Freshness may be Armagh’s key card

THE big question to be asked about the second of the Bank of Ireland football championship semi-finals in Croke Park tomorrow is whether Tyrone will benefit from their game with Dublin last week, or will Armagh be fresher.

The probability is that we won’t really know until the last quarter, when the more critical issues of finishing and fitness will come to the fore. And, on the evidence of their two meetings in the Ulster final, there is every indication of this game being just as close.

Of course, the other issue that will come into play relates to how well the game is refereed by Paddy Russell, whose performance will obviously be influenced by how the teams approach it. The perception is that decisions made by Pat McEnaney and Michael Collins previously conspired to deny Tyrone victory. Specifically, Collins’ unfortunate error in sending off Stephen O’Neill in the wrong near the end of the replay was very costly, although whether or not it lost them the game is debatable.