By Shaun Casey

ARMAGH and Tyrone renew their famous rivalry on Saturday evening as Malachy O’Rourke’s Red Hand County visit the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds for the second round of the National League.

Both head into the contest off the back of very different opening round displays, as All-Ireland champions Armagh fell to Galway by six points with the Tribesmen taking full advantage of the new two-point scoring system.

Tyrone got up and running against old foes Derry and were seven points better off on the night. Tyrone also hold the upper hand in terms of recent clashes with the Orchard County, having won three of their last five meetings.

Tyrone last won on the road in 2021, beating Armagh in the league 2-15 to 2-10. The Orchard County picked up wins in league and championship in 2022 while Tyrone achieved the same feat in 2023.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s encounter, Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney expects Errigal duo Darragh and Ruairi Canavan to be togged out for the opposition.

“They’ll be coming, looking to get another win under their belts and they’ll probably get the Canavans back as well so it’s a big day for us and it’s great to be back in the middle of it,” said McGeeney, who is now in his 11th season as Orchard boss.

Armagh got off to a fast start against Galway last weekend, in a repeat of the All-Ireland Final. But things soon went south, and Armagh were second best for the rest of the night.

“It’s very frustrating, we started really well but then just went away from what was working for us. We were running the ball well, moving quickly forward and just seemed to stop and skills were sloppy up front too.”

McGeeney added: “That actually led to 1-1 in the tail end of the first half when we were ahead. So, it’s very disappointing to lose that way but we just have to brush ourselves down and go again.”

Armagh remain without a number of key men through injury. Aaron McKay, Joe McElroy, Paddy Burns, Tiernan Kelly and Peter McGrane are all sidelined at the moment, while Rian O’Neill is taking a bit of time out from the inter-county scene.

But that has given McGeeney the opportunity to have a look at some of the fresher faces in the panel, including Annaghmore clubman Tomás McCormack, who made his debut in Salthill last weekend.

“It was good to see Tomás McCormack coming in against Galway, he had a really good game for us and showed plenty of energy. We’ve got Gareth Murphy, Fergal O’Brien and Daniel McGee on the sideline.

“We have a couple of boys just coming back in there from injury too and they’re just a wee bit rusty but it’s one of those games that we should have done better on, but we didn’t, and we can only look to ourselves and try and improve that.”