ARMAGH are aiming to pick up their first win of the championship campaign following their opening draw with Antrim.
The Orchard county carried a three-point lead into the interval, but a late Antrim score saw them claim a share of the spoils.
Team captain Daragh McNulty top scored with 0-3 (two frees) while Ryan Nugent, Niall McParland and Calum Hughes also raised white flags as Armagh headed into the break with a 0-6 to 0-3 advantage.
But the hosts only scored twice after the turnaround, through Paul Hendron and Shea Carr, as Antrim’s second half revival paid off. Armagh manager Brendan Hughes, now in his third year in charge, is expecting a step up in class against Tyrone in round two.
“It was tough on my mum and dad. I knew I was self-destructing. And I also knew the next phase of that, if I had carried on, it was not being here. I was in a very dark place...” - the life and times of Caolan Mooney
Cookstown joint-manager Jason Quinn doesn’t underestimate the challenge of Four Masters in the Ulster semi-final
Hughes’s side travel to Omagh on Saturday to take on the reigning Ulster champions, who got their title defence off to a winning start against Cavan in round one, seeing off the Breffni Blues 1-10 to 0-12.
Hughes pointed to the winning mentality and quality of player that Tyrone have in their ranks.
“They won it (Ulster) last year, and they still have a number of players from that team this year. They won the Buncrana Cup as well,” stated Hughes.
“They have very, very strong players, including two players who were on the Omagh team that just won the Hogan Cup, and two players from the Holy Trinity team, who they beat in the MacRory Cup final.
“They also have a number of players from the Donaghmore team that won the Paddy Drummond Cup, including Conor O’Neill, the captain. So, they’ll have plenty of good players to pick from. They’ll be decent, that’s one way of putting it.”
Armagh experienced a difficult league campaign, suffering three defeats on the trot following an opening day win over Antrim. But that provided the panel with plenty of game time and gave Hughes a chance to mix things up.
“Very few players played in the same position twice, so from that point of view, we wanted to test each player’s versatility.
“The way football is played now, realistically, everybody is a defender, and everybody is a forward. There are only two scenarios: either you have the ball, or you don’t. Players have a role to play in both cases, and we feel as though things are coming along well in that sense.”
