By Shaun Casey

IT’S 17 years since Armagh last captured the Anglo Celt Cup and 2025 provides another chance for Kieran McGeeney’s side to end that long drought but goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty says his team are taking it one game at a time.

The Orchard County, who have lost the last two provincial finals after penalty shootouts, begin their campaign with an away date against Antrim at Corrigan Park while either Tyrone or Cavan await the winners in the semi-final.

Rafferty first came onto the scene in 2013 as a forward, making his Ulster Championship debut against Cavan and bagged a goal after entering the play from the bench. Armagh failed to deliver in the Ulster series for many years however.

McGeeney got involved the following season before taking full control in 2015 and the men in orange struggled to even get a win during those early years. In fact, their first victory in the Ulster Championship under his watch didn’t arrive until 2019.

The heartbreak of those recent Ulster final defeats were long forgotten last July when Armagh claimed the Sam Maguire Cup for the second time in their history. Still, Rafferty says he would “love to win” an Ulster.

“Obviously there was a bit of heartbreak but it’s funny how quickly it was forgotten by the time July came round,” laughed the Grange clubman. “I’ll not say we don’t care if we win or not, I’d love to win one as a player and get our hands on the Anglo Celt.

“But we’ll take each game as it goes. We’re not going to be looking too far ahead, we’ve set our plan out for the year and we’ll keep trying to hit the milestones as we go.”

Rafferty is currently wrestling for the number one shirt with Blaine Hughes and that is just one of many battles going on inside the Armagh dressing room.

The competition for places at the moment is ferocious.

“I think that’s going to add to the whole thing and as much as there’s a fight for the number one jersey or the number five starting position, there’s a fight getting into our 26 or 30 for matchday,” Rafferty added.

“If everybody is competitive then you know that whoever does get the call is going to be in the right place because they’ve been made to fight for it the whole way through.”