Former Donegal forward Brendan Devenney has been “delighted” to see Armagh strutting their stuff in the top tier.
Devenney’s suffered many heartaches against Armagh during the noughties, but Orchard County’s transformation under Kieran McGeeney has been impressive.
“I’m so delighted for these lads because you look at the journey McGeeney’s been on with the team. Probably someone with less stature mightn’t have been given the time.”
“There were a few times when Armagh looked like they were coming back, and they couldn’t win a game in Ulster.”
“You need to get into Division One and hold it and they weren’t able to do that. Last year’s play off game, little did we know that game against Roscommon, when you think back to that game and how vital that was to Armagh. None of us thought much about it.”
“I expected Armagh to beat them and stay up but for what transpired then. If you look at Croke Park on the opening day (this year), I was up at Armagh and Tyrone. The buzz about Armagh, it was full on championship stuff.”
“That is a top, top county that has been below its powers. Now that injection and the way the team is playing, it’s fantastic to see.”
“He just reminds me of Murphy”
That outing against Tyrone stood out for Devenney, who was in attendance. “That game against Tyrone was a good a counter-attack performance as I’ve seen.”
“That first half was absolutely phenomenal. I don’t want to take anything away from it, but I just wonder about their fitness levels versus Tyrone at the time.”
“The way Armagh broke and switched the diagonal kick pass with the running off the shoulder, that’s the key, you’re mixing it up.”
“You have big Rian (O’Neill) there in around the square, an absolute monster, he just reminds me of Murphy when he came on the scene first.”
“Not only is he brilliant at everything, physically he just gives you that big, solid edge. He’s been phenomenal this season.”
