Ball-winning capacity at midfield should provide launch pad for Armagh victory

Armagh v Tyrone, Croke Park, Sunday 3.30pmEventually it all went to plan and the province's two outstanding sides will contest tomorrow's Ulster final at Croke Park. There have been reservations about Armagh's ability to keep going all the way from an impressive National League campaign through an extended championship run but they're there now.

The defending champions deserve to be favourites because they have performed consistently at a slightly higher level than Tyrone but the minutiae of form will hardly impact on such a major occasion with two teams that know each other's games so well.

Armagh have been in the happy position of being able to introduce new talent into the team this season.

Aaron Kernan and Brian Mallon have stayed the pace and nailed down their starting places and the team is all the stronger for their arrival.

Tyrone, conversely, have lost players this year either through disinclination, as with Gerard Cavlan and Kevin Hughes, or through injury, as in the case of Ciarán Gourley. As a result Mickey Harte has had to improvise and he will have been more than relieved to get back Brian McGuigan and Peter Canavan.

But the improvising has left the team looking suspect in certain areas. The full-back position still awaits a definitive, long-term solution to the void left by Cormac McAnallen. Chris Lawn has experience and know-how but remains vulnerable to high ball either down on the full forward or in behind the cover.

The combination of Lawn and goalkeeper John Devine, in for the injured Pascal McConnell, lacks physique and hasn't been a first-choice combination since the day Down took them for four goals in this fixture two years ago, when Tyrone were desperately lucky to survive. It's a concern with Ronan Clarke's form as good as it has been.

The lack of big - or less-small - men around the middle has forced the reconstitution of Conor Gormley yet again. Exceptional at wing back in the All-Ireland year, he moved to full back last year and now this season has been pressed into service at centrefield, a switch that robs the defence without commensurate gain up the field.

It has put Seán Cavanagh in the position of having to be the main ball winner with consequences for his natural, forward-moving game. He also found himself shunted around by Cavan's Nick Walsh in the drawn semi-final and can expect more of that tomorrow as John Toal brings more edge - if not as much football - to Armagh's centrefield than Philip Loughran and it's going to be hard for the Tyrone pair to assert themselves.

Tyrone's chances are bound up with the supply their forwards can secure. Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill are in scoring form and - albeit against demolished opposition - managed all but 1-7 of the team's 3-19 total in the Cavan replay.

McGuigan's return improves Tyrone's capacity to service the full forwards but Armagh's defence will take a lot of cracking.

On the wings Tyrone have potential problems. Both David Harte and Ryan McMenamin like to get forward down the right flank and that's a liability. One of them needs to hold back.

Similarly if Armagh switch Kernan onto Brian Dooher, the Tyrone dynamo's preferred game would bring his marker into areas of the pitch where he has shown himself more than comfortable this season and where he has the ability to pick off a couple of scores for good measure.

Armagh's attack has been spluttering a bit in the championship to date, a fact that is recognised by John McEntee's replacement by his brother, Tony. John's form hasn't been good but it will be interesting to see if Tony slots into the auxiliary centre-back role of two years ago or plays conventionally on the 40.

Armagh get a hesitant vote here because of their superior ball-winning capacity around the middle and the hunch that their attack, which has tended to play better in Croke Park than in Ulster, is about to step up a gear.

ARMAGH: P Hearty; A Mallon, F Bellew, E McNulty; A Kernan, K McGeeney, A O'Rourke; J Toal, P McGrane; M O'Rourke, T McEntee, O McConville; S McDonnell, R Clarke, B Mallon.

TYRONE: J Devine; R McMenamin, C Lawn, S Sweeney; D Harte, G Devlin, P Jordan; C Gormley, S Cavanagh; B Dooher, B McGuigan, M Penrose; P Canavan, S O'Neill, E McGinley.

Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan)