​Competition for places drives Armagh’s success says Paddy Burns

​Armagh get their Championship campaign up and running this Saturday, as they travel to west Belfast to face Antrim.

At the recent Ulster Championship launch, it was suggested to Paddy Burns that after winning the All-Ireland title last year that Armagh are now the hunted rather than the hunters, but he pointed to the fact that they didn’t win Ulster last year, so they are still chasing glory in that regard.

“We didn’t win this Championship last year, so we’re not quite the hunted,” he said.

“We’ve gone through the league being the hunted already and that’s part and parcel of being previous champions and we’ve got used to that.

“We’ve played a number of teams who will possibly rightly feel they should have beaten us last year and who were out to prove a point so it’s going to be no different I assume in the Ulster Championship or in any game we play this year.

“That’s just something you have to get used to and you have to deal with and we’re learning that all the time. We’re getting better at it but there’s still plenty of learning to be done and we’ll continue to do that.”

Armagh blooded in some young players throughout the league, including corner back Tomas McCormack, who will be gunning for Burns’ place in the team. However, Burns was full of praise for the Annaghmore man, saying that he’ll be more than happy to hand the jersey to him.

“I have a good relationship with those boys. Tomas has been in a couple of years and I’ve had plenty of conversations with him before about what he’s doing well.

“I told him last year that I had been in his shoes, he was training well and playing well but he couldn’t get a gap into the team but you need to just stick at it and his time would come because he was very much ready to play at this level, I really believed that about him.

“He has shown that through the league; he has shown that he’s ready to play at this level and he has a great attitude, he’s a great fella.

“There’ll be ups and downs for him throughout his career but I’d be very hopeful that he’ll have a long career with Armagh and I’m happy to hand the jersey over to him no problem.”

Furthermore, Burns says that having high competition for places can only lead to success – as shown last year for Armagh.

“That’s what drives success, if the so called ‘starting team’ aren’t getting challenged in training, which is maybe where we were seven or eight years ago, then you don’t get that progress because you’re only really getting tested on matchday and you don’t know where you’re at.

“Whereas when you have a deep squad where nobody is sure of their position, it makes training matches more competitive but it also ensures that the team that’s taking the pitch has been properly road tested for the challenge they’re about to face.

“I think it’s probably the most important thing and it’s why we put so much emphasis on the contribution of the squad.

“Our success last year, we wouldn’t have had it without the contribution of the 16 plus.”

After discussions between Ulster GAA and Antrim GAA, Saturday’s game between the Saffrons and Armagh – which was fixed for neutral venue Pairc Esler – was changed to Antrim’s home ground Corrigan Park two weeks ago, and Burns believes that the right call was made.

“It’s nice to get it sorted and put an end to the messing about,” he said.

“Obviously there are different parties involved and everyone has their own interests, I’m sure that Ulster GAA are looking at a McKenna Cup that they’ve lost and the finances that come with that.

“You can understand them wanting to get it in a bigger ground but if we were Antrim, we’d be doing the exact same thing. A home draw is a home draw and it’s up to the powers that be to figure out in the future how to avoid similar scenarios.”

Whilst Antrim had to hold firm and fight their corner in order to retain home advantage, he doesn’t believe that Andy McEntee’s men will be overly galvanised by the announcement.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. I would say they probably assumed it was going to be in Corrigan anyway, I know that was our assumption. They were always going to get their way and it was always going to be in Corrigan and rightly so.

“There was a selfish part of me for a brief period when I saw Pairc Esler, I was rubbing my hands because it’s five minutes from where I live, it’s as close as I can get.

“It’s where they’re used to playing so of course they’re going to be delighted that they got what they asked for but it only made sense.”

Armagh will be huge favourites to defeat Antrim, who were relegated from Division 3 in the league, but Burns says that the team won’t take their eyes off the ball.

“We’ve been there before,” he cautioned.

“I think back to my Championship debut way back in 2018 against Fermanagh, in Fermanagh, where we went in as hot favourites and didn’t take the right attitude into that game.

“We’ve had those experiences before so it’s just about treating it as any other game. Antrim have a home draw, they have the crowd on their side, it’s going to be a tight pitch, tight packed crowd, the atmosphere will be good and it’ll very much be hostile towards us.

“We just need to find a way to perform in those circumstances and Kieran [McGeeney] and the backroom team will be doing everything they can to have us ready to do that.”