will face a Derry side at its most dangerous when they meet in the All-Ireland series on Sunday.
The Armagh manager says Derry are “the best team in Division One” and believes their recent back-to-back championship defeats will only make Mickey Harte’s side even tougher to beat in round two of the All-Ireland series.
Armagh travel to Celtic Park on the back of an opening-round win over Westmeath and are braced for what McGeeney knows will be one of their most difficult games of the year.
“In sport, you can go from hero to zero, but look at the way Derry played against Dublin in the National League final.
“They haven’t gone that far away from it and I just think Derry are not in as bad a place as people would put them.”
While past meetings count for nothing, up to and including last year’s Ulster final which Armagh looked in control of for a while before eventually losing via a penalty shoot-out, it is worth reflecting on their respective records in the All-Ireland series.
From 2015 when McGeeney took sole charge, Armagh played in 14 qualifiers and won 11 of them.
And when the format was tweaked again last year with the introduction of the Super 16s, Armagh topped their group with two wins from three, before losing yet another penalty shoot-out to Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
McGeeney’s critics might suggest the reason Armagh had such a good record in the back-door all those years is because they had plenty of practice, given their lack of success in the Ulster Championship.
Yet there is plenty of evidence to suggest that once they leave the provincial competition behind them, they can prosper on another path.
Over the same time period, Derry won six of the nine qualifiers they played and of course were back-to-back Ulster champions in 2022 and 2023.
Mickey Harte's team will be keen to remind everyone of their capabilities on Sunday and while there was a malfunction of sorts in their Ulster Championship exit against Donegal, Harte was happy with how 14-man Derry performed in their five-point loss to Galway in Salthill.
McGeeney saw enough in that game too to convince him that Derry, who like Armagh have their injury problems to contend with this week, haven’t gone anywhere.
“Watching the game as a manager you see things that don’t suit a particular narrative and when you’re hitting the guts of 30 shots in a game, you’re doing something right, so we know we have a huge job to do to try and stop that,” he said.
“They’re still one of the best attacking teams off the front foot and a quality side.”
McGeeney isn’t afraid to talk up his own team while still being respectful of the awesome threat Derry possess.
“(Shane) McGuigan, (Ethan) Doherty and (Paul) Cassidy, they have loads of midfielders who can score as well and (Conor) McCloskey from corner-back, and they are Division One champions with a point to prove," he said.
“They have serious pace throughout the team as well so we know we’re up against a quality side and it’s going to be one of the toughest games of the year.”
And what of his own team?
“Rory (Grugan), Aidan Forker and Rian (O’Neill)… they’re some of the best players in the country - I’m not saying we’re better than any of the other teams but we have some of the best players in the country, there’s no doubt about that.
“We have shown we can live with teams but we just need to get that win, like we got in 1999 against Derry.”
McGeeney was referring back to his own playing days when Armagh beat the Oak Leafers in the 1999 Ulster final, which ignited a golden decade for Armagh who were captained by McGeeney to the All-Ireland in 2002 and also won a magnificent seven Ulster titles between 1999 and 2008.
“Armagh couldn’t beat them (Derry) for years but we got a victory and the next thing you just play differently, even when you’re playing bad you know how to squeeze out a game.
“With these fellas they just need to get one over the line to give them that wee bit of confidence. We have games in front of us that will give them the opportunity and hopefully they’ll avail of it.”
