Deadly duo ready to do damage

Diarmuid Marsden and Steven McDonnell have become the most feared strike partnership in the land. And the most respected. Mark Gallagher reports.

FOR years, one was the shining beacon in the Armagh doldrums, promising better times. The other symbolises the new Armagh, his confidence and talent illustrating, more than anything, that the dark days are over.

The marriage of Diarmuid Marsden and Steven McDonnell in the Orchard full-forward line is one of the main reasons they will return to defend their All-Ireland title tomorrow.

While McDonnell is currently playing at a higher level than any other footballer-and a virtual shoo-in for player-of-the-year if Armagh emerge-the role of Marsden in their tag team has been under-stated.

“Diarmuid is a perfectionist,” says Joe Kernan. “If you ask Diarmuid to do something, he will come back to you two or three times to go over the finer details. Everyone knows about Diarmuid’s unique talents as a footballer, but what impresses me most about him is his selflessness, his appetite to work for others on the pitch.”

McDonnell echoes his manager’s sentiments.

“Diarmuid is a joy to play alongside. I might have got more scores but he deserves just as much credit. He is brilliant at creating space and taking defenders with him, leaving me to move into the gaps that are left,” he says.

It is a measure of how Marsden has evolved as a footballer that he, happily, plays second fiddle to McDonnell.

Through the nineties, Marsden’s skills served as a reminder that good times weren’t far away. As a minor, was onboard for the heart-wrenching All-Ireland defeat to Meath in 1992.

A year later in the Hogan Cup final against Jarlath’s of Tuam, he scored a goal of such quality for St Pat’s of Armagh, that those who saw it will never forget every nuance of the movement.

Alongside McDonnell, Marsden has emerged from the shadow of his prodigious talent.

Injury had clipped the potential, so much so that last year was his first fully-fit campaign in five years. Kernan changed him, too.

Armagh no longer looked to him to do the things other footballers can’t.

Now he was detailed to toil for the cause. He tapped into his reserves of talent in the All-Ireland final, to score three beautifully- crafted points, but this year he is back where he is more comfortable - at the top of the attack.

“You never stick to the one position all the time during the game,” Marsden counters. “Up front, it is me and Stevie’s third year together and hopefully it is starting to bear fruit. There is still a lot of work to do. We are still not the finished article.”

They are getting there, though.

Marsden’s skills of youth still flicker occasionally. Only the reactions of Fergal Byron denied him what would have been one of the great Croker goals in the quarter-final against Laois.

Foraging for the ball in the half-forward line, he created space by selling a couple of dummies before passing the ball off and being at the receiving end to sell another dummy before his shot ricocheted off Byron’s body.

These days, he prefers the limelight to shine on his strike partner. He is more assured in the supporting role, shown by his increasing openness with the media.

In the past, an introverted Marsden only enhanced the enigma. At Armagh press night, Marsden was at ease and chatty in journalistic company. Perhaps, he just enjoyed talking about the final. There is little enough of that in Stormont where he works for the Department of Agriculture.

“Yeah, there is not a whole pile of talk about it at work,” he says. “People don’t say much about Gaelic and in that way, it suits me. That’s grand. It takes your mind off things, you are isolated from it, whereas in other counties, you mightn’t be,” he says.

With the three Ulster sides playing the two-man full-forward line, it looks like similar duos might be the future way of the future in football.

“I’m not sure,” Marsden says. “An extra man up there wouldn’t do us any harm, the more bodies you have up there, the more chances you have to score. But certainly, with that man out of the road, you have more space to move and find a good position to score. It is all up to individual players and what your game-plan is,” he says.

McDonnell’s remit is more clearly- defined. He carries the scoring burden, but does so lightly. Against Donegal, Niall McCready was doing a fine job of silencing him, but like a cobra, only needed to strike once to upset things. He kicks off both feet, is both agile and powerful. In many ways, he is the complete corner-forward. Of course, he doesn’t seem to realise that.

“I don’t feel any extra pressure this year. I think winning the All-Ireland made us all more confident players anyway, but any one of our six forwards is capable of scoring four or five points a game, so there is no burden or pressure on any one forward.

“Each of us has to be scoring against Tyrone if we are going to achieve our ultimate goal. IAt the end of the day, it is an All-Ireland final, so everyone is going to be marked tightly.”

While Marsden has never been a serial scorer, McDonnell is. At only 24, he is maturing into the most feared front man in the game. You can quieten him for 56 minutes, like McCready did, but McDonnell only needs one sniff of the posts in his nostrils to wreak havoc.

“Stevie has taken on a lot more this year,” Kernan said. “He is a lot more mature, but you have to remember, he is still young he still benefits from Diarmuid’s experience up there,” he says.

Goals, invariably, win All-Ireland finals. And with this match expected to be tighter than spandex,

McDonnell’s unparalleled ability to score under the posts might be the difference. Again, he brushes off his collection of goals this year.

“I have just been lucky enough to find myself at the end of these moves, in the right place at the right time.”

The seed to McDonnell’s five championship goals might have been planted that afternoon in Clones. In the first half, as Monaghan were floundering, McDonnell had the chance to put the All-Ireland champions on the road to victory.

His shot rebounded off the post, when it looked easier to score. It might go down as the miss of the summer, but it has also developed McDonnell into the goal-scoring machine of the summer.

It is a measure of how far this Armagh team will go to attain the greatness they feel they deserve. He missed a great chance against Monaghan. So, he moulds himself into the best forward in the game. Greatness, well they are knocking on the door.

Think of this, too. Is the sign of a great player having the ability to beat defenders and create a scoring chance or making the decision to lay the ball off to John McEntee, in a better position, to score a long-range point.

Just watch Armagh’s lethal full-forward to find the answer.