Armagh made a strong start to 2022 and were able to maintain a high standard throughout the season. With a new campaign on the horizon, Orchard coach Ciaran McKeever sees no reason to change that approach.
Their 2023 season begins with a home clash against Antrim in the Dr McKenna Cup next Wednesday night at the Athletic Grounds and Kieran McGeeney’s men will also host the Saffrons in the Ulster SFC preliminary round tie in April.
Should Armagh or Antrim reach their respective League finals, they’ll have just one week between the League and the Championship.
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“With the condensed season, the games come upon you very quickly and one game leads straight into the next,” said McKeever.
“From early doors, we’ve got to be smart as a management team.
“We wouldn’t be happy with the lead in time we have for training ahead of these competitions.
“We are allowed 30 days by Croke Park and we lost a few with the weather and another week at Christmas.
“We have to be sensible in our approach and try and maintain a full squad facing into a really busy six or seven-month period.
“It is a long way away at the moment.
"Our main focus at the minute is getting game time into some senior personnel and trying to find new faces in January and getting ready for Monaghan at the end of January.”
Armagh started their Division One campaign with eye-catching wins over Dublin and Tyrone and finished third in the League - ahead of both the Red Hands and Donegal on scoring difference.
They’ll face their Ulster rivals in the top flight once again as well as their Championship conquerors Galway in their penultimate League game.
McKeever said they’ll use the forthcoming Dr McKenna Cup campaign to run their eye over as many different players as possible with the hope of unearthing some fresh talent.
“Last year, we felt we got great benefit from the McKenna Cup and we used 12 subs in most of our matches,” said McKeever.
“We started to blood the likes of Justin Kierans, Eoin Woods and Ciaran Mackin.
“Now we are looking at players who had really good club Championships - the likes of Cian McConville (Crossmaglen) and Shane McPartland (Clan na Gael).
"We’ll get a look at some of those boys in January and that will hopefully leave us in a better place going into the League and into the summer.”
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