‘We have had great support everywhere this year’ says Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney

“We're delighted,” he said.

“Because we're staying up in Division 1, which is a big thing for the team and the young people going forward. So, it's a big plus for us.”

Reflecting on the campaign overall, the Armagh manager said: “It was a mixed bag. We had good home form, which was great.

“We have had great support everywhere this year. I would say that we would fill most grounds in every game we have played in. I hope that's reflected when the GAA come to divvy out the funds and help us in Portadown with our new playing fields.

“So, it was a mixed bag, but considering it came on the back of an All-Ireland win and the fact that we have had a lot of injuries during the league, to be able to stay up and to have played some decent football is a good result.”

Armagh were one of four teams who could have possibly been relegated on Sunday, but McGeeney says that all the team could do was to win their game by a healthy margin and hope that it was enough to keep their heads above water.

“Our focus was about winning the game and after that, you can't do much about it. We felt that if we won our game by as much as possible, then we would have a good chance of staying up and it ended up that way.

“We were a wee bit fortuitous with some of the goals, but then we were unlucky with some other goal chances elsewhere. But overall, there were a lot of pluses from today.”

Armagh have been bitten by the injury bug all year, and that continued this week as they lost three players on Thursday night, adding to an injury list which already includes All-Ireland final starters Tiernan Kelly, Aaron McKay, Ben Crealey and Niall Grimley.

With their Ulster Championship campaign starting in three weeks’ time, McGeeney gave an injury update on when we can expect to see some of those faces returning.

“Our backs were against the wall today – we were nine players short from our Starting XV last year. Even since Thursday night, we have lost Aidan [Forker], Connaire Mackin and Ciaran Higgins.

“We're hoping to see TK [Tiernan Kelly] back in action soon. Aaron is probably going to be out a wee bit longer. For Ben, we're just going to have to mind him over the next coming weeks, and hopefully Niall will be ok in the next week or two. Hamstrings are a big thing.

“Luckily we had Tomas [McCormack] and Ross McQuillan who came back into the team. We took a chance with them and it paid off, both of them played extremely well for us. We got Joe McElroy some more game-time. So, some pluses and some minuses.

“We're just trying to push all the players to get minutes in the legs. We have three hard weeks of training in front of us and hopefully we'll be prepared.”