Kieran McGeeney believes Armagh’s surprise victory over Dublin has “poked the bear” just days away from a crunch encounter with All-Ireland champions and fierce rivals – Tyrone.
Armagh’s Division 1 opponents will be out to take their scalp after a hard-fought five point victory at Croke Park in Saturday night’s league opener.
It was a good night for Armagh, who recorded their first win over Dublin since 2008.
“It’s a great milestone for us,” said McGeeney. “But we seen from the league last year, getting beaten by a big score doesn’t necessarily negate the quality of player you have. If anything, it just pokes the bear.
“We will enjoy it. It was a good victory. We are not taking away from a good performance.
“I am sure Dublin will look at it and look at some of the mistakes they made, and they will bounce back and they will be stronger come the summer because of it.
“Our job is to try and now focus on Tyrone. We have All-Ireland champions coming to us next week and they will be sore from the last time.
“Tyrone, loving Armagh like they do, will want to set that straight.”
Armagh had just three wides, all from Rian O’Neill, while they also dropped three efforts short.
It was impressive but McGeeney demanded more in terms of converting goal chances.
By his count, Armagh missed three goal chances, and he noted that on other days that would have cost them.
“They should have scored more,” he said. “They missed a lot I thought.
“They took some of the simple scores, but on a different day Dublin will make you pay for those. It’s just to try to get that right.
“There is more to come from them, but I have also reminded them of the quality that’s in front of them over the next couple of weeks. All that’s going to do is poke the bear.”
Rory Grugan was excellent, while Connaire and Ciaran Mackin brought serious energy and drive in the second half when it was needed to keep Dublin at bay.
Blues boss Dessie Farrell said: “Obviously you want to be competitive in every game.
“But at the end of the day – and this isn’t to disrespect any competition – everyone has their sights set on the summer.
“For us, we’re involved in that process, trying to build something that will be highly competitive come April-May.
“This team (Armagh) will be a force to be reckoned with if they can keep their feet on the ground after tonight.
“It’s disappointing. On the positive we got some new blood in and gave some new players game-time.”
Farrell said he was unlikely to have anyone else back for the Kerry game, with the likes of Michael Fitzsimons, Con O’Callaghan, Jonny Cooper, James McCarthy and Paddy Small all missing.
On top of that he has fresh injury concerns with Aaron Byrne and Cormac Costello limping out against Armagh.
Dublin’s 13 wides were bad enough, but even more uncharacteristic was the five efforts dropped short.
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
