McEneaney bemoans draw
Monaghan boss Seamus McEneaney admitted to having a knot in his stomach when handed a July 4 date with Armagh.
“I must have killed a lot of black cats in a past life,” he laughed last night. “I wasn’t expecting an easy draw but this is toughest possible draw we could have got.”
He continued: “We are already without the services of Tommy Freeman (suspended for two months after the first-round clash with Derry).
“Some people think we are only a one-man team and we don’t have a chance without him. This will be a test of character for the panel.
“Our concentration now is on Armagh and nothing else. It is a huge ask to be meeting them at this stage of the qualifiers. We would have preferred not to have met another Ulster team but those are the cards you are dealt.”
Monaghan have home advantage for the tie, but McEneaney expects it to count for nought.
He reasoned: “Armagh have played more championship matches in Clones over the past 10 years than we have. It wouldn’t mean anything.”
Meanwhile Donegal have the chance to bounce back from last week’s shock opening day defeat to Antrim with a home tie against Luke Dempsey’s Carlow.
John Kiely’s Waterford have a difficult away mission against Meath while Mick O’Dwyer’s Wicklow will host Fermanagh. Wexford’s Jason Ryan has a last chance to save the Model County’s season with Offaly set for a trip to the South East.
Tipperary manager John Evans is readying his troops for a trip up to Eamonn McEneaney’s Louth.
And the Premier County boss wasn’t mincing his words. He sighed: “The words, ‘daunting’ and ‘challenging’ come into my head. Home advantage is absolutely huge in the qualifiers.
“Believe it or not I was not fearful of the draw or who we would be paired against but what I was hopeful of was gaining home advantage. No matter, what team you get you’d feel a lot more confident playing them at home.”
Evans reports a clean bill of health on the physical but wonders about the impact the championship loss to Limerick has had on team morale. “I’m wondering if we have recovered from that defeat.
“Even though we had a wonderful season (gaining promotion to Division Two) that loss hit us hard.”
In the other games Down must travel to London while Leitrim are at home to Longford.
On the hurling front, Offaly will face Cork while Laois are paired with Antrim in the first round of the qualifiers.
In the second round, Wexford will play Limerick but the tie that has set tongues wagging is the meeting of Clare and Galway in Ennis on July 11. Galway manager John McIntyre admitted: “In terms of the draw it’s probably the one we wanted least. But in terms of keeping management and players on edge and going forward, it’s probably the best one we could have had.
“Clare will be a huge test for us, when you look at what they accomplished in their Munster senior hurling semi-final yesterday against Tipperary. They gave Tipp an 11-point lead but reeled them in and had Tipp on the ropes coming towards the end – and most people have Tipperary marked out as the second-best team in the championship this season.”
McIntyre added that Galway will regroup this evening and review any knocks picked up on Saturday against Kilkenny.
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