Gaelic Games

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Armagh have made four changes from their opening win over Antrim for Saturday's big Ulster SFC contest with Tyrone as Aidan Forker, Paddy Burns, Conor Turbitt and Oisin Conaty return to the starting team.

The quartet's inclusion means that eight of last July's All-Ireland Final starters against Galway are named in the Armagh 15 for the Clones contest (16:45 BST).

Injury concern Darragh Canavan has been named in the Tyrone team with Mattie Donnelly also drafted into the starting line-up as Ruairi Canavan drops to the bench and Cathal McShane is not named in the 26.

Donnelly's inclusion at centre half-forward results in Peter Harte switching to full-forward.

Corner-back Burns, who was a late cry-off from Armagh's Antrim game because of illness, takes over from Gareth Murphy, who made his championship debut at Corrigan Park.

Skipper and 2024 All-Star Forker, who usually plays at left half-back, is selected at right half-forward in place of Darragh McMullen.

The other two changes come in attack as 2024 All-Stars Conor Turbitt and Oisin Conaty take over from Tiernan Kelly and Stephen Campbell.

Murphy, McMullen, Kelly and Campbell are all named in the replacements.

The All-Ireland Final starters named by Kieran McGeeney are Burns, Forker, Turbitt, Conaty, Barry McCambridge, Connaire Macken, Rory Grugan and Andrew Murnin.

Midfielders Ben Crealey and Niall Grimley, who started against Galway last summer, are included in the substitutes after not featuring in the Antrim game.

Oisin O'Neill remains on the bench despite his impressive contribution as a substitute at Corrigan Park but his brother Rian remains an absentee after opting out of the squad prior to the beginning of the Allianz Football League.

Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge, T McCormack; R McQuillan, G McCabe, J Og Burns; C O'Neill, Connaire Mackin; A Forker (capt), O Conaty, P McGrane; R Grugan, A Murnin, C Turbitt.

Subs: B Hughes, S McPartlan, O O'Neill, J Hall, T Kelly, C McConville, D McMullen, N Grimley, B Crealey, G Murphy, S Campbell.

Tyrone: N Morgan; A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan, R Brennan, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; A Donaghy, M Donnelly, C Daly; D McCurry, P Harte, D Canavan.

Subs: O O'Kane, C Quinn, P Hampsey, F Burns, B McDonnell, S O'Hare, J Oguz, M Bradley, S O'Donnell, R Canavan, E McElholm.

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Former Tyrone defender Conor Gormley says the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final victory over Armagh was the "most intense game" he ever played in.

Peter Canavan converted a last-gasp free to give the Red Hands a dramatic 1-13 to 1-12 win against their great rivals at Croke Park.

Tyrone went on to win the Sam Maguire that year and Gormley believes the semi-final was the most ferocious encounter during the peak years of their rivalry when they met six times in the championship between 2002 and 2005.

"To me, that All-Ireland semi-final in 2005 was the most intense game I ever played in," three-time All-Ireland winner Gormley told the GAA Social podcast.

"It is hard to describe. Nearly every step you took was so important and then when you got the ball, every pass mattered that day - everything mattered.

"The way the game ended, when Peter got the free, it was such a relief to get that game over and be on the right side of the result."

Gormley, who started all three of Tyrone's All-Ireland final wins under Mickey Harte, says he would love to play in the 2005 game again now, 20 years on.

"It was a crazy game. The crowd was massive, and the rivalry really came to a head that day, it was a mighty game to be involved in."

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Former Tyrone defender Conor Gormely believes his county's chances of beating Armagh in the Ulster Championship semi-final depend on the fitness of forward Darragh Canavan.

Canavan sat out the Red Hands' last-eight win against Cavan with a hamstring issue and faces a race against time to be fit for Saturday's game in Clones.

Three-time All-Ireland winner Gormley is hopeful Canavan can feature given how important he is to Malachy O'Rourke's young side.

"Darragh is going to be massive, if he is fit it's a whole new extra dimension to Tyrone," he told the GAA Social podcast.

"Do Armagh put a man marker on him? It gives them a bit more to think about."

Gormley believes that Tyrone can triumph against the All-Ireland champions if they can replicate how Antrim managed to unsettle the Orchard County in the quarter-final.

"I think they can beat Armagh, but it will take a massive shift," he added.

"After watching what Antrim did to Armagh, if Tyrone pick a bit off that they could cause them serious problems."

The 44-year-old, who also won three All-Stars during his decorated inter-county career believes there is "still more to come" from many players in O'Rourke's side.

"They're taking their time to find their feet, some of these players are finding the transition from under-21 and club football to play at that level," he explained.

"They're doing very well but there is still more in them, the likes of Ruairi Canavan, he has a bit to go yet he can be a serious player once he does that.

"A few players need to get up to the physical size and speed of the game and we'll know more about them after Saturday with Armagh being at that level."

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Ryan McEvoy hailed Daniel Guinness' 63rd-minute two-pointer for sparking the dramatic Down comeback that saw them overturn a seven-point deficit to stun Fermanagh in the Ulster SFC.

Fermanagh looked in complete control when a Declan McCusker score left the home side seven ahead with less than 10 minutes remaining but Guinness' score from outside the 40-metre arc suddenly had Down believing again.

"As soon as he hit the two-pointer, I really knew that the comeback was on, that we could do it," said Kilcoo man McEvoy, who went on to fire Down's ultimately winning goal after Guinness had followed up his two-pointer with a major of his own to increase Fermanagh's jitters.

"It [Guinness' two-pointer] really lifted the whole team and we got the goals to finish it off, to seal the deal."

Despite looking certain to exit the Ulster Championship, McEvoy insisted that Down's belief had never wavered.

"Conor [Laverty] has instilled a real belief in this team. No matter, who we are playing, we can do it, we can win. The togetherness in this squad is unbelievable."

Guinness, himself, admitted that Down "didn't show up for the first 25 minutes of the second half".

"But a bit of fighting spirit at the end and we're through," said the Carryduff club-man.

"Over the last few years, we've been on the end of a couple of gutting defeats and at times, you think 'something has to change here'.

"At the end we pulled it out of the bag but [it's] nowhere near good enough."

Guinness added that the new rules do mean that leads hitherto regarded as impregnable can now be reeled in.

"Five, six, seven, eight points down was previously a big margin but now you can claw it back pretty quickly by tagging on a few scores. Being able to press the kickout is huge," he added after Down clinched a victory which sets up a semi-final in eight days' time with the winners of Sunday's concluding quarter-final between Monaghan and holders Donegal.

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Conor Love said it was "hard to put into words" Fermanagh's crushing disappointment after Down snatched a dramatic 2-19 to 0-23 Ulster SFC victory at Brewster Park.

Love's all-action display, which included scoring 0-5 and still earned him the man-of-the-match award, helped Fermanagh lead by seven points with seven minutes remaining only for Daniel Guinness and Ryan McEvoy goals to earn Down an unlikely win.

"Honestly, I can't even think about what happened there in the last 10 minutes," said a clearly devastated Love as Fermanagh remained without an Ulster Championship win since 2018.

"We can play the football. We're as good as any team. Honestly…….but there's no point thinking about it now."

The Enniskillen Gaels club-man admitted however that the squad are going to have to study their late collapse, painful viewing as it will undoubtedly be, adding that it was not the first time they have thrown away seemingly a winning lead.

"We're going to have to look at it again. To lose it like that, it's happened too much the last years."

The arrival of the new football rules - and in particular the two-point score - led to a series of comebacks during the Allianz Football League and Love said Fermanagh had inflicting something similar on Sligo when fighting back to draw the Division Three contest at Brewster Park on 1 March.

"That's the thing with the new game. We've been the other way with Sligo in the League when we were seven down.

"It's not like we weren't aware that that could happen. It happened but you're never ready for that."

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Wexford avenged their Leinster Championship defeat by Antrim last year as they beat the Saffrons 2-24 to 0-19 in the provincial series opener at Wexford Park.

Antrim started impressively as they led 0-6 to 0-2 after nine minutes but Lee Chin's nine points helped the home side fight back to lead 0-14 to 0-10 at half-time, despite having Jack O'Connor sent off on 21 minutes.

Chin went on to finish with 0-16 for Wexford although the key goals which effectively ended Antrim's hopes were scored by Kevin Foley and Cian Byrne in the 53rd and 60th minutes.

Antrim's early lead could have been even bigger with Nigel Elliott going close to notching a goal in the opening seconds and Gerard Walsh then firing a penalty over the crossbar for the opening score.

Walsh lined out despite the death of his younger sister Fionnuala last week and he went on to tally 0-4 for the Saffrons.

However after trailing 0-6 to 0-2, Wexford responded with six unanswered scores as Chin hit four straight points before two more Rory O'Connor efforts.

Jack O'Connor's sending off for an apparent strike looked to be a major boost for Davy Fitzgerald's side on his return to Wexford Park after being in charge of the county between 2016 and 2021.

But with Chin continuing to fire over points from frees and play and Conor Hearne also notching two scores, Wexford led 0-14 to 0-10 at the interval.

Two superb James McNaughton scores helped reduce Wexford's lead to 0-15 to 0-13 but the home side regained control with four straight scores, with included two more frees from home skipper Chin.

Keelan Molloy then had a goal chance for the Saffrons but Wexford keeper Mark Fanning made a brilliant save to divert the sliotar over the crossbar for a point.

The Saffrons were still in touch at 0-20 to 0-16 down but Foley's goal after he won the ball from a puckout and ran straight through the middle to fire past Ryan Elliott put Wexford in control.

Any remote hopes of a late Antrim fightback were ended by Cian Byrne's goal which was set up by Cian Molloy seconds after the Saffrons had been reduced to 14 men themselves following Conor Boyd's second yellow card.

After his side had appeared to be the victims of several harsh refereeing calls, Antrim boss Fitzgerald was yellow carded for protests in the closing stages.

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Oisin Smyth says home advantage will be "really important" to Fermanagh as they aim to achieve a first Ulster Football Championship win since 2018 in Saturday's contest against Down at Brewster Park (16:00 BST).

The Erne County have not won a game in the provincial series since Eoin Donnelly's last-gasp fisted goal earned them a dramatic 1-8 to 0-10 semi-final victory over Monaghan seven years ago.

"The home crowd get behind us [at Brewster Park] and hopefully we'll give it a good rattle on Saturday," Derrygonnelly club-man Smyth said of a contest which will be live on BBC Two NI and the BBC iPlayer.

"Antrim showed how important it [home advantage] is, whenever you have the crowd behind you and you put it up to teams physically. Those are the basics."

Both of Saturday's teams will play in Division Three of the Allianz Football League next season with Down suffering relegation despite beating Monaghan in the final round of Division Two fixtures and Fermanagh narrowly missing out on promotion.

Down's impressive display against Monaghan probably makes them marginal favourites but Fermanagh will quietly fancy their chances despite the expected absence of key forward Ultan Kelm, who has had a recurrence of the hip injury that has plagued his career.

In Kelm's likely absence, much responsibility will rest on Garvan Jones in the Fermanagh attack and Pierce Laverty could be given the task of attempting to curb the forward, who now is playing his club football for Leitrim Gaels after transferring from Derrygonnelly along with his brothers Ryan and Conall, who previously were part of the Erne County squad.

Jones hit four points in Fermanagh's narrow Division Three win over an Offaly team that eventually secured promotion with Erne County skipper Declan McCusker striding upfield to notch their goal that day.

Midfielder Joe McDade also had an impressive league campaign for the Ernemen as did goalkeeper Sean McNally but Smyth said everyone will have to perform if Kieran Donnelly's side are to end their seven-year Ulster drought.

"Down were very unlucky not to stay up in Division Two and it's a really competitive Division Two as we found out last year," added Smyth.

"Physically they are probably as good as anyone in the country, so we'll have to match that first and foremost before anything on Saturday."

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Gerard Walsh is expected to be available for Antrim's Leinster Hurling Championship opener against Wexford on Saturday (14:00 BST) despite a recent family bereavement.

The Rossa player's younger sister Fionnuala's funeral took place on Saturday but he returned to county training on Tuesday and is set to be in the matchday squad for the Wexford Park contest when Davy Fitzgerald names his Antrim selection on Thursday evening.

Saturday's game will come too soon for half-forward Niall McKenna who is still a few weeks away from full fitness.

Corner-forward Conor Johnston, who had an impressive Allianz Hurling League campaign for the Saffrons, is also set to miss the encounter after picking up an injury.

Antrim go into the championship after holding on to their Division 1B League status after drawing with Carlow in their penultimate game before hammering relegated Laois in their final fixture.

Wexford, who Davy Fitzgerald previously managed, will join Antrim in Division 1B next season after losing their Division 1A status despite beating current All-Ireland champions Clare and previous Liam McCarthy Cup kingpins Limerick.

Defeats by Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny and Galway meant that Keith Rossiter's side suffered the drop in spite of the victories over the two most recent All-Ireland champions.

Following Saturday's opener, Antrim will have home advantage for contests against Kilkenny and Dublin on 27 April and 10 May.

The Saffrons will conclude their Leinster campaign with away games in Galway and Offaly on 17 May and 25 May.

The top three teams in the six-strong Leinster round-robin series will go on to compete in the All-Ireland Championship with the bottom side relegated to next year's second-tier Joe McDonagh Cup.

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Kilcoo have appointed former Monaghan and Clontibret player Martin Corey as their new manager, succeeding Karl Lacey.

Corey will be assisted by former Derry boss Paddy Crozier and Tyrone's two-time All-Ireland winner Joe McMahon.

Corey and McMahon stepped away from their roles in the Meath backroom team under Robbie Brennan last month, while Corey also coached Monaghan during his brother Vinny's time in charge.

Crozier has worked with Kilcoo previously and led Derry to the Division One title in 2008. He also worked with McMahon at Tyrone club Galbally.

McMahon won All-Ireland titles as a Tyrone player in 2005 and 2008 and was also a selector under Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher for the county's 2021 Sam Maguire triumph.

Former Donegal star Lacey stepped down as Kilcoo boss in January after losing the Ulster Club final to Errigal Ciaran.

Kilcoo have won six Down championships in a row. They also lifted Ulster titles in 2019 and 2021 and won the All-Ireland title in 2022 under Mickey Moran.