'Unnecessary Corrigan drama will galvanise Antrim'
On Saturday, when Antrim and Armagh take to the field in west Belfast, it will bring the curtain down on the completely unnecessary saga over Corrigan Park. This is Armagh's first championship game since lifting Sam Maguire last summer, so it is unfortunate that the build-up has been dominated by discussion over the venue.It doesn't always happen, but thankfully common sense prevailed. If you spoke to any GAA person throughout the country, they were all united in the belief that the game should be held in Corrigan Park. It was impossible to ignore the groundswell of support for Antrim when it was announced the game had been moved to Pairc Esler in Newry. To be fair to Antrim, they stood their ground and got the outcome they deserved. You can only hope that lessons have been learned and such a saga will be avoided the next time Antrim are drawn at home.
Antrim may feel they were mistreated during that episode and that will galvanise their players ahead of hosting the All-Ireland champions, but it's hard to see them pulling off a big shock. 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 panel - 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.
'Malachy connects with players on human level'
Barring a monumental upset, Armagh will meet the winners of Sunday's quarter-final between Tyrone and Cavan - and I'm expecting Malachy O'Rourke to steer Tyrone to victory in his first championship game in charge.As I mentioned last week, Tyrone will not be overly concerned by what happened during the league - it was pretty astonishing that they were relegated from Division One on seven points.They've since taken themselves off for a training camp in Portugal and I'm sure Malachy, Ryan Porter and Leo McBride will have those lads ready for a tilt at the biggest prizes this summer.Tyrone haven't been back to the Ulster final since their title win in 2021. They are looking to become a force in the championship once more and they definitely have the right man at the helm for that job. I had some of my best days as a Monaghan player working with Malachy. We won two Ulster titles together and it was no surprise to see him become much sought-after on the county scene again after his All-Ireland winning exploits with Glen.Malachy has a knack for getting the best out of people. He is effective at getting through to players on a human level and it's because he's a gentleman. From a football point of view, he is among the best at instilling collective belief. He would have you feeling like you're the best player in the country, whether you were or not.Players want to run themselves into the ground for him. You saw that with Monaghan, you saw it with Glen and I think we're beginning to see the effect of his training sessions on this Tyrone group.
Tyrone have a seriously talented panel and still have the likes of Padraig Hampsey and Conor Meyler to come back from injury. They have several players with All-Ireland medals and if Malachy can bring them together like did with us at Monaghan, they will be hard to stop. Cavan are no pushovers, to be fair. Even without the injured Paddy Lynch, they were in the mix for promotion to Division One up until the closing stages of their final game against Cork.Gearoid McKiernan rolled back the years with some of his performances during the league campaign and Raymond Galligan will need him and those around him to produce another huge shift on Sunday. Cavan brought Tyrone to extra-time in last year's quarter-final at Breffni Park, but with Sunday's game being held at Healy Park, I'd expect Tyrone to get the job done and most likely set up a mouthwatering semi-final against Armagh.
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