By Shaun Casey

ARMAGH boss Kieran McGeeney is hoping that the home comforts of the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds will help Armagh bounce back from their round three defeat to Donegal as they host Mayo on Saturday evening.

The game will be played as part of a double-header, with the Armagh and Mayo ladies battling it out afterwards and a huge crowd should travel to the Cathedral City for what should be a great night of entertainment.

But getting two points on the board will be the main thing for McGeeney as Armagh have slipped into a relegation battle having lost two of their opening three games, both away from home.

Four teams currently sit on two points at the bottom end of the Division One league table. Armagh are joined by Tyrone, Kerry and this weekend’s opponents Mayo, while Derry are just below on one point.

“Mayo had a good win over Tyrone last weekend and there’s a lot of teams sitting on two points now,” said the All-Ireland winning captain and manager. “That’s the first division, it’s tight and we’ll be looking at Mayo first and then see who comes after.

“Home advantage does make a big difference. I think the first division is great, my feelings on it are that there should be home and away games in the league, I think it should be a bigger competition.

“You’re always going to get a big crowd (at home) and in fairness to Armagh supporters, they come in big numbers no matter where we are.”

On the eight-point loss to Donegal last weekend, McGeeney added: “We were the architects of our own downfall. There was a lack of discipline and very poor shot selection, especially in the second half that just made it easy for Donegal to pull away at the end.

“We got ourselves back into a great position, I think it was two points in it when the sending off occurred. We seemed to be a bit sloppy most of the day on our skills and it was disappointing because it was mostly down to a lot of the stuff we were doing ourselves.

“Donegal are one of the best teams in the country. They’re hugely supported, especially since Jim (McGuinness) came back. He has them going again, and Michael Murphy coming on as well, they have huge momentum behind them.”