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Donegal face tough test in
Crossmaglen
20.06.10
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by
Chris McNulty, for Inishowen Independent A FAMILIAR foe awaits the Donegal footballers next Saturday, after they were paired away to Armagh in the First Round of the All Ireland Qualifiers in the recent draw. Since exiting the race for the Ulster Championship following their extra-time defeat to Down, boss John Joe Doherty said that his preference was for Donegal to be drawn against one of the perceived ‘big guns.’ |
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Armagh have been the bane
of many Donegal Championships over the last decade or
so, with only the last-gasp victory of 2007 for Donegal
fans to crow about, with Armagh taking victory in five
of the seven Championship meetings between the teams
since 2000 (the sides drew in 2005). In April, Armagh left O’Donnell Park with a 2-16 to 0-06 win over Donegal in the final round of the National League in a game that left serious question marks hanging in Donegal. “The only thing about this draw is that we shouldn’t find it too hard to get motivated,” Doherty said. “We’ve been drawn away from home |
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and going to Crossmaglen
does make it tough, but that’s what you can expect in
the qualifier draw, you’re always liable to be heading
for these places in the backdoor. “There’s no doubt about it, we’d all expect everyone to be breaking the gates down in Crossmaglen because that League game left a lot of hurt. “The way we threw in the towel jumped out at you. We were hanging in, but there was 20 minutes gone before they got a goal. We were three points down at that stage, but the whole thing just collapsed and that was the most disappointing thing about the game.” In Championship football, Donegal and Armagh have met 24 times with Armagh winning 14, Donegal winning 7 and the sides have drawn three times. “A lot of our lads would have had bad memories of games against Armagh,” Doherty said, “but the beauty about games like that is that instead of cursing your luck you can turn it around and use it as a motivator.” Donegal face Armagh in Crossmaglen on Saturday June 26 at 3.30pm. The game is live on RTE. For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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