Armagh fired up to win

Jarlath Burns scoffs at the idea that teams do not want to win the National League. In that context the Armagh man expresses keen disappointment with the team's performance against Dublin last Sunday, even though they earned a replay.

"Every team wants to get into the play-off stages and, once there, will make every effort to go as far as possible," he says.

"It seems to me that only beaten teams say they do not care about the National League and that they are concentrating on the championship. Nobody likes to lose. A loss is always bad for morale.

"I believe that some managers are a bit disingenuous when they talk about the league. When they are knocked out they say it doesn't matter. That's a kind of a cover-up.

"Armagh will be making every effort to improve on last Sunday's performance and get to the final and win it," he says with some conviction.

In regard to last Sunday's performance he is particularly hard on himself. "Myself and Paul McGrane never really got moving properly at midfield and there will have to be a big improvement.

You have to win the anchor areas and midfield is the most important. We will have to reach a higher standard on Sunday if we are to beat Dublin.

"The team was well below par for the first 15 minutes of the second half. If Dublin had taken their chances during that period we could have been well beaten. We can't afford to play like that again. Dublin are like ourselves at the moment, not having had success for some time, but I think we have more room for improvement and that should see us through." He believes that the successes of Crossmaglen in the All-Ireland club championship have given Armagh a great lift in morale. "Armagh football was at a very low ebb in the 80s and early 90s, but Crossmaglen gave every club in the county a real boost with those days in Croke Park," he says.

He also suggests that Armagh will have benefited from the experience of playing in Croke Park last Sunday. "It is an intimidating place when you are not used to it, especially with the new stand towering over you. It takes several minutes to get accustomed to the place and the atmosphere.

"It was noticeable that Oisin McConville adapted very quickly last Sunday and that, I believe, was because he has experienced Croke Park several times with Crossmaglen Rangers in the last couple of years. That kind of experience stood to him and he was in full flight right from the start.

"Mind you things were not helped by the fact that both teams went to the Hill 16 end for the kick-about. There was no question of gamesmanship on our part. It was natural for us to go to that end because we were the dressingroom nearest to that end and it was natural to turn to go there as we came out of the tunnel.

"It is ridiculous for Dublin to claim that it is their end by right. The stadium is a national stadium, it isn't Dublin's stadium," he says, insisting that it was not "a stunt" by Armagh in a bid to upset Dublin.

"We were entitled to go to that end because of the location of the dressingroom that we were given. I don't believe that it made any difference in the long run."

However stewards failed to convince Armagh that they should leave and go to the Canal End and they may yet face sanctions for not obeying the stewards.

Insofar as the composition of the Armagh team is concerned be says that there are hopes that Cathal O'Rourke, who strained his groin during the quarter-final against Sligo, will be fit.

"I know that the management of the team, Brian McAlinden and Brian Canavan, are determined that they will not pick any player who is not fully fit, but the extra week will have given Cathal a great chance to make a full recovery. He would be a very valuable asset to the side both for his free-taking and for his picking up of the breaking ball at midfield," Burns says.

The return to full fitness of Diarmuid Marsden, he feels, was a very important factor in the match. "He might have been fit for the Sligo match but the conditions were so bad that it was a wise move not to play him. He will be an even better player in the replay and that is a very big factor in or favour," he says. When the captain of the side is in such a determined mood it may bode ill for the opposition. His criticism of his own performance in the drawn match supports the view that he intends to lead by example this time. That attitude is typical of a man who has given such sterling service to Armagh and, indeed, to the game itself.