By Shaun Casey

FOLLOWING back-to-back victories in the opening two rounds of the Armagh Intermediate Championship, Tullysaran are eyeing up a third consecutive win and top spot in the group when they travel to Carrickcruppen this weekend.

Tullysaran were impressive winners the first day out as they overcame last year’s Junior Championship winners Clann Eireann IIs while they were eight-points stronger than Belleek in round two.

But Carrickcruppen will surely pose the toughest test of the campaign so far for Tullysaran and full-forward Gavin Conlon says his side know exactly what to expect when they travel to Camlough on Sunday.

“It’s a huge one for us this week,” explained Conlon, who kicked 0-5 last weekend. “We played Carrickcruppen at the start of the season down in Camlough and they beat us by 14 or 15 points.

“We’re under no illusions as to what’s coming down the track, they’re probably the favourites along with maybe Pearse Ogs for the whole thing, so it’ll be a good test for us to see where we’re at.”

Tullysaran’s round two clash against Division 2B league winners Belleek was one they had circled on their calendars since the draw was made. Belleek upset the odds to beat Tullysaran this time last year, but Conlon and co. were determined not to let that happen again.

“I suppose last year Belleek came up here and beat us on the exact same day, the second game of the group stages, so it was a big one for us just to get over the line because we know they’re very, very dangerous outfit so we’ve very happy with that.”

Tullysaran changed managers midway through the year with former players Pauric McGlone and Ciaran O’Riordan taking charge. It’s been a nice change says Conlon, who has certainly benefited from their style of play.

“To be fair the boys are letting us go out and play football and as a forward it’s really, really enjoyable,” added Conlon. “We work on it all week; we play attacking football.

“They’ve been brilliant since they’ve come in the middle of the year. They’ve just let us go out and enjoy our football and it’s really paying dividends at the minute.”

The forward trio of Mark McKeever, Conlon and Eddie Mallon has proved incredibly difficult to deal with so far in the championship and will cause plenty of havoc before the season is out.

McKeever, the youngest of the three, has kicked 1-17 in two games while Conlon has rattled off 0-11 himself. Play-maker Mallon makes the forward unit tick and has chipped in with a score in each game.

“Me and Eddie have played together now for 10 or 15 years, and Mark’s come in there the last five or six years and they’re brilliant players to play with. When you make a run, you know you’re going to get the ball from them and that makes a hell of a difference.”