To start Stefan Campbell or leave him on the bench.
It’s a conundrum that the Armagh management may be wrestling with as they finalise their All-Ireland final lineup.
The Ulster final aside, The Lurgan man has been held in reserve and used as an impact sub for all of Armagh’s big games this season.
He came on against Donegal in the Division 2 league final and was brought on more recently for each of their last three Championship games.
As regular as clockwork, Campbell came on at half-time in each of those three matches, registering a point against Galway, two against Roscommon and two more in the extra-time win over Kerry.
He had a scoring impact in the league final too, hitting a point against Donegal at Croke Park.
The problem for Aaron Kernan, a former Armagh team-mate, is that he believes in starting your best players - and he counts ‘Soupy’ among those.
“I would struggle to get my head around not playing your best players from the start,” said Kernan, a BoyleSports ambassador. “I was chatting to Diarmuid Connolly recently and Stefan is the closest thing I have experienced in Armagh football to someone who has that skill set.
“I played with him for Armagh when he first came onto the panel. He obviously didn’t have the consistency or the self belief he has now but he was such a natural. You never knew what side he would take you on, right or left.
![Aaron Kernan was one of the best of his generation](https://www.irishnews.com/resizer/v2/XCVNLRNAY5JPZE5K2IFRMXPMPM.jpg?auth=094af6588d193517f1b541ef655beffdc93a7a7cffb24b6fde4d8afd9313018f&width=800&height=787)
“Sometimes he would be a bit off balance and you would think, he is not going to take you on or shoot on this side because he’s off balance and then he’d fire a shot from an improbable angle and score from there.
“He is just an out and out forward. He has all the skill set, all the quality you’d want and physically has continued to develop. So I would start him and always would but I can’t see him starting this weekend. I think literally at half-time, as we’ve seen in the past few weeks, there will be someone who isn’t maybe hitting a seven or an eight-out-of-10, he will be coming off.
“Geezer has shown they can rejig their team in terms of moving around whoever it is to free up that space for Stefan to come in at half-forward.”
It is not just an issue for the management but for Campbell himself to get his head around and be comfortable with. He started five of Armagh’s first six league games this season and must have considered himself a regular at that stage. Similarly, he lined out in their first five Championship games, returning 1-5 in that period but was taken off against Derry in the group game at Celtic Park and hasn’t started since.
“He has been hugely influential but it’s something he would have had to get his head around,” said Crossmaglen man Kernan. “I would imagine there was a conversation between himself and Geezer where he was told, ‘This is what I want from you, this is the role’. He’s coming on now and he’s delivering and I think he will do the same role this weekend and they’ll be looking for the same impact from him again.”