Armagh u20s learn championship fate The Sideline Eye

The Armagh u20s have been drawn into a four-team group for the upcoming Ulster Championship which starts in four weeks. The Orchard County will take on Cavan, Monaghan and Derry.

The other group is made up of the five remaining teams in the province, namely Donegal, Tyrone, Antrim, Down and Fermanagh. Group games are set to be played across the months of March and April.

The two teams that top the groups will automatically book their spot in the last four of the competition. The second and third place teams will crisscross and play each other in the quarter-finals, with the winners heading to the semi-finals.

The losers of the two quarter-finals would see their season come to an end. The teams that finish fourth and fifth in their respective groups will enter the Tier 3 competition.

2002 All-Ireland winner Barry O’Hagan is back in charge of the Armagh youngsters and will hope to build on last season. In 2024, Armagh played four championship games, three in the group and a quarter-final.

Last season

Armagh won two of those encounters, beating Fermanagh and Cavan in the opening two rounds of the championship. They then lost to Donegal before crashing out of the competition at the hands of Monaghan.

It’s been a long time since Armagh captured some silverware at this level. They last won the Ulster title back in 2007, when it was an u21 competition. They’ll hope they can compete at the latter end of the tournament this year.

They have plenty of talent in their ranks with the likes of Aaron O’Neill one of the go-to players on the team sheet. He’s just fresh off the back of helping DKIT win the Trench Cup, kicking 0-2 in the final against TCD.

Callum O’Neill of Clan na Gael has been one of the outstanding players at club level over the past two seasons. He was a member of the Ulster University team that reached the semi-finals of the Sigerson Cup.

Michael McSorley had an outstanding MacRory Cup campaign for St Patrick’s Armagh and will be one to watch. There’s also a strong contingent of last year’s minor team that reached the All-Ireland final on the panel as well.