PADDY BURNS insists that Armagh’s players are intent on winning Sunday’s Ulster final for Kieran McGeeney.
The Orchard’s long-serving chief is in his TENTH year in charge of the county but silverware has proved to be elusive.
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And Burns said: “You always want to go out and win something for him because while we put a lot of time in as players, being an inter-county manager is such a difficult job.
“For the time he has put into us, everything he’s done and for how well he looks after us, the least we can do is win an Ulster.
“And we’ll be going out to do that for him.”
Last year’s Ulster final loss after penalties to Derry was as close as the county had come to lifting the Anglo-Celt Cup under ‘Geezer’.
And they will attempt to right the wrongs in the decider against Donegal in Clones.
Burns said: “We were very close and probably should have won it in normal time.
“It was a very good Derry team but it’s not often you get an opportunity to undo it.
“That’s a big thought for us. Let’s give ourselves a shot at doing what we should have done last year.”
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TITLE TILT
Burns missed last year’s Ulster Championship through injury and feels he has earned the right to have a shot at winning a trophy.
Like fellow senior players such as Rory Grugan, Aidan Forker and Stefan Campbell, the 31-year-old is part of an Armagh team that has knocked on the door for a while.
But when asked if this is now Armagh’s time to shine, he replied:
“That has always been the question.
“We are getting to the point where it is time we did it but we can only do our best.
“We have come up against some great teams and some great performances over the last four or five years. We will give it our all to ensure this is our time.”
Armagh did just enough against Down in the Ulster SFC semi-final two weeks ago.
Subs Oisín O’Neill, Aidan Nugent and Jason Duffy kicked the last three points.
Duffy got the winner in stoppage time to claim a dogged 0-13 to 2-6 win over the Mourne men.
The main positive Armagh could take from a below-par display, when none of their six starting forwards scored from play, was that they had found a way to win.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
And Burns admitted: “Down, to their credit, went out with a game-plan and executed it very well and it almost came off.
“Were we happy with the performance? No, we didn’t do the basic things that we are good at.
“However, we pulled the game out in the last five to ten minutes, which is something we haven’t done in a while.
“Some of the forwards had a bad weekend, that happens, but we still found a way to win.”
Two of Ulster’s best-supported teams will collide on Sunday with final opponents Donegal a resurgent force now Jim McGuinness is back in charge.
He has won 15 out of 16 matches in the competition and Donegal expects.
Yet there is a sense in Armagh that the Orchard have to make it count this time, which could heap pressure on their players.
But Burns reckons: “To an extent, as long as you can handle it, pressure is healthy.
“If you feel pressure, it means you care about what you are doing and other people care about what you are doing.
“If there is no pressure on you, then you are probably not in the hunt or even interested.
“Armagh fans are, in the most positive sense of the word, mental — they follow us everywhere.
“There were so many games in Division 2 where our away support was so much bigger than the home support.
“That just tells you how much they are willing us to win something.
“For me, I have the benefit of not living in Armagh, I live in Burren in Down, so there is a bit less of the chatter around me . . .
“But it is both pressure and propulsion for us to push on and have a good energy about us.”
