Round 4 against Tyrone, Down, Kildare or Dublin. Armagh are officially on the road.
Kieran McGeeney has had his share of critics. He took over a county that were beaten by a point in the quarter-finals by a Donegal team who went on and swatted Dublin aside and he came in with that winning reputation too. But whatever about the start to his tenure, Armagh are motoring again and what the manager did with Jamie Clarke on Saturday evening deserves credit.
Rewind the clocks to the Orchard County’s first outing against Down in the championship this season and Clarke was running around just looking for room to breathe never mind impact the game. But two wins later and Armagh and their star forward rolled down to Tipperary knowing exactly how to get the best out of what they have.
In a ferocious game in Thurles, none of the 6,823 people at Semple Stadium once took their eyes off what became an increasingly fiery battle. How could they blink when you never knew from one minute to the next what the hell referee Paddy Neilan would pull out of the hat?
What they would’ve seen consistently though was Jamie Clarke. They would’ve seen a number 13 in an orange jersey darting around the opposition backline like he was never once going to tire and they would’ve seen a ball-winning masterclass.
The way they set up from the start encouraged Clarke to go get his hands on the ball.
One of either Murnin or the outstanding Gavin McParland occupied the small square at all times. Sometimes both of them did, sometimes one went for a wander around the field but Clarke was free to explore the entirety of the Semple Stadium forward lines and the areas he picked up ball showed that.
Where Jamie Clarke won possession
In the first period though, the Crossmaglen attacker might’ve been accused of coming too deep to get his hands on the O’Neill’s leather but McGeeney seemed happy to let him roam because he was torturing the life out of poor Alan Campbell and, for the most part, inviting Jimmy Feehan to double up.
He won the ball nine times out of the 12 times it was put in his direction – by contrast, Sweeney and Quinlivan at the other side of the field only picked up possession seven times between them in the first period. McGeeney made sure his trump card wasn’t hidden away.
However, whilst Clarke won two frees that were scored and set up, with a sublime move, what should’ve been a perfectly good goal but for bizarre refereeing, he wasn’t terrorising Tipperary yet because he was being forced wide and deep.
That changed. Oh boy did that change.
Jamie Clarke in the second half
His movements were more sporadic, less predictable and he was coming onto the ball in the scoring zone on more occasions.
He notched up 1-1 in the second period and a lot of that was down to the use of Andrew Murnin.
- In the first half, Murnin won two balls (out of two) in the forward line.
- In the second half, he won six out of seven.
The big man was sought out much more and that gave Clarke a platform higher up the pitch – because how he was picking up the ball was varied.
How Jamie Clarke won possession in attack:
Hand pass – 11
Kick pass – 4
Breaks – 3
In total, he won 18 balls in attack – not coming into defence or picking up anything handy. He held his line and did the work for the team.
By the end of it, the stats spoke for themselves (stats are purely forward line stats).
How many balls were won in attack:
Jamie Clarke – 18
Andrew Murnin – 8
Conor Sweeney – 8
Michael Quinlivan – 6
McGeeney stifled the opposition threat – and he let his own bloodhounds loose. In the end, it was the Armagh savage who feasted most.
It was a huge performance from Jamie Clarke – but his manager deserves serious credit too.
