McGinley: Armagh must avoid Ulster championship tunnel vision

RTÉ Sport analyst Enda McGinley has said that Armagh cannot allow their season's aspirations to suffer from the tunnel vision of delivering a long-awaited Ulster title.

The Orchard County last lifted the Anglo Celt Cup in 2008 under Peter McDonnell and since then, they’re the only county in the province who haven’t reached a final with Tyrone, Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan and Derry all lifting titles in the meantime while Down, Antrim and Fermanagh have lost out in finals.

Despite some patch Division 1 form, with Saturday’s loss to Galway leaving them in the relegation mire this Sunday as they travel to Tyrone, they will still enter the Ulster championship as one of the favourites.

A preliminary round draw means that they’ll have to navigate Antrim, Cavan and the winners of Donegal and Down to reach the final and claim one of the All-Ireland round-robin seeding places on offer, and McGinley said that is something manager Kieran McGeeney will have to keep in mind.

"The whole weighting of the provincial championship, I can see why it is being built up as that's vital for Armagh," he told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.

"For Ulster teams, it’s wee bit different in Leinster, Connacht, Munster because the draw this year is slightly different. Those top one or two seeds, which are lovely to get going into the group championship, for most of the big teams they can plan to get them.

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"In Ulster it is honestly such a minefield. As a player starting out and you're in the first round of the championship and