Cautious Armagh in need of a spark to evolve – Ó Sé

Armagh bounced back from their latest penalty shootout heartache to see off Westmeath on Sunday, but Kieran McGeeney’s side need to let up the handbrake if they are to make meaningful progress, according to Tomás Ó Sé.

Minus the services of Rian O’Neill, the Orchard County put the Ulster final disappointment behind them to open their All-Ireland series account with a five-point victory on home turf at the Athletic Grounds.

Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, former Kerry player Sé reflected on the win, a game he felt illustrated both the best, and perhaps, most frustrating elements of the team’s style of play.

Having rattled off the first four points of the second half to effectively put the game to bed, Armagh failed to kick on and put the visitors to the sword.

Instead, according to the five-time All-Ireland winner, they resorted to a possession-based, cautious approach.

The conservative criticism that has been used against McGeeney in recent years, with his side just failing to get over the line in big games, could again be levelled at his team – notwithstanding that the encounter against a Westmeath side that pushed them all the way 12 months previous fails to come into that category.

However, It does suggest a pattern, and Ó Sé believes that while something needs to change, the Orchard men are still nestled in football’s chasing pack.

“Armagh really, really wanted that Ulster Championship,” he said.

“If they had won that final, I think it would have given them a boost in confidence, not that they badly needed, but would have brought them on into another tier.

“They have lost big games like that in the near past and haven’t had the chance to rectify it as soon as this.

“They know that from the last two years, they are not a million miles off it and they are still in the top-10 teams in the country.”

Noting the display against Westmeath in front of 5,989 supporters, Ó Sé saw both sides of the Armagh coin.

“They played the same way,” he observed.

“They tucked in tight, defended hard and anytime they went at Westmeath, Westmeath were in trouble.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

“They then seemed to batten down the hatches. Is there a hint or a fear that they might get exposed at the back if they are gung-ho going forward?

“Yeah, you have to do it the odd time (possession football), you have to reset and bring the ball back out, but Armagh should be going at teams a little bit more, I think.

“I’ve seen interviews with Kieran McGeeney where he says the plan is always to go at teams, and I know that is the way they want to play.

“It is impossible to do that for a full match, but I think they could be doing it a little bit more than they are.

“All it takes is one guy. If you are defending, and one guy tackles like a lunatic, it sparks the rest of them. If one guy take on a defence and goes at them, and there is movement elsewhere, it sparks a response as well.

“They are not doing anything wrong, but I think Armagh sometimes are just too patient.”

Watch an All-Ireland SFC double-header, Meath v Kerry (2pm) and Derry v Armagh (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport with RTÉ Radio 1