Tactical shift is suiting Armagh

After last October’s county final, Oisín McConville called on new Armagh manager Paul Grimley to entice his Crossmaglen team-mate Paul Hearty back into the set-up.

Was McConville being a little mischievous? The relationship of some in the club, certainly not McConville or Hearty’s, with Grimley had been questioned for a number of years.

Hearty, who retired from inter-county football, smiles at the memory of the endorsement. The goalkeeper was touched by it but returning to Armagh colours was never on the cards as much as he is training three times a week with the Joe Kernan-led senior team.