It's ​time for Armagh to dust themselves off and go again as Westmeath come to town

It’s time for Armagh to dust themselves off and go again.

Once more, the Orchard County lost a high profile game in the cruellest of fashions – a fourth penalty shootout defeat in less than two years – as Donegal left Clones with the Anglo Celt Cup less than two weeks ago.

Whilst it may be overly simplistic to keep referring to these types of defeats as purely bad luck, the Armagh players and management will be wondering what more they have to do to get over the line.

Their defensive gameplan was rock-solid, but still Donegal put on a shooting exhibition and twice reeled Armagh in when it looked like it was going to be the Orchard County’s day.

However, the players, management and indeed the Armagh fans have no other choice but to park that result and look ahead now to the All-Ireland Series, which begins with the same fixture as it did this time last year – home to Westmeath.

Kieran McGeeney won’t need to be reminded that Dessie Dolan’s side cannot be taken lightly, as they nearly pulled off one of the shocks of the summer last year. They led Armagh for most of the game, but the hosts escaped with the win following a late goal from Conor Turbitt.

Speaking after the Ulster final defeat, McGeeney conceded that he has a job on his hands to lift his players and that they need to refocus as quickly as possible, as they head into a difficult group.

“They (the groups) are all tough,” he said.

“You couldn’t look at any of those groups and say they are not tough. Yeah, it is going to be hard to lift the players, but you have to do your best.”

Alongside Westmeath in the group are heavy hitters Galway and Derry, who already met last Saturday, with Galway winning.

If Armagh, Galway and Derry have realistic aspirations of a push for Sam Maguire, Westmeath are hoping to take a scalp and avoid finishing bottom of the group.

They booked their place in the All-Ireland Series with a strong league campaign, which concluded with a win over Down in the final, following two goals from Jonathan Lynam.

However, their Leinster Championship campaign never got off the ground, and Armagh legend Oisin McConville led Wicklow to a 2-9 to 1-11 victory over the Lake County.

That game took place seven weeks ago, during which time Armagh had three battles in the Ulster Championship, as Westmeath knuckled down and prepared for this competition.

McGeeney elected not to rotate his team too much over the last few weeks, but he may choose to experiment this weekend.

Following strong contributions from the bench in recent games, Aidan Nugent, Oisin O’Neill and Jason Duffy will certainly be putting their hands up in training to obtain a starting berth, and the Armagh boss will have a selection headache.

Whilst Armagh’s ‘hard luck stories’ will continue to be written in the press, it’s up to them to change the narrative by putting in a strong showing in the All-Ireland Series.

After another heart-breaking loss, it is time for the supporters to once again get behind their heroes and give them a lift – as they always do.