By Shaun Casey

ARMAGH kingpins Middletown will not be taking Castleblayney lightly this weekend, says defender Tiarnan Nevin, as they begin their charge for a first Ulster Intermediate since 2017. They reached the decider in 2022 but lost out to Liatroim.

Middletown saw off Monaghan opposition in the first round of last year’s provincial competition, beating Inniskeen comfortably, 0-26 to 0-9. They tasted defeat in the semi-final however, losing to eventual champions Setanta.

Castleblayney, the reigning Ulster Junior champions, will have to travel to the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds for the encounter and Armagh captain Nevin says his side know what to expect.

“They’re our neighbours, so that’ll be interesting,” said Nevin. “We played in the 2021 Ulster quarter-final, and we won by two goals that day. I suppose a lot of the papers and the odds would have had us as heavy favourites and it didn’t turn out that way.

“So, we’re definitely not taking ‘Blayney lightly. We know they have some very, very good players. They won the Ulster Junior last year and they came back with a vengeance this year after Inniskeen beat them in their county final last year.

“That’s a team that’s probably hurting from last year (losing the Monaghan final) and are back where they deserve to be in Intermediate. So, we’ll be not taking them lightly.

“I know a lot of them and they’re all very good players. I think a lot of them boys have a lot of football pedigree too, they’re a really strong running team so we know we have a massive challenge ahead of us.”

Middletown had to come from behind to retain their Orchard County crown and overcome their fierce rivals Keady. A late, late goal from Cahal Carvill earned his side a first-ever six in-a-row, something that had never before been done in Armagh.

“I suppose that’s the way we train,” said Nevin of Middletown’s resilience. “We always train that if we’re there or there abouts in the last ten minutes then it’s going to take a really good team to put us away. That’s no different this year.

“You’ve seen it a couple of times before in finals. We’ve been under the cosh, and we’ve come out in the last ten minutes and got the job done. I suppose repetition of that helps and just a wee bit of luck maybe at the end of the day too.

“It’s never been done before (the six in-a-row) and it’s strange because we were kind of afraid to talk about three, four and five in-a-row but this year, there was something different.

“We mentioned six in-a-row, and we thought, why not go on and push on again and become the best hurling team that’s been in Armagh. So, that’s what we’ve done. We set ourselves out to be the best hurling team that’s ever been in Armagh, and I think we landed that.”