This is one Sunday when Armagh could do without having the neighbours round. Tyrone in March, polished and looking for points, is not the lightest of propositions.

"I dunno, the games against Offaly and Galway and teams like that, there doesn't seem to be as much pressure. Maybe it's because on Sunday many of the lads will know each other, have gone to college together or whatever and it seems to bring added bite to the games. You end up with very competitive matches which often aren't very good to watch," says co-manager Brian Canavan.

Armagh, though, need every scrap of game time they can get. These evenings, when Diarmuid Marsden punts a ball around the pitch in Armagh, he finds himself wondering at the faces. Still feels like a wain himself, but at 24 he knows the circuit all too well.

At home, he has a video of 1992 All-Ireland final day which has been screened no more than twice. Hellish old images; clear day, those blazing orange jerseys, the Meath minors crafting a goal in the dying seconds, half a dozen Armagh lads with crew cuts sinking to their knees. They had heard all about these sort of southern days from their forefathers.

Marsden was still 16 that year and played with the county minor side the following summer as well. An early exit elevated him straight into the seniors along with Des Mackin and almost immediately, Armagh football looked a more potent force.

He's been there since, save for an injury-plagued 12 months a couple of seasons back, yet so far he has done precious little travelling with his county. They have never stepped outside the province in the summer.

"There is pressure this year, certainly. We are under no illusions, we feel we have to do it, no excuses. I think every player is always aware of the championship, but, to be honest, we are very keen to make the league play-offs. We are after games," he says.

It hardly started optimistically. They managed a derisory six points against Donegal back in November and a fortnight later drew with Dublin. Then, they went to Tuam and Marsden burnt Gary Fahy's fingers, banging in 12 in six minutes.

"Ah, we went well that game and it was a lift, certainly. Galway were a wee bit tired. But the big game for us was the Donegal game. We were just so bad that when we went into the dressingroom afterwards, everyone knew things had to change. A few things were sorted out."

Brian Canavan puts that miserable hour down to lack of preparation.

"See, we had had around 60 lads in for trial over the previous weeks, trying to scour the county for a bit of talent. We had very little team work done, hadn't established a pattern. The Donegal result probably helped us focus."

So now, with the days stretching, they see themselves as league contenders. Too often they have watched the lads from Derry parading around under soft skies in April only to feature on the big day out in Clones a few months later.

Few will write Armagh off. For the past two years they have been cast as the perennial dark horses in blazing orange. So often they have looked irresistible. Some Sundays it seems as though no defender in the country could live with Marsden and they have formidable talent throughout the lines.

This week the chosen from Crossmaglen will return to the panel. Plenty of options, yet unless they make ground this year they will look back on a decade of unremitting bleakness.

"We know we could win in Ulster this summer, yes. But I also know there are at least five counties that feel the same. That's always the way. We are still quite a young team and very raw. Lads need to experience more of that intense atmosphere, the pressure situations. We hope that advancing in the league will give us that," says Canavan.

So many will have a flutter on Armagh to maybe make a late rush in the league and to perhaps entertain championship dreams until late July. And yet, it could all be over by June. Does that ever occur to Diarmuid Marsden?

"Well, even that's a fair way down the road. We are still getting a side ready. We're nowhere near the finished thing yet."

Oisin McConville, who helped Crossmaglen Rangers to win the All-Ireland club championship this year, has become the first Ulster player to be awarded the Eircell Player of the Month award for February.

The 23-year-old was also a member of the Crossmaglen side which beat Knockmore from Mayo in the previous year's final. He scored a total of 1-31 in this year's club championship.

The Cork hurler Ger Cunningham has also been honoured with an Eircell Appreciation Award following his retirement from the game.