Impatient Armagh finally set for battle

NINE weeks after their last competitive fixture, and five weeks after Longford and Westmeath fired the first shots in the 2008 football championship, Armagh will finally get the chance to begin their All-Ireland challenge against Cavan in Breffni Park on Sunday.

The last of the Ulster counties to get their teeth into their opening fixture, it was little surprise to find that manager Peter McDonnell was less than happy with the fixture list yesterday.

The Armagh man pointed to “a nonsensical and scandalous situation” whereby counties were deprived of college players for January competitions and league games due to college fixtures and then asked to lay idle for two months approaching the championship season.