Leitrim/Longford Masters in action against Armagh

Both teams have two wins from their four games and both teams are coming off the back of narrow defeats, Armagh against Donegal and Leitrim/Longford against Mayo.

Armagh are a well-organised, well-drilled, and a very fit outfit. They won all their pre-season challenge games before beating Antrim and then Louth (1-9 to 0-2) in the competition. They were then unlucky to go under against the two-time All-Ireland Masters Champions Tyrone, who had the likes of Sean Cavanagh, Steven O’Neill, Ciaran Gourley, and Conor Gormley in the squad with 12 All-Ireland medals between them. 

 Armagh also faced another one of the top four teams, Donegal, where they were beaten, Donegal 2-13 to Armagh 1-9. However, these tough games against leading contenders will be of great benefit to Armagh. Ryan McGreevey, Mark Murray, Eoin Reynolds, and Benny Rafferty have been some of their top scorers.

 With a significant number of the squad away on holidays and a couple of small injuries, Leitrim/Longford will be without several starting players from their previous outing. The list includes; Derek McKeon, Mark Beirne, Dermot Turley, David Columb, Padraig McGarry JP, and Andrew McManus. They are also waiting on fitness tests on Dominic Glennon and Glen Kelly, both crucial to the team, and a lot may depend on their availability.

However, they have a number of players that were missing from the last outing, coming back into the squad, the evergreen Ray Cox  (Annaduff), James Hynes (St Marys Granard), John Coyle (Mostrim), Padraig Murtagh (Colmcille), and Mark Connor (Ballymahon), which should help to plug some of the vacant slots and it is sure to be a tight affair against Armagh.