Armagh have suffered a blow ahead of the 2023 season with the news that goalkeeper Blaine Hughes has stepped away from the county squad.
The 26-year-old Carrickcruppen clubman made his senior Championship debut for the Orchard men in 2017 and had been their first-choice shot-stopper in recent seasons.
He started in goals for Armagh’s first three League games of 2022 with the Orchard men securing back-to-back wins over Dublin and Tyrone before drawing their round three tie with Monaghan.
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Hughes was then surprisingly dropped for the fourth round tie against Mayo at Dr Hyde Park with Ethan Rafferty drafted in.
Armagh lost that game by two points but the Grange native, who’d previously only ever played outfield for the county, was a revelation between the posts last season and earned an All Star nomination following a string of impressive performances.
Speaking at the Dr McKenna Cup launch, Armagh assistant Ciaran McKeever confirmed that Hughes was no longer part of the panel.
“Blaine (Hughes) has, unfortunately, walked away to concentrate on his business,” said McKeever.
“He wish him all the best with it. Ideally, we’d love to still have him about, but different players have different priorities.
“At the moment, Blaine wants to focus on his business and there’s nothing we can do about it. We tried to keep him on board, but it was his decision.
“We have Shea Magill in there with Ethan (Rafferty) at the minute. Shea has made steady progress through the underage squad.
"We’ve also got Patrick McAteer (Mullaghbawn) with the U20 squad so those guys are on board and are working with Ciaran McKinney (goalkeeping coach) and we hope they’ll be able to step in when they are needed.”
Magill (Killeavy) was called up for his first senior start in the 2021 Ulster SFC semi-final loss to Monaghan in Newry when Hughes was ruled out due to cCovid.
Veteran defender Brendan Donaghy recently called time on his county career while Kieran McGeeney will hope to have Madden’s Niall Grimley back for the early part of 2023 after the midfielder suffered a serious neck injury during training ahead of the Qualifier game against Tyrone.
“We had a number of injuries and it came to a head towards the end of the season,” added McKeever.
“All those boys are making steady progress. They are at the stages now when they are close to being let loose into full training.
“We’re waiting to get the okay from different consultants and doctors. Hopefully, they’ll get a few sessions in over the coming weeks leading into the McKenna Cup and we can give them some game time ahead of the League.”
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