Burns is confident of team's ability

Jarlath Burns captains Armagh in Sunday's Ulster championship clash in Clones confident that, sooner or later, Armagh's day will dawn. He reckons that there will be massive support for his team's efforts in Clones. "There is a very strong heartland of support for Gaelic games in Armagh and that always reveals itself when the championship comes around and Sunday will be no different," he says.

Burns has progressive views on the way the game of Gaelic football is structured at present and feels strongly that there is a gap between the National League and the Provincial championship which is much too wide.

"I am a great believer that there should be a link of some kind between success in the National League and progress in the Championship. Take this year. Offaly won the National League and were knocked out in the first round of the championship.

"When you take into account how much effort Offaly put into the National League to emerge from a very difficult division which included Kerry and Dublin it is a pity that their interest in the championship ended so soon.

"I don't really know how this problem could be addressed but we have to accept that the National League is not given the importance it deserves. If teams which did well in the league, if a team gets into the semi-finals of the league there could be some way found that they would be guaranteed a better run in the championship. It would be worth looking at.

"The fact is that interest in the games among youngsters doesn't really build up until the championship. I would like to see youngsters wearing county or club jerseys as leisure wear throughout the year but you seldom see youngsters at league matches during the winter. They come out only when the championship comes around and then they may see their side knocked out in the first round. "It doesn't seem right to me that either Dublin or Kildare will be out of the championship very soon and that Offaly and Mayo are already gone," he says.

Asked about Armagh's bleak years since they won the Ulster title in 1977 and reached that year's All-Ireland final, he points out that Armagh is the second smallest county in Ireland after Louth.

"It must be realised that a big percentage of the population has no interest in Gaelic games. Armagh takes a lot of psychological baggage with it onto the field. For instance if we beat Down on Sunday we then have to beat Derry to get into the final and will face either Donegal or Cavan, the Ulster champions in the final. You cannot envisage a more difficult path. There is no more difficult run in any province.

"It is difficult to understand why we have been down for so long. We had a good league. We beat Antrim and London fairly easily, lost narrowly to Donegal before Christmas, beat Meath in Navan and beat Longford before going under to Derry. We missed the play-offs very narrowly.

"Something has to be done to create a link or a bridge between the league and the championship so as to reward teams for success in the National League.

"It seems to me that teams which work very hard throughout the winter should be given a much greater incentive in the championship and yet, even though they have a good National League (Offaly won the title) they are out of the championship first shot.

"Teams like Dublin and Kildare or Offaly or Mayo who worked so hard through the winter should not be faced with sudden death in the championship. It might be complicated but it would certainly be worth looking at."

He feels that Armagh have been as good as any team in the country in recent years. "We have produced fine teams and within a few years but Down have won two All-Irelands, Derry and Donegal won one each and Tyrone have won two Ulster titles. That is the kind of opposition we have had to face. It is very difficult to break through that kind of a situation but we must keep trying," he says.

Now on the verge of his 31st birthday - he was born on July 4th - he has no plans for retirement. "I'll play as long as I enjoy myself," says the man who is being tipped to captain Armagh to the Ulster title and beyond this year.

Armagh (SF v Down): B Tierney; E McNulty, T McEntee, M McNeill; D Marsden, A McCann, J McNulty; J Burns (capt), P McGrane; C O'Rourke, K McGeeney, A N Other; P McKeever, B Duffy, O McConville. Subs: M Campbell, P Loughran, K Hughes, A O'Neill, B O'Hagan, G Houlihan, M Toye, G Reid, M McQuillan, J McEntee, N Smyth, J Byrne, J Robinson, J Rafferty.

Gardai in Galway are investigating an incident which occurred during a local gaelic football match and has left one player seriously ill in the city hospital.

Michael Dunleavy (35) was allegedly struck during a match between Caherlistrand and Kilkerrin-Clonberrin last Saturday evening.

Dunleavy was taken to University College Hospital and his condition "remains serious".

Mill Street Garda are currently compiling statements relating to the incident. The Galway County Board is awaiting the referee's report and intend carrying out their own investigation.