Ulster Minor Football Championship quarter-final: Cavan v Armagh
(Sunday, Kingspan Breffni Park, 1.30pm)
THE minor battle between Armagh and Cavan could be settled by a good old-fashioned battle between two top-class forwards. Both counties possess gems across the pitch, but two of those in particular should engage in a scoring battle.
For Cavan, it will be livewire Thomas Edward Donohoe, scorer of 2-3 as St Patrick’s, Cavan claimed the MacRory Cup in 2015. Donohoe already made his mark on this side last year, scoring 1-2 as they narrowly lost out in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Kildare and will be their key forward against the Orchard county.
Manager Danny Brady is well aware of his talent as he was also in charge in 2014 as the county’s U16s claimed the Gerry Reilly Cup, with Donohoe starring in the final against Dublin.
Many of those players have progressed to the minor ranks, with prominent players such as Stephen Smith, Eoin Smith and Conor Rehill set to take up starting spots at Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday.
Armagh boss Paul McGrane, meanwhile, will be putting his faith in centre-half forward Rian O’Neill. The Crossmaglen man is the younger brother of Oisin, who rose to prominence in the side’s Ulster and All-Ireland campaigns last season.
Like his brother, he has pace and power in abundance and a real eye for a score from distance. That was especially evident in this year’s MacRory Cup as he posted some massive tallies for St Colman’s College.
He also provided plenty of ammunition for full-forward Eoghan McDonnell. The Mullaghbawn man is the son of former Armagh senior manager Peter and he scored goals for fun for the Newry school.
Their hopes of MacRory glory ended following a shock loss to St Ronan’s in February and it is the Lurgan school that makes up the bulk of the panel. McGrane has called up no less than 10 of the squad that reached the last-four of the competition, seven from Clann Eireann and three from Sarsfield's.
McGrane is not keen on media interviews so, instead, the camp released a statement to the press outlining how their preparations have been going. While they recorded a comfortable 2-11 to 0-7 win over Cavan in the Ulster Minor League, they were keen to point to Cavan’s recent strength in the competition.
“Cavan have a large proportion of their panel who were involved last year when they reached an Ulster minor final,” the statement read.
“So Armagh recognise they are facing a major challenge. It is a proud day for the players to represent their county in Championship football and they are looking forward to the challenge they face. There’s a great mix of players from clubs all over the county and up to six schools are represented in the squad.”
When these sides met two years ago, Oisin O’Neill stole the show to send Armagh through. The pressure is now on his brother to follow suit - it’s pressure he can deal with.
