Armagh are a “force to be reckoned with” according to Dublin boss Dessie Farrell. He watched the Orchard County defeat his side by five points on Saturday night.
Armagh were much the better team throughout the league opener and secured a famous victory in Croke Park.
Farrell, a former clubmate at Na Fianna with Kieran McGeeney, paid huge compliments to Armagh
“We knew Armagh would have had this game in their sights from a long way off and had a lot of work done, you could see.”
“Very fit, well organised, a proper side and they were deserving winners on the day. When the league fixtures were announced, I’d no doubt this was going to be a really tough game. A tough opener because of the work Armagh would have done.”
Rian O’Neill
He made a special mention for Man of the Match Rian O’Neill, who finished with 1-4 on the night.
It was O’Neill’s goal that kickstarted Armagh’s most dominant period during the second quarter.
The 2020 All-Ireland winning manager admitted his side couldn’t deal with the Armagh full forward.
“Excellent player. He’s definitely one of the marquee players in the country at the minute. We had our hands full with him and Armagh utilise him very well.”
“This team will be a force to be reckoned with if they can keep their feet on the ground after tonight.”
In terms of where it went wrong for the hosts, Farrell pointed to their poor attempts in front of the posts.
While Dublin scored 1-13, they missed a further 18 chances, an extremely un-Dublin like stat.
Farrell’s men kicked 14 wides, dropped three shots short and also hit the post.
“We had so many wides, balls dropped short, so definitely the shooting efficiency wasn’t where we’d want it to be. That’s something we’ll obviously take to the practise ground and have a conversation about.”
