DIVISION One newboys Armagh could not have asked for tougher opposition than Ulster rivals Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan in this year’s Division One North, says former Orchard skipper Jimmy Smyth.
On their return to the top flight for the first time since 2012, Kieran McGeeney’s side face a demanding series of provincial derbies in the new league format, which has been introduced to limit travel and the curb the spread of coronavirus.
Before Cavan broke the mould last year, Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan had shared the previous 11 Ulster titles between them and Smyth – the Orchard county skipper in the 1977 All-Ireland final – says Armagh’s performances in Division One North will be an accurate indicator of their prospects this season.
“It was always going to be tough and with this new format, where it’s almost like an Ulster Championship – they play Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan – makes it tougher,” said the Clan na Gael clubman.
“There is a lot of talk about Donegal coming back this year again after they missed out (on the Ulster Championship) last year. Monaghan have seen Cavan win the Championship so there will be no teamtalks required there from ‘Banty’ (manager Seamus McEnaney). And then you have Tyrone under their new management of Mr Logan (Fearghal) and Mr Dooher (Brian).
“So Armagh couldn’t really have picked three worse opponents for themselves. I’m not saying Armagh can’t do it but they’re going to be put to the pin of their collar. Put it this way, when they have played those three matches they will know exactly where they are in the grand scheme of things.”
As chairman of Ulster Vocational Schools GAA, Smyth is at the forefront of organising and promoting the 70 different competitions run across age groups, codes and levels in the North. He was a MacRory Cup and Hogan Cup winner during his time at St Colman’s College and a picture of the successful team he played in hangs on the wall of the Violet Hill school alongside the many other cup-winning sides.
He lamented the fact that, due to coronavirus and for the first time since the competition began back in 1923, the MacRory Cup final was not played last year, leaving a “gap on the wall” where a photo of the 2020 champions – either St Colman’s or fellow finalists St Patrick’s, Maghera - should have been.
“When you’re a first year at a school and you walk along a corridor, you see all the football teams that represented the school and were successful in the MacRory,” Smyth pointed out.
“When I went to St Colman’s I looked at the 1949 team – Kevin Mussen was captain – and you say to yourself: ‘I wonder will I ever be up on that wall?’ This year those lads from St Colman’s and Maghera went right through the year to get to the MacRory Cup final, as did St Patrick’s, Magherafelt and Our Lady and St Patrick’s, Knock who got to the MacLarnon final.
“Those finals were their days in the sun on St Patrick’s Day with BBC cameras and the whole lot and if they’d won, they knew that when they returned to their old school in 30 years’ time with their son and they walked along the corridor they would have their picture on the wall.
“But now there’ll be a gap on the wall and they’ll say: ‘See that year there son, 2020, we got to the final but we never got a chance to play it…’
“That’s the big killer, the one that got away.”
