'Armagh will have too much for Antrim in Corrigan contest'published at 10:09 12 April
10:09 12 April
As I touched on last week, Armagh will be putting a lot of energy into the Ulster Championship this year.
They have lost the last two Ulster finals on penalties and I have no doubt they will throw everything at this championship to try and lift the Anglo-Celt for the first time since 2008.
Some of their - the likes of Stefan Campbell, Rory Grugan and Aidan Forker - have been knocking on the door of Ulster for a long time and their desire to add a provincial title to their CV is part of what makes Armagh dangerous in this series.
Kieran McGeeney is obviously without the services of Rian O'Neill at the moment. His absence could hurt Armagh later in the summer, but they should have enough depth and scoring power to see off Antrim on Saturday.
Armagh's Ulster wins over Antrim in 2021 and 2023 had 13 and nine-point margins. If Armagh click into gear early on Saturday, it could be a similar story.
Armagh name six All-Ireland starters for Antrim gamepublished at 09:47 11 April
09:47 11 April
Image source, Inpho
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Barry McCambridge and Connaire Mackin are among the six All-Ireland Final starters named in the Armagh team for Saturday's Ulster SFC game against Antrim which will be live on BBC Two NI and the BBC iPlayer
Armagh's team for Saturday's Ulster Football Championship contest against Antrim at Corrigan Park (12:30 BST) includes only six of last July's All-Ireland Final starting side.
While changes to the squad announced on Thursday night are highly possible, as it stands Paddy Burns, Barry McCambridge, Connaire Mackin, Rory Grugan, Tiernan Kelly and Andrew Murnin are the players retained from the All-Ireland Final line-up.
The changes include Ethan Rafferty replacing Blaine Hughes in goal with championship debutant Tomas McCormack, Ross McQuillan and Greg McCabe drafted into the defence.
All-Ireland winning captain and All-Star Aidan Forker, who was troubled by injury during the league campaign, is named on the bench.
Callum O'Neill and Ciaran Mackin form the midfield partnership with All-Ireland centrefield starters Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey not in the matchday squad.
Crealey is among four of the six Armagh All-Stars from last season who, as it stands, will not be involved with Rian O'Neill, Oisin Conaty and Conor Turbitt also missing from the 26-man squad.
McCambridge and skipper Forker were Armagh's two other 2024 All-Stars.
Rian O'Neill remains absent after not featuring during the Allianz Football League, with Kieran McGeeney saying last month that he didn't expect the Crossmaglen man to play for the county this year.
With Tiernan Kelly switching from centre half-back to right full-forward, Darragh McMullen is handed a championship debut in an attack that also includes Peter McGrane and Stefan Campbell, who set up Aaron McKay's crucial second-half goal in the All-Ireland decider.
McKay and Joe McElroy are the other All-Ireland starters from last July not named in the matchday squad.
Antrim have named 10 of the team that started in last year's Ulster defeat by Down.
Andy McEntee has handed championship debuts to Jack Lenehan at centre half-back and Fionn Nagle at wing-forward.
The other changes from the Newry game last year see James McAuley, Eunan Quinn and Niall Burns drafted into the side.
Antrim: M Byrne; E McCabe, E Walsh, K Keenan; J McAuley, J Lenehan, D McAleese; C Hand, E Quinn; P McBride, N Burns, F Nagle; R McQuillan, R McCann, D McEnhill.
Subs: L Mulholland, A Loughran, C Johnston, C Stewart, J McDonnell, J Morgan, M Jordan, P Finnegan, P King, R Boyle, R Murray.
Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge, T McCormack; R McQuillan, G McCabe, Connaire Mackin; C O'Neill, Ciaran Mackin; D McMullen, R Grugan, P McGrane; T Kelly, A Murnin, S Campbell.
Substitutes: B Hughes, G Murphy, C Higgins, A Forker (capt), J Og Burns, C McConville, J Hall, S Martlan, O'Neill, S Conlon, C O'Hanlon
McElholm '100% committed' to Tyrone U20s - Devlinpublished at 09:18 10 April
09:18 10 April
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Eoin McElholm (right) has made a number of appearances for Tyrone's seniors since making his debut as a substitute in last summer's All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final defeat by Roscommon
Paul Devlin insists Loughmacrory talent Eoin McElholm is "100% committed" to the Tyrone under-20 squad but his non-involvement in Wednesday's U20 win over Antrim potentially keeps the door open to him featuring in Sunday's Ulster SFC game against Cavan in Omagh.
McElholm missed the defending All-Ireland U20 champions' Ulster contest against Donegal last week as he travelled to Portugal with the Tyrone seniors for a pre-championship training camp.
He was a late inclusion on the bench for Wednesday night's win over Antrim but didn't come on and was scarcely needed as the Red Hands earned a dominant 2-24 to 0-10 win in Dungannon.
"Eoin will be ready to go when we need him. We just felt tonight there was plenty of time to give other fellows game time," said Devlin after his side's 20-point victory at O'Neill Park.
"A few rumours going around, papers and stuff, that Eoin's committed to the seniors but Eoin is committed to ourselves 100%.
"He was away on that training camp last week. [And] You give an opportunity to another lad last week to see where he is."
The Tyrone U20s will take on Armagh in a straight knockout Ulster quarter-final next Wednesday in Dungannon after completing their group matches in the competition
Devlin's Tyrone U20s have won two of the last three All-Ireland titles with McElholm ing the likes of Ruairi Canavan, Seanie O'Donnell, Niall Devlin and Liam Gray in making the transition into the senior .
"It's the desire they have. They want to push on into senior football. It's a big commitment and lifestyle and everything and it's great to see them pushing on at that level," added Devlin.
"It takes a bit of time to bed in. The defenders they come up against have a lot more physicality so you have to be patient with lads like that coming through.
"Great talents that they are, if we force them too much, they could be sitting on the sideline and not getting much football out of them. It's worked well over the last couple of years and long may it continue."
Cavan took Tyrone to extra-time in the Ulster SFC at Breffni Park last year and Devlin is expecting the seniors to have a tough battle again, with Red Hand county great Stephen O'Neill also part of Raymond Galligan's management team.
"We know the coach that Stevie is, a fantastic coach. We had him a couple of times at the under-20s helping out.
"It'll be a tough game and one Tyrone will be wary of but if they get everything right and all their players available they'll be in a good place."
McConville was 'the difference' for Armagh - Houlahanpublished at 11:47 9 April
11:47 9 April
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Ger Houlahan played for Armagh between 1983 and 2000
Houlahan, who secured an All-Star in 1993 and was part of the county's Ulster Championship winning squads in 1999 and 2000, said McConville was "the difference between Armagh being an ordinary team and being an All-Ireland team".
"We had some great games but just couldn't get over the line. With him around, you always got over the line," said Houlahan, who made his county debut in 1983 and remained part of the squad until 2000.
"I Joey Donnelly who was a corner-back trying frees…..John Rafferty when you [McConville] were coming into the set-up taking frees but they were never free-kick takers.
"It just came so naturally to Oisin and he was ballsy enough to score the big ones. That was the difference."
In a highly entertaining podcast, McConville laughed as he recalled Houlahan's attempts to console after his sending off in the Ulster Football Championship replay against Donegal in 1999.
"Houlie [who was on the bench] followed me just to make sure I was OK because I went straight into the changing-room. I was absolutely devastated. I was accused of elbowing Niall McCready. I actually ended up getting it rescinded on the video evidence.
"I saying at the time 'That's us.....we're up the left now' and Houlie said 'yeah….you were our only chance'. But we actually won the game. [Diarmaid] Marsden had an absolute stormer."
McConville added that he had watched the Pearse Ogs man "for 10 years with club and county".
"He was an absolute wizard. His left foot was wonderful," added the current Wicklow manager.
"But he was so encouraging to me because he instilled confidence in me.
"Every single free-kick on the pitch, he's be saying 'that's your free-kick'…..no matter where it was on the pitch. He wanted me on it. I came on the at 18 and if you have that sort of backing, it's nice. We had great fun too."
Their fun included owning a greyhound together with a couple of other Armagh squad which raced on local tracks.
Houlahan's sporting career included a soccer stint at Sligo Rovers and he revealed that then Portadown FC manager Ronnie McFall attempted to sign him at one point.
Ger Houlahan s The GAA Social this weekpublished at 08:45 9 April
08:45 9 April
Image source, BBC Sport
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Ger Houlahan spoke to Thomas Niblock and his former Armagh team-mate Oisin McConville on The GAA Social
On this week's GAA Social podcast, Thomas and Oisin sit down with former Armagh footballer and 1993 All-Star Ger Houlahan.
The popular Pearse Og club-man wore the Orange Armagh jersey between 1983 and 2000 and was part of the squad which won Ulster titles in 1999 and 2000.
'Houlie', as he was known, fondly recalls his playing days which even included him being asked to give a coaching session to Ulster rugby players so that they could improve their handlings skills.
The full-forward, whose goal-scoring exploits in the 1993 Ulster Championship secured him his All-Star, also had a successful stint in TV punditry as the media profile of gaelic games rose massively amid the successes of Ulster counties in the 1990s and early 2000s.
His TV role also included him being on co-commentary duties for a number of big championship matches.
Ger also gives his thoughts on Armagh's All-Ireland triumph last year and whether they can go back-to-back.
Armagh set for majority crowd at Corrigan Parkpublished at 15:09 8 April
15:09 8 April
Mark Sidebottom BBC Sport NI
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Antrim play their home matches at Corrigan Park in Belfast
There will be nearly 3000 Armagh fans at Corrigan Park on Saturday for the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final with Antrim.
With capacity at 4000, sources close to the ticketing arrangements have confirmed to BBC Sport NI that the All-Ireland champions will have a larger allocation than the home side Antrim - outnumbering their hosts ers by approximately three to one.
No tickets will be available on general sale for the match and neither Antrim GAA or Ulster GAA have commented on the breakdown of tickets.
BBC Sport NI has learned that first preference for tickets went to Armagh's existing season ticket holders - approximately 2000 - with the remaining tickets distributed evenly between both counties.
The west Belfast venue was eventually confirmed as the host for the quarter-final in March after the Ulster GAA initially stated that the game would be played at Newry's Pairc Esler.
Antrim's players had been resolute with their stance of playing at their designated home venue, and said that they would not play the game unless it was at Corrigan Park.
Ulster GAA agreed to reverse their earlier decision for the game to be played in Newry after being "satisfied with further assurances given by Antrim GAA".
It is understood the responsibility for stewarding the match shared between Antrim GAA and Ulster GAA and that there will be a presence from Belfast City Council at the venue on Saturday with sources at Antrim telling BBC Sport NI they are "confident everything is robust".
Corrigan Park has undergone some remedial work to help prepare for the glamour tie with Armagh, with new media facilities installed while fans will be housed behind both sets of goalposts to maximise capacity.
The match, which will be the first Championship outing for Kieran McGeeney's Armagh side since winning the All-Ireland final last July, will be broadcast live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website from 12:10 BST.
Monaghan 'have tools to ask questions of Donegal' published at 06:32 8 April
06:32 8 April
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Conor McManus in action against Donegal's Ryan McHugh during his playing days
Former talismanic Monaghan forward Conor McManus, who called time on his inter-county career in January, says the Farney county "have the tools to ask questions" of Donegal in the Ulster SFC quarter-final meeting between the sides on 20 April.
McManus, now a pundit with BBC Sport NI, told The GAA Social podcast that it would, however, be "a big ask and a big task" for Monaghan to overcome Jim McGuinness's side at Clones in their last-eight encounter.
Gabriel Bannigan's team topped the Division Two standings in the Football League and defeated Roscommon in the divisional final.
"It would be a great one to be getting ready for as a player. I know the Monaghan lads will be looking forward to it," reflected McManus after watching Donegal overcome Derry in the preliminary round.
"They're coming into it with confidence from the league campaign they've had but they're also coming up against probably the form team in the country.
"Donegal were the best team in the league in the first three or four games [of the Football League], then they switched things around and got ready for Derry [in the Ulster SFC] so you couldn't read into their late league form.
"They are the best team in the country at the moment on form, while Monaghan have probably been playing lower standard teams in Division Two, so this is the best team they will have played in a long time."
McManus expects a competitive and entertaining game, one in which both sides go into with plenty of incentive.
"I do expect it to be a decent game. Monaghan have a decent record against Donegal over the years but I'm fairly sure that that's something Donegal and Jim McGuinness will be homing in on, this record that's so well talked about. They'll want to put that right.
"Everything will have to go right for Monaghan to win. On looking at Donegal against Derry they weren't perfect, they were far from perfect.
"Derry got through them quite easily early doors in the first 15 or 20 minutes and they won their penalty, they got their goal, they fisted over a couple of points so they got a couple of easy scores that you wouldn't think you would necessarily get against this Donegal team, but they did.
"So, they're going into this game [against Monaghan] with something to work on, which I suppose is a positive for Jim McGuinness and his team."
'A lot of questions to be answered' for Derry - McMahonpublished at 13:29 7 April
13:29 7 April
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Paddy Tally succeeded Mickey Harte as Derry manager
BBC Sport NI analyst Philly McMahon says there are "a lot of questions to be answered" for Derry after their 1-25 to 1-15 defeat by Donegal in their opening Ulster SFC encounter at Ballybofey.
The eight-time All-Ireland winner with Dublin told the BBC's GAA Social podcast he believes the Oak Leafers' relatively late appointment of Paddy Tally as their new boss in November may have put them on the back foot.
Derry were relegated from Division One last month after picking up just a single point from their seven Football League outings.
"They had a slow start to the season with being back so late with Paddy Tally and his management team so that's quite difficult for them to get going," said McMahon.
"That probably fed into their league campaign. I think they had shown good spells in the league. They could have got a couple more points on the board but that has bled into today's [Sunday's] game.
"There was one team that was showing confidence and another that is showing under-confidence, under-performance. How they get it together now over the next few weeks is going to be important for them.
"There are a lot of questions to be answered and they'll have time to build on things."
McMahon believes the fact that Brendan Rogers was Derry's standout player was both a positive and a negative.
"They're trying to get results and performances but sometimes that can be counter-productive because you do your own thing or you don't do what you should be doing.
"You look at [Brendan] Rogers and for me he was the only player who was giving it to Donegal as much as he could.
"That's a good thing and a bad thing. When you see someone standing out like that it's like 'what's their system, what's their structure">
