Armagh going all out for semi-final spot

LET there be no doubt about it - Armagh will be going all out to claim a semi-final place in the Allianz NFL when they meet Kerry in a repeat of the All-Ireland final in Tralee on Sunday.

Popular manager Joe Kernan confirmed yesterday that they are taking the game very seriously.

Kernan states that his team is 'nearly along the same lines' at this time last year, when they came through Division Two before surprisingly losing to Laois in the semi-final.

"Mentally, after winning the All-Ireland we'd be in a stronger position. But, the one thing you can't do is to whip a horse for 12 months and expect him to have something when you need it,'' he says.

"We're trying to be sensible in the fact that, while we are training, we haven't trained hard. We are hopefully leaving something there for the championship. What we are trying to do is go as far as we can in the League without pressing the button.

"If we get into a semi-final situation, which we might on Sunday evening, we would have two or three weeks where we could slacken off a bit. We are five weeks away from the championship. And, at the end of the day that's still the most important game coming up.

"Yes, it would be nice to get to a final, without a shadow of a doubt. There are only two national titles, the Sam Maguire and the National League. If we have a chance of being in the semi-final, we will take it. We'll go for it''

As far as Kerry are concerned, manager Paidí Ó Sé regrets the fact that they are out of the running for a place in the knock-out stages. "We were hoping we would have another game to look forward to. It will be our last competitive game before the championship unless we get a strange result. We have an outside chance of qualifying, but very remote,'' he said.

Level on points with Galway, Roscommon and Dublin, Kerry can't afford to slip up even though themselves and Galway have a superior scoring average to the other two. "It's an ideal game for us. There is a share at stake. We would like to win the game from the point of staying in Division One. Obviously Armagh will want to reach the knock-out stages.''

Ó Sé is expecting a very tough challenge from the champions. "A lot of people are saying that Armagh don't want to reach the semi-final, but I wouldn't conform to that. I would imagine they will be at their best trying to win. It augurs for a very good game.''

Relegation worries aside, the Kerry management is more concerned about getting over recent injury problems and getting a full panel in training for the championship. Aodhán MacGearailt is just back, but hardly match-fit, Mike Frank Russell is working his way back and Eamonn Fitzmaurice has put a run of injuries behind him.

However, Seamus Moynihan hasn't fully recovered from the ankle injury he picked in a club game over the St Patrick's weekend a fortnight ago.

And, it appears that the management have an open mind about where to play him in the championship.

"We are 10 weeks away from our first game, so we have a little bit of time to play around,'' he adds. "Johnno (John O'Keeffe) has done an amount of work with the players. Physically they are in very good shape. We have a lot of the ground work done. We would hope to be able to devote a lot of our time to football and hopefully be able to put what we would consider the best panel together over the next five weeks.''