Gaelic Games

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.

Image source, Inpho

Armagh's team for Saturday's Ulster Football Championship contest against Antrim at Corrigan Park (12:30 BST) includes only six of last July's All-Ireland Final starting side.

While changes to the squad announced on Thursday night are highly possible, as it stands Paddy Burns, Barry McCambridge, Connaire Mackin, Rory Grugan, Tiernan Kelly and Andrew Murnin are the players retained from the All-Ireland Final line-up.

The changes include Ethan Rafferty replacing Blaine Hughes in goal with championship debutant Tomas McCormack, Ross McQuillan and Greg McCabe drafted into the defence.

All-Ireland winning captain and All-Star Aidan Forker, who was troubled by injury during the league campaign, is named on the bench.

Callum O'Neill and Ciaran Mackin form the midfield partnership with All-Ireland centrefield starters Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey not in the matchday squad.

Crealey is among four of the six Armagh All-Stars from last season who, as it stands, will not be involved with Rian O'Neill, Oisin Conaty and Conor Turbitt also missing from the 26-man squad.

McCambridge and skipper Forker were Armagh's two other 2024 All-Stars.

Rian O'Neill remains absent after not featuring during the Allianz Football League, with Kieran McGeeney saying last month that he didn't expect the Crossmaglen man to play for the county this year.

With Tiernan Kelly switching from centre half-back to right full-forward, Darragh McMullen is handed a championship debut in an attack that also includes Peter McGrane and Stefan Campbell, who set up Aaron McKay's crucial second-half goal in the All-Ireland decider.

McKay and Joe McElroy are the other All-Ireland starters from last July not named in the matchday squad.

Antrim have named 10 of the team that started in last year's Ulster defeat by Down.

Andy McEntee has handed championship debuts to Jack Lenehan at centre half-back and Fionn Nagle at wing-forward.

The other changes from the Newry game last year see James McAuley, Eunan Quinn and Niall Burns drafted into the side.

Antrim: M Byrne; E McCabe, E Walsh, K Keenan; J McAuley, J Lenehan, D McAleese; C Hand, E Quinn; P McBride, N Burns, F Nagle; R McQuillan, R McCann, D McEnhill.

Subs: L Mulholland, A Loughran, C Johnston, C Stewart, J McDonnell, J Morgan, M Jordan, P Finnegan, P King, R Boyle, R Murray.

Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge, T McCormack; R McQuillan, G McCabe, Connaire Mackin; C O'Neill, Ciaran Mackin; D McMullen, R Grugan, P McGrane; T Kelly, A Murnin, S Campbell.

Substitutes: B Hughes, G Murphy, C Higgins, A Forker (capt), J Og Burns, C McConville, J Hall, S McPartlan, O'Neill, S Conlon, C O'Hanlon

Image source, Inpho

Paul Devlin insists Loughmacrory talent Eoin McElholm is "100% committed" to the Tyrone under-20 squad but his non-involvement in Wednesday's U20 win over Antrim potentially keeps the door open to him featuring in Sunday's Ulster SFC game against Cavan in Omagh.

McElholm missed the defending All-Ireland U20 champions' Ulster contest against Donegal last week as he travelled to Portugal with the Tyrone seniors for a pre-championship training camp.

He was a late inclusion on the bench for Wednesday night's win over Antrim but didn't come on and was scarcely needed as the Red Hands earned a dominant 2-24 to 0-10 win in Dungannon.

"Eoin will be ready to go when we need him. We just felt tonight there was plenty of time to give other fellows game time," said Devlin after his side's 20-point victory at O'Neill Park.

"A few rumours going around, papers and stuff, that Eoin's committed to the seniors but Eoin is committed to ourselves 100%.

"He was away on that training camp last week. [And] You give an opportunity to another lad last week to see where he is."

The Tyrone U20s will take on Armagh in a straight knockout Ulster quarter-final next Wednesday in Dungannon after completing their group matches in the competition

Devlin's Tyrone U20s have won two of the last three All-Ireland titles with McElholm joining the likes of Ruairi Canavan, Seanie O'Donnell, Niall Devlin and Liam Gray in making the transition into the senior panel.

"It's the desire they have. They want to push on into senior football. It's a big commitment and lifestyle and everything and it's great to see them pushing on at that level," added Devlin.

"It takes a bit of time to bed in. The defenders they come up against have a lot more physicality so you have to be patient with lads like that coming through.

"Great talents that they are, if we force them too much, they could be sitting on the sideline and not getting much football out of them. It's worked well over the last couple of years and long may it continue."

Cavan took Tyrone to extra-time in the Ulster SFC at Breffni Park last year and Devlin is expecting the seniors to have a tough battle again, with Red Hand county great Stephen O'Neill also part of Raymond Galligan's management team.

"We know the coach that Stevie is, a fantastic coach. We had him a couple of times at the under-20s helping out.

"It'll be a tough game and one Tyrone will be wary of but if they get everything right and all their players available they'll be in a good place."

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Ger Houlahan and Oisin McConville reminisced fondly on this week's GAA Social BBC gaelic games podcast about their time together in the Armagh football squad.

Houlahan, who secured an All-Star in 1993 and was part of the county's Ulster Championship winning squads in 1999 and 2000, said McConville was "the difference between Armagh being an ordinary team and being an All-Ireland team".

"We had some great games but just couldn't get over the line. With him around, you always got over the line," said Houlahan, who made his county debut in 1983 and remained part of the squad until 2000.

"I remember Joey Donnelly who was a corner-back trying frees…..John Rafferty when you [McConville] were coming into the set-up taking frees but they were never free-kick takers.

"It just came so naturally to Oisin and he was ballsy enough to score the big ones. That was the difference."

In a highly entertaining podcast, McConville laughed as he recalled Houlahan's attempts to console after his sending off in the Ulster Football Championship replay against Donegal in 1999.

"Houlie [who was on the bench] followed me just to make sure I was OK because I went straight into the changing-room. I was absolutely devastated. I was accused of elbowing Niall McCready. I actually ended up getting it rescinded on the video evidence.

"I remember saying at the time 'That's us.....we're up the left now' and Houlie said 'yeah….you were our only chance'. But we actually won the game. [Diarmaid] Marsden had an absolute stormer."

McConville added that he had watched the Pearse Ogs man "for 10 years with club and county".

"He was an absolute wizard. His left foot was wonderful," added the current Wicklow manager.

"But he was so encouraging to me because he instilled confidence in me.

"Every single free-kick on the pitch, he's be saying 'that's your free-kick'…..no matter where it was on the pitch. He wanted me on it. I came on the panel at 18 and if you have that sort of backing, it's nice. We had great fun too."

Their fun included owning a greyhound together with a couple of other Armagh squad members which raced on local tracks.

Houlahan's sporting career included a soccer stint at Sligo Rovers and he revealed that then Portadown FC manager Ronnie McFall attempted to sign him at one point.

Image source, BBC Sport

On this week's GAA Social podcast, Thomas and Oisin sit down with former Armagh footballer and 1993 All-Star Ger Houlahan.

The popular Pearse Og club-man wore the Orange Armagh jersey between 1983 and 2000 and was part of the squad which won Ulster titles in 1999 and 2000.

'Houlie', as he was known, fondly recalls his playing days which even included him being asked to give a coaching session to Ulster rugby players so that they could improve their handlings skills.

The full-forward, whose goal-scoring exploits in the 1993 Ulster Championship secured him his All-Star, also had a successful stint in TV punditry as the media profile of gaelic games rose massively amid the successes of Ulster counties in the 1990s and early 2000s.

His TV role also included him being on co-commentary duties for a number of big championship matches.

Ger also gives his thoughts on Armagh's All-Ireland triumph last year and whether they can go back-to-back.

The wide-ranging interview can now be downloaded from BBC Sounds.

Mark Sidebottom
BBC Sport NI

Image source, Inpho

There will be nearly 3000 Armagh fans at Corrigan Park on Saturday for the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final with Antrim.

With capacity at 4000, sources close to the ticketing arrangements have confirmed to BBC Sport NI that the All-Ireland champions will have a larger allocation than the home side Antrim - outnumbering their hosts supporters by approximately three to one.

No tickets will be available on general sale for the match and neither Antrim GAA or Ulster GAA have commented on the breakdown of tickets.

BBC Sport NI has learned that first preference for tickets went to Armagh's existing season ticket holders - approximately 2000 - with the remaining tickets distributed evenly between both counties.

The west Belfast venue was eventually confirmed as the host for the quarter-final in March after the Ulster GAA initially stated that the game would be played at Newry's Pairc Esler.

Antrim's players had been resolute with their stance of playing at their designated home venue, and said that they would not play the game unless it was at Corrigan Park.

Ulster GAA agreed to reverse their earlier decision for the game to be played in Newry after being "satisfied with further assurances given by Antrim GAA".

It is understood the responsibility for stewarding the match shared between Antrim GAA and Ulster GAA and that there will be a presence from Belfast City Council at the venue on Saturday with sources at Antrim telling BBC Sport NI they are "confident everything is robust".

Corrigan Park has undergone some remedial work to help prepare for the glamour tie with Armagh, with new media facilities installed while fans will be housed behind both sets of goalposts to maximise capacity.

The match, which will be the first Championship outing for Kieran McGeeney's Armagh side since winning the All-Ireland final last July, will be broadcast live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website from 12:10 BST.

Image source, Inpho

Former talismanic Monaghan forward Conor McManus, who called time on his inter-county career in January, says the Farney county "have the tools to ask questions" of Donegal in the Ulster SFC quarter-final meeting between the sides on 20 April.

McManus, now a pundit with BBC Sport NI, told The GAA Social podcast that it would, however, be "a big ask and a big task" for Monaghan to overcome Jim McGuinness's side at Clones in their last-eight encounter.

Gabriel Bannigan's team topped the Division Two standings in the Football League and defeated Roscommon in the divisional final.

"It would be a great one to be getting ready for as a player. I know the Monaghan lads will be looking forward to it," reflected McManus after watching Donegal overcome Derry in the preliminary round.

"They're coming into it with confidence from the league campaign they've had but they're also coming up against probably the form team in the country.

"Donegal were the best team in the league in the first three or four games [of the Football League], then they switched things around and got ready for Derry [in the Ulster SFC] so you couldn't read into their late league form.

"They are the best team in the country at the moment on form, while Monaghan have probably been playing lower standard teams in Division Two, so this is the best team they will have played in a long time."

McManus expects a competitive and entertaining game, one in which both sides go into with plenty of incentive.

"I do expect it to be a decent game. Monaghan have a decent record against Donegal over the years but I'm fairly sure that that's something Donegal and Jim McGuinness will be homing in on, this record that's so well talked about. They'll want to put that right.

"Everything will have to go right for Monaghan to win. On looking at Donegal against Derry they weren't perfect, they were far from perfect.

"Derry got through them quite easily early doors in the first 15 or 20 minutes and they won their penalty, they got their goal, they fisted over a couple of points so they got a couple of easy scores that you wouldn't think you would necessarily get against this Donegal team, but they did.

"So, they're going into this game [against Monaghan] with something to work on, which I suppose is a positive for Jim McGuinness and his team."

Image source, Inpho

BBC Sport NI analyst Philly McMahon says there are "a lot of questions to be answered" for Derry after their 1-25 to 1-15 defeat by Donegal in their opening Ulster SFC encounter at Ballybofey.

The eight-time All-Ireland winner with Dublin told the BBC's GAA Social podcast he believes the Oak Leafers' relatively late appointment of Paddy Tally as their new boss in November may have put them on the back foot.

Derry were relegated from Division One last month after picking up just a single point from their seven Football League outings.

"They had a slow start to the season with being back so late with Paddy Tally and his management team so that's quite difficult for them to get going," said McMahon.

"That probably fed into their league campaign. I think they had shown good spells in the league. They could have got a couple more points on the board but that has bled into today's [Sunday's] game.

"There was one team that was showing confidence and another that is showing under-confidence, under-performance. How they get it together now over the next few weeks is going to be important for them.

"There are a lot of questions to be answered and they'll have time to build on things."

McMahon believes the fact that Brendan Rogers was Derry's standout player was both a positive and a negative.

"They're trying to get results and performances but sometimes that can be counter-productive because you do your own thing or you don't do what you should be doing.

"You look at [Brendan] Rogers and for me he was the only player who was giving it to Donegal as much as he could.

"That's a good thing and a bad thing. When you see someone standing out like that it's like 'what's their system, what's their structure?'

"The one thing I'd have questioned going away from today, 'Did they have a plan? If they stuck to that plan and they lost then their standards weren't high enough, but if they went out and didn't stick to their strategy or their gameplan then why did they not?"

Listen to the GAA Social on BBC Sounds right here

Image source, Inpho

Eight-time All-Ireland winner Philly McMahon has revealed that he was offered the opportunity to become the new manager of Derry before Paddy Tally was appointed to the role in November.

The former Dublin player, now a BBC Sport NI analyst, told The GAA Social that he gave the offer to succeed Mickey Harte as Oak Leafers boss serious consideration.

"I met the guys behind the scenes from Derry and they came down to me and offered me the job," explained the 37-year-old.

"I had to go through a couple of things, I had to get the right people with me, I had to speak to my wife and I have a three-year-old so they were my priority first of all.

"I spoke to a couple of bodies that I had an interest in bringing in and basically I was a couple of days from giving that decision and the guys that I was talking to basically said, 'Paddy's looking to take the job'.

"I just said to the guys, 'if there's somebody 100% in then you're better off giving it to them because they're 100%, I'm not'."

McMahon was speaking after being part of the punditry team for Derry's 1-25 to 1-15 defeat by Donegal in their Ulster SFC preliminary round tie at Ballybofey on Sunday.

The two-time All Star added that he would remain interested in becoming an inter-county manager.

"It was a very interesting opportunity. The support behind the scenes seems very good and that's what enticed me but maybe it has set me up for the next opportunity.

"I'd like to try, I'd like to dip my toe in [to inter-county management]. I'm really passionate about performance coaching and that's sort of management in itself.

"It's something I've done in all my career, the fitness industry and managing people, trying to get the best out of people, which I think as a coach or manager you have to do."

Listen to the GAA Social on BBC Sounds right here

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Former Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue has backed his former team-mates to bounce back in the All-Ireland group stages after they were knocked out of the Ulster Championship by Donegal on Sunday.

"Derry are probably going through a small period of transition.

"They just need to be careful now, it's been a difficult season to date, but the All-Ireland series is a different competition and can turn into a different brand of football too with the warm weather and firm pitches.

"Derry just need to be careful that they draw a line under this. They weren't expected to win today.

"If they can get a few weeks training under their belt and get a few players freshened up and injury-free, they can still be knocking around an All-Ireland quarter-final.

"Once you get to that stage, anything can happen. It's a tight group, it's a close group. They've been through good days and difficult days.

"I have no doubt, I'll back that group that they'll come back."

Image source, Getty Images

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness insists the Ulster Championship will "always" be his main focus as he watched his side get off to a flying start with a 1-25 to 1-15 win over Derry in Sunday's preliminary-round game in Ballybofey.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI after the game, McGuinness was asked about the "narrative" of him fielding weakened teams in the latter stages of his side's Division One campaign.

In the end, Ulster champions Donegal missed out on a place in the league final which took place last weekend, just seven days prior to the provincial opener against Derry.

"I'm not sure if that's a question I was going to disrespect the Ulster Championship because that's the number one for me and always will be," he said after Sunday's win," he said.

"I spent all my life trying to win it as a player and the same when you come into management.

"When you set out at the beginning of the year, there's two championships: Ulster and the All-Ireland.

"This is the biggest day in the calendar for a manager and thankfully, we've got over the line.

"We have two weeks now to go to Monaghan - a team that's tapping maybe 1-26, 1-27 every day - playing with serious fluidity, scoring power and running power. It's going to be a completely different challenge for us."

Much has been made of the new rules introduced this year, but the Donegal boss is more than happy with a more open game and his side's tally of 1-25 backs that opinion.

However, he was less than impressed that his centre-back Caolan McGonagle was forced to come to the sideline after receiving treatment which ultimately left the gap for Derry's Dan Higgins to find the net.

"Contrary to public opinion, I like the rules and I like the fact that it is much more transitional now," he stressed.

"It's the way we like to play our football, historically, and we have players that can play that way, so there were no issues there.

"Where I would be very annoyed is we had our centre-half back off the pitch when Derry scored a goal. They went straight down the centre of our defence and we didn't have our six in that position. It didn't cost us today but it could have."

Image source, Inpho

Derry's Brendan Rogers, who was named man-of-the-match by BBC co-commentator Philly McMahon, reflects on the Oak Leafers' 1-25 to 1-15 loss to Donegal in Sunday's Ulster SFC preliminary-round game in Ballybofey:

"At the end of the first half we were three down and I suppose at that point we'd have been better off trying to kill the first half out and we maybe over-egged a couple of attacks.

"That actually led to them getting 1-1 and stretched it a wee bit for us at half-time, but we did come out with a bit of a bounce.

"I suppose after the first 12 minutes (of the second half) we had a fair gap of rushed shots and I had one myself.

"When you don't get that momentum again, it becomes tougher when they're chipping away at the one-pointers and we were missing maybe a couple of two-pointers. [There is] lots for ourselves to look at in terms of how the momentum swung, but Donegal were clinical and they kept pegging away and made it harder for us to chase.

"It was a difficult day for us now, we were chasing for most of it."

On his injury worries leading into Sunday's game:

"It didn't matter if it was going to be hurt or not.

"That's not non-negotiable, I was playing and the effort them boys to do all year, the least you can do is give you everything for them and that's just the way it is, it's never going to be anything else."

On Shane McGuigan's first-half penalty, which was saved by Shaun Patton:

"It would definitely have changed the momentum of how we attacked but I don't think that had the biggest bearing on the game.

"It was that early in the game, there was so much football to be played and it was still level for a while after that, so no I wouldn't have said that was the big factor in it."

Image source, Inpho

Manager: Paddy Tally Captain: Conor Glass Fixture: Donegal v Derry – Pairc Mac Cumhaill, Sunday, 6 April, 14:00 BST

Derry had a miserable league campaign under new boss Paddy Tally, suffering relegation after finishing bottom of Division One and without a win from their seven games.

They will hope to change the downbeat mood around the county by pulling off a shock and beating in-form Donegal on Sunday.

After winning back-to-back Ulster titles, Derry were stunned by Jim McGuinness' eventual winners in the quarter-finals last year - a few weeks after winning the Division One League title.

Derry's chances of an upset win aren't being helped by an injury crisis with the quartet of Gareth McKinless, Odhran Lynch, Conor McCluskey and Anton Tohill all ruled out of the Ballybofey contest.

Brendan Rogers was a major doubt missing Derry's final two league games after limping out of their defeat to Donegal in Ballyshannon but he has been named to start at full-back.

In addition, Ciaran McFaul, Niall Loughlin and Lachlan Murray were also doubts for this weekend's preliminary-round tie but McFaul and Murray have been named to start with Loughlin named amongst the substitutes.

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Manager: Jim McGuinness: Captain: Patrick McBrearty Fixture: Donegal v Derry – Ballybofey, Sunday 6 April, 14:00 BST

Donegal will be confident of winning back-to-back Anglo-Celt Cups as they did in 2018 and 2019.

Jim McGuinness' side held their nerve to triumph 6-5 on penalties against Armagh in last year's final to win the Ulster title for the first time in five years.

They come into their preliminary meeting with a depleted Derry side as favourites after beating the Oak Leafers, then holders, at this stage of the competition last year and in the league at the start of March.

The Tir Conaill men finished fourth in Division One with four wins from seven games, including a 1-22 to 1-19 victory against Derry in Ballyshannon after coming from eight points down with 15 minutes left to play.

Michael Murphy has been carefully managed since his return to the panel after two seasons out it seems with the intention to have him firing on all cylinders for the championship.

In fact, McGuinness has been careful with the majority of his squad, regularly rotating by using 36 players across their seven games.

As a result, his panel see primed to go all guns blazing against Derry in the first step on their quest to retain the title.