By Niall Gartland

KIERAN Donaghy and Ciaran McKeever are set to remain as part of the Armagh backroom team for 2023, Gaelic Life understands.

Team manager Kieran McGeeney was handed a one-year contract extension last week and it’s understood that McKeever and former Kerry footballer Kieran Donaghy have needed little encouragement to remain part of the mangement set-up.

McKeever and Donaghy were enlisted two years ago following the departures of Jim McCorry, John Toal and Paddy McKeever, and while Ulster Championship success has proven elusive, they made a tangible degree of progress this season, maintaining their Division One status with something to spare (they finished third in the table) and reaching the All-Ireland quarter-finals via the backdoor.

McGeeney is set to lead the team for a ninth season next year after the county board unanamoniously voted to retain his services at a recent meeting. Last year, McGeeney explained his decision to enlist Kerry native Kieran Donaghy, saying: “The reason I went after Kieran was Kieran made a career out of bringing other people into the game and I just think that’s something we were still missing in Armagh”