Both Junior teams coming up from last year, Belleek and Crossmaglen IIs will fancy their chances of competing in Division 2B.
All teams involved in the division will feel they can contest and possibly push on for league success this season.
Ballyhegan
Ballyhegan are under new management his season with former Armagh player Joe Feeney taking charge.
Feeney led the Armagh Harps ladies to back to back Senior championship titles in the last two seasons.
The Davitt’s have lost some key players for the upcoming season, however. Both Mel and Paul Courtney have stepped away this season, with the latter heading to Trillick.
Peter McGrane, a member of the Armagh under 20 panel, along with James McCormack and Jack Rafferty will lead the team.
Belleek
Garreth Thornton guided Belleek to the promised land last season, winning the Junior Championship.
Thornton is back in charge this year and has added former Antrim boss Frank Dawson to his backroom team.
2021 Junior Player of the Year Sean McCreesh is back in the side for this season.
Callum O’Neill, Stephen Finnegan, Drew McVerry and James McParland are other big players for Belleek.
Clonmore
Former Armagh and Harps goalkeeper Paddy Morrison has taken over Clonmore for the upcoming season.
Morrison was the goalkeeping coach in Kilcoo during their run to All-Ireland club season earlier in the year.
Clonmore earned promotion for the Junior leagues a few years ago and are a solid Intermediate team.
Brendan Donaghy is still part of the Armagh squad but could see some game time in the league.
Collegeland
Collegeland were surprise Junior championship winners in 2019 and have a youthful team to call upon.
Cathair McGeary recovered from an ACL injury picked up in 2020 and will lead the line this year.
Collegeland are under new management with Kevin Blaney from Carryduff taking over this season.
They pushed Carrickcruppen all the way in last years championship and will hope to push on this year.
Crossmaglen II
Michael McConville will be in charge of Crossmaglen IIs this year and he’ll be joined by Miceal Traynor and Kyle Carragher.
Cross missed out on championship glory last season when they were defeated in the final by Belleek.
They did impress throughout the league however and earned promotion by winning Division Three.
The Rangers are back playing Intermediate football for the first time since 2019, when they suffered relegation.
Culloville
The surprise package in last year championship, Culloville impressed by reaching the Intermediate final.
They were defeated on the day by Carrickcruppen and also suffered relegation to Division 2B.
Former star man Kieran Hatzer remains in charge and he’ll hope to build on the momentum of last season.
Niall Rowland is on county duty, so Cathal Hatzer, Ryan Garvey and Fergal Rowland will lead the team during the early exchanges.
Forkhill
Forkhill finally get to play in Division 2B after they were denied the chance to do so last season.
They were forced to finish out their junior league fixtures but did taste Intermediate championship football.
They dominated An Port Mor in the opening round before losing to Tullysaran in the quarter final.
Their trio of county stars Stephen Sheridan, Paddy Burns and Jemar Hall will be absent for the foreseeable future.
Keady
Eugene McDonnell hung up the boots at the end of last season but picked up the bainisteoir bib and will lead Keady this year, taking over from Paul Doyle.
Paul Hughes along with former Armagh forward and All-Ireland winner Ronan Clarke make up the management team.
Keady will be one of the favourites for promotion this year after finishing third behind Carrickcruppen and Wolfe Tones in 2021.
James O’Hara is part of the county under 20 set up, so his involvement will be dictated by how their championship pans out.
Tir na nOg
Jim McCooe will lead Tir na nOg this season, along with Paul Carvill, Brian Mallon and Pierce Caherty.
The Portadown men will be hoping some of their championship winning under 19 team of last year are ready to make the breakthrough.
Oisin Conaty, Zion McKiernan and Michael Burnett have all been county minors in recent years.
Tom Weir and Damian McDonald are the leaders in the team and will be the driving forces once again.
