Tyrone v Armagh: A fight for survival

A CRUCIAL Ulster derby will have Healy Park rocking this weekend as Tyrone and Armagh fight for survival in a desperate battle to avoid relegation from Division One of the Allianz League.

A point will be enough to keep the Red Hands in the top tier, but the Orchard men need a win to ensure that they don’t make the drop down to Division Two for 2024.

Other results will play a part in the eventual breakdown of the League standings, but nothing can be left to chance in this Omagh showdown as two fierce rivals face off in a high stakes encounter.

Tyrone gave themselves a massive boost with victory over Monaghan last Sunday, but Armagh slipped into crisis territory on their last gasp defeat to Galway.

Tyrone midfielder Conn Kilpatrick expects Armagh to throw caution to the wind and take the fight fearlessly to their neighbours.

“They have put it up to us in the last couple of years as well,” he said.

“They have definitely come up through the ranks in the last couple of years.

“They have top players, a great management team behind them, and we know the calibre of players that they have and what damage they can do if we let them.”

Just a point separates the sides in the League table, but that slender margin could make a huge difference in this weekend’s final round of games.

“We know where everybody is sitting in the table. It’s another battle between two Ulster teams.

“We have won every game at Healy Park this year in the League, and we’re looking to continue that.

“It’s important to stay in Division One. It’s where we belong, where we feel we belong.

“We have very good players and management team, and we feel that Division One is where we need to be competing every year.

“But we know the task that is ahead of us. They punished us well last year in the Championship, and we will have to re-group, put a few things together in training and look forward to the match.”

Despite the eight points win over Monaghan, Kilpatrick is acutely aware that Tyrone are not yet safe, and must take no chances in their final game.

“We badly needed that result, and we’re not out of the gate ourselves yet.

“So we’ll go into this game, prepare well and look forward to Armagh coming to Omagh.”

The Edendork clubman is relieved to have turned the corner following a shaky start to the season, and victories over Kerry and Monaghan have altered the mood and the outlook in the camp.

“It’s great to get over the line. We had a good win against Kerry two weeks ago, we still have things to improve on, and coming into this clash with Monaghan, we knew that we had to up the game again.

“We probably haven’t put wins back to back like that in a while, and it’s just great for the group to get a performance.

“Things went well for us, and there’s also things to improve on.”

Monaghan’s record in relegation battles at Clones is an impressive one, but Tyrone imposed themselves on Sunday’s contest, and pushed for home with conviction after the home side had two men sent off.

“In the last couple of years, they have put the grit in and relegated teams, so we knew coming here that it wasn’t going to be an easy task.

“And we’re just happy to have backed up our performance against Kerry.

“We look forward to Armagh next week, and hopefully we can build on it after another hard week’s training.”

The Red Hands had ten different scorers, hitting 1-11 from play, while Monaghan managed just a single point from open play.

“There were positive stats, but we also let them in easily a few times. They got a few marks and a few handy free kicks that we would have to look at,” said Kilpatrick.

“Probably the ball was getting in too easy on our behalf in the middle eight, so we’ll go back to the training ground and re-group and try to rectify those errors.”

Kilpatrick and midfield partner Brian Kennedy created havoc on the edge of the opposition square at regular intervals as they pushed forward as towering target men, with the latter winning the penalty from which Peter Harte scored the first goal.

“We have been given more of a licence, but the onus is still to get back, put in the work and help the defenders out. That’s the first and foremost.

“As a pairing, and we have also Joe (Oguz) in there as well, we’ll keep going and battle out every game as much as we can.”

It’s up to the players themselves to make on-field decisions and rotate the move to the front line.

“It’s kinda depending on the game, where we’re at. If I’m in, then he knows to stay out, and if he’s in, I’ll stay out.

“It has worked well, but there’s still improvements there to be made as well.”