By Shaun Casey

WITH just one game between the end of the league and the start of the All-Ireland Championship, the long layoff is a challenge that Armagh will have to contend with, says joint manager Darnell Parkinson.

That one game was of course the Ulster final at Clones and the Orchard County were crowned provincial winners for the fourth time in five years, bouncing back from their Division One league final defeat to Kerry.

Now, as the All-Ireland group stage kicks into gear, Armagh are on the road as they take on Meath.

“That’s been the case over the last couple of years,” Parkinson, who takes the team alongside Joe Feeney, said of the long layoff.

“This year hasn’t been as bad because the Ulster final was brought forward slightly which meant that there was less of a wait between the league and the Ulster final.

“That has given us a few weeks where we can focus on the All-Ireland phase and get a good block of work in. We’ve had challenge games, and we’ve released players back to their clubs so we’re juggling things at that end.

“There are in-house games too and we did lose a few challenge games, but it is what it is and it’s the same for every team. We’re just trying to focus on ourselves really and games are good, but a lot of things we’re doing now are fine tuning and focusing on our structure.”

When Armagh hosted the Royal County in the final round of the league, they had already qualified for the decider and gave plenty of players game time, making 13 changes in the second half. Meath produced a brilliant comeback to win by one.

“In the championship game last year, we won by a point and Meath were very disappointed to have lost that game. In the league game, there was a bit of a different dynamic to it but at the same time, you could see what it meant to Meath to beat us.

“We were well ahead in that game, but it meant a lot to them to come back and leave Armagh with a victory. In our last two games, there’s been a point that has separated the two teams either way and there might not be much difference at the weekend.”

On the injury concerns in the squad, Moya Feehan is out for the year while Aimee Mackin is working her way back slowly but surely.

“We lost Louise Kenny and Roisin Mulligan in the run up to the Ulster final but that’s what our squad is for,” Parkinson continued.

“There’s 30 plus girls there who are all more than capable of coming in and holding their own and they showed that throughout the league.

“We lost Moya Feehan just before the league final unfortunately to an ACL so she’s out for the season. Aimee Mackin, unfortunately with the scale of her injury, she was told she might have to take the full 12 months which would be July time.”