Aidan Nugent feels criticism regarding Armagh’s style of play during their ill-fated League campaign was wide of the mark and hopes they’ve struck the right balance ahead of Sunday’s Ulster SFC Final clash with Derry.
Kieran McGeeney’s side were relegated from the top flight after losing out to Tyrone in their final game with Monaghan’s defeat of Mayo sending them into Division Two along with Donegal.
The Orchard County scored just two goals in the League, against Mayo and Galway, leading to claims they’d become overly focused on defensive football.
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They also failed to hit the net against Antrim while Ben Crealey plundered a goal against Cavan.
The floodgates then opened in their Ulster SFC win over Down with Andrew Murnin, Shane McPartlan, Ciaran Mackin and Rian O’Neill all scoring goals while Jason Duffy also hit the crossbar twice.
“I think there’s a lot made of what way we were playing in the League but if you actually studied the games, we weren’t playing any different, we just weren’t getting results,” said Nugent.
“I think when you lose games, we probably weren’t racking up as big of scores as last year, but people tend to say that we’re playing a more defensive game.
“I think we’ve just finished the League, okay we got relegated but we got a bit of momentum going and when you have momentum going people start saying you’re playing a whole different game.
“If you look back and studied the game, we’re probably playing the exact same but maybe just getting a bit of the rub of the green.
“It comes down to execution, I’d say we were getting the same amount of (goal) chances (in the league) it’s just putting them away and we knew as the weeks went on, we weren’t being as clinical as we should be.
“It’s something that we really knuckled down on and tried to work hard on and I suppose we’re getting that wee bit of luck this last few weeks and hopefully it continues.”
Derry’s semi-final win over Monaghan in Omagh was widely regarded as one of their best performances under Rory Gallagher as they eased to an eight-point win with 10 different scorers.
However, that particular feat was bettered by the Orchard County the following day in Clones as 12 players, including Nugent, contributed to their 4-10 haul against Down.
Murnin and O’Neill have the ability to pose serious questions of Derry’s defence on Sunday, but Nugent stressed that they need to have flexibility in their game plan if they are to overcome the defending champions.
“You try to utilise your strengths. If you have a big man in the square, you’ll put it in, but I suppose two out of the four goals we got against Down were balls that dropped short, they weren’t necessarily balls in,” reflected Nugent.
“If you’ve got it in your armour to kick into space and to the forwards it’ll save the legs and the way the game is going, it’s end to end so you need to be able to do that.
“There’s a mix of safety first and then there’s playing what you see but I think it’s the quality of teams that you’re playing against and the pace of the players on the opposing team that if you do give the ball away cheaply, you’re going to be punished.
“I suppose there is a bit of safety first but then on the flip side of it you need to be able to play off the cuff a bit too.
When quizzed on Derry’s spread of scorers against Monaghan, Nugent added: “I think that’s just the way the game’s going, any team now very rarely has out-and-out markers, they might be pinned with a job, but they’re all expected to get up.
“If teams are putting 15 behind the ball you’re going to try and press up on them whether you’re corner-back or corner-forward, at some stage of the game you’re going to get a chance to shoot so everyone is expected to be able to put the ball over the bar. Derry seem to be able to do that very well lately.”
Nugent was just 13 when Armagh last visited St Tiernach’s Park on Ulster Final day and every other county played in at least one final since 2008.
Indeed, prior to their wins over Antrim and Cavan, Armagh had failed to record back-to-back wins in the Ulster Championship in 15 years.
Armagh coach and Nugent’s Cullyhana clubmate Ciaran McKeever, who played against Fermanagh in '08, sought to downplay the importance of the Ulster Championship earlier in the campaign.
He then clarified his stance after the Down victory, stating: “We’d love nothing more than this group of players to get their hands on an Ulster medal.”
Speaking at last week’s Ulster GAA media event in Killyman, Co Tyrone, Nugent insists the Armagh players haven’t dwelled on their lack of success on the provincial stage, but concedes they’ll need to improve again to topple Derry.
“I think I said it before, Ulster’s not the be all and end all. If it was coming up to an All-Ireland final you would be saying it’s a must win, it’s do or die.
“Obviously, you’d like to win the final, but I don’t think it’s something that has hampered us over the last few years because we ended up trying to get a run through the Qualifiers and we got a good bit of momentum built up last year.
“It is important, it’s vitally important, you want to win every game you can, but I don’t think it’s something that we’ve dwelled over too much over these last few years of not getting to an Ulster final, I think it’s more people outside the camp that’s been more worried about it.
“We definitely need to step it up. You’ll never look back at any game and say you played to your full potential.
"There’s always things to work on and when there’s things to work on and improve on even though you won - It’s a sure sign that there’s more in the tank.”
Armagh, meanwhile, have a number of injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s Ulster Final clash with Derry in Clones.
Midfielder Ben Crealey was taken off before half-time in the 10-point win over Down while goal-scorers Ciaran Mackin and Andrew Murnin were also withdrawn before the end of the game.
Kieran McGeeney will be hoping all three recover in time to line out against Derry and joint-captain Aidan Nugent offered a positive update at last week’s Ulster GAA media event ahead of the provincial final.
“I think they’re all fine. I suppose having a wee bit of depth in our squad, maybe in years gone by they would have tried to soldier on through the injury or through the bit of a knock,” said Nugent.
“Having a strong enough bench that we’re able to replace them is more cautionary than having an injury, but I think they’ll be fine.”
Aside from long-term injuries to Niall Grimley, Tiernan Kelly and Oisin O’Neill, defenders James Morgan and Barry McCambridge also remain injury concerns after missing the last two Championship wins over Cavan and Down.
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