'We treated this like a final' says Armagh's Rory Grugan after opening round group win

Whilst Armagh were favourites to win the game, teams have experienced a provincial ‘hangover’ across the country with only three of the eight provincial finalists – including Armagh – winning their opening group match in the All-Ireland Series.

Armagh were 13 clear at one stage and looked to be cruising, but Derry made them work hard to get over the line, bringing the deficit back to four points.

But Armagh have two points on the table, and that’s all that matters according to Grugan.

“In the last two years, unfortunately we've experienced losing the Ulster final and then coming to try and win the first game at home.

“The first few days (after the Ulster final) are tough, getting the corner turned in terms of mentally and that, but we managed to do that and we put in a good 10 days of training.

“We treated this like a final, basically, because if you lose this first game, you're scrambling away to Dublin, neutral to Galway, you don't know where it'll take you and suddenly you're fighting for your life. We want to push on now, see where this week takes us and I look forward to Croke Park.”

Armagh were excellent for 55 minutes of this game and raced out to a 2-20 to 0-13 lead, but the last 15 minutes of the game would have set the alarms bells ringing, as Derry – who had six goal chances in the second half – found the net twice and hit several two-pointers.

“I just went off just after we'd conceded the first goal and it went back to a 10-point deficit and you're hoping that's still enough of a buffer," said Grugan.

“But in the modern game we've seen those disappear really quickly. There was a significant wind there, I don't know if it was clear in the stands, but Derry took advantage of it.

“You could tell they were really going for goal and they never stopped fighting. They came at us hard, kicked a couple of two-pointers and it was more nervy than it needed to be there.

“It would have been a travesty if we threw it away, but probably the most pleasing part was the third quarter there, we gave ourselves that buffer and it was enough to get us over the line.

“The first half was frustrating. We felt like we were playing a lot of good football, but Derry managed the game quite well against the wind and slowed it down, which is their prerogative to do. We probably missed a few chances. We only had 12 points on the board and we probably should have had more, but we knew coming out we just had to start taking our simple scores.

“We got four in a row in our first four attacks, which gave us a really good buffer and once the goal went in, that was us, you thought, with enough to manage the game out.

“But to be fair to Derry, they kept fighting like we knew they would and like I said, it was close, but we're just happy to get the two points and in such a difficult group, winning that first game is just so important.”

The headline news of the day was the return of Rian O’Neill, but key players from 2024 such as Niall Grimley and Joe McElroy also got more gametime. With players like Ross McQuillan, Jarly Og Burns and Darragh McMullen – none of whom started last year’s All-Ireland final – Armagh’s competition for places is at an all-time high.

“It's probably well discussed, at this stage, the depth of our squad,” said the Ballymacnab mane.

“And talking about (not having) five, six starters throughout the league from the All-Ireland team from last year, and to have the likes of Joe McElroy coming back, and obviously Rian [O’Neill], you can hear the reaction when he was named, and when he came off and stuff, it's brilliant to have him back.

“And as well there are others pushing on, Niall Grimley coming back in there, all the boys wanting to kick on and add to it. Last year, there were players who came in, who maybe hadn't even played much of the Ulster Championship, and ended up having a massive All-Ireland series that helped us win with Sam Maguire, so that could be the case again.

“We don't know who that is, but we've big faith in our squad, and it's a massively competitive environment, and that's going to be the case now. Everyone wants in on a piece of the action to get kicking on towards giving another push.”