Fierce rivals ​Armagh and Tyrone set to do battle at Clones

Previewing this Saturday’s Ulster SFC clash between Armagh and Tyrone isn’t a simple task from an Armagh perspective, as it’s hard to predict who Kieran McGeeney has available and how he will line his team out.

Armagh’s season has lacked stability to this point, both in terms of their form and in terms of which players they have available for selection.

Their quarter-final win over Antrim typified their season into a single game.

When Armagh have been at their best this year, they have been electric – shown in their eight-point win over Tyrone, their eight-point win over Dublin, and their 15-point win over Derry.

However, whenever they have been off colour, they have been punished for it – shown in their six-point loss to Galway, their eight-point loss to Donegal and their 10-point loss to Kerry.

At half-time against Antrim, the alarm bells were ringing, as they trailed the side who had been relegated from Division 3. But in the second half, Armagh looked like themselves again, as they raced home to an 11-point win.

The starting line-up at Corrigan Park retained only five players from the team which started last year’s All-Ireland final, once again highlighting the chopping and changing which the team has had to undergo this year, whilst three players: Tomas McCormack, Callum O’Neill and Gareth Murphy.

In fairness to those players, they made their mark, with McCormack finding the net at a crucial stage of the game, whilst O’Neill was unofficially voted as Armagh’s Man of the Match via the Sideline Eye’s online poll.

Whilst new players have been putting their hands up, two veterans have provided stability in an unstable season with Rory Grugan and Andrew Murnin putting in superb performances week-in and week-out.

Whenever McGeeney does get his full complement back, he will have a selection headache, but it remains to be seen who will be fit to take part this weekend.

Conor Turbitt, Oisin Conaty and Joe McElroy were surprise admissions from their quarter-final win, whilst Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey are yet to return from injuries picked up during the league.

Tiernan Kelly made his return to the line-up against Antrim, but has so often been the case this year, when one player returns another drops out, as Ciaran Mackin has suffered a partial ligament tear, which figures to keep him side-lined for the next couple of months.

On the Tyrone side of things, they were extremely unlucky to be relegated from Division 1, having picked up seven points from seven games.

They put that disappointment firmly behind them in their quarter-final win over Cavan however, dominating the game and winning by seven points.

They picked up that result without their talisman Darragh Canavan, and the hope within the Red Hand County will be that he is able to return for this match.

In all, it’s a hard one to call as the fierce rivals lock horns in the Ulster Championship for the first time since 2012.