Armagh can breathe a bit easier after Saturday night’s victory over Ulster rivals Donegal, but assistant manager Kieran Donaghy insists they aren’t safe just yet.
The Orchard County held off a stern second half comeback from Donegal at the Box-It Athletic Grounds to secure a second win of the campaign after their opening round win over Monaghan.
Kieran McGeeney’s side also drew with Mayo and are fourth in the table on five points with two games remaining.
Read more: Recap as Armagh claim a vital hard-fought three-point victory over Donegal
However, with games against Galway (home) and Tyrone (away) still to come, Donaghy insists Armagh cannot relax just yet.
“Where Donegal are and where we are, it was extremely important. We knew that coming into the game. This League is so tough,” said Donaghy.
“Kieran (McGeeney) has done an unbelievable job in eight years to go from Division Three to where we are today. A lot of those players have been through that process and know how hard it is.
“If you look at Division Two and how competitive it is, you don’t want to be going back down into that dogfight. The quality in Division One is extremely high so to stay in it is absolutely massive for us.
“It is another step along the way - we still have two very big games and we’ll have to get a win in one of them. Galway here and then away to Tyrone. . . it doesn’t get any harder than those both of those games.
He added: “I’m happy as the boys showed great courage - even when they brought it back to one, we’d real leadership there to step up. I’m delighted to get out with the win.
“This wasn’t about anything pretty or putting on a show for the Armagh fans who came here - it was about winning and getting a result.”
When it was put to the former Kerry star that Saturday night’s dogfight was the type of game Armagh might have drawn or lost in the past, he praised their game management and said it is something they’ve worked on.
“I believe it can be worked on and I believe you can practice and put yourself in scenarios in training where you are putting the team in a position of how to see it out,” said Donaghy.
“But there are circumstances you cannot replicate – crowds, pressure – this is stuff you cannot replicate.
“You can put the players in a scenario here on a quiet Wednesday night when there is nobody is watching and they will be cool on the ball and calm and calculated and pick off the scores and see us home.
“You just have to keep drilling the habits and as a management team we do a lot of that scenario-based stuff at times in training.
"Even though it wasn’t perfect tonight, we still pulled away at the end and got the key scores.”
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