Armagh forward Rory Grugan has also voiced worries about the honesty of the Allianz League, stating that “there is an issue when any team chooses not to make it to a final.”
The concluding matches of Sunday’s fixtures in the soccer leagues delivered a series of dramatic developments across each of the four tiers.
However, even as the other three divisions proceeded smoothly, concerns arose regarding the scheduling of the Division One campaign. These worries stemmed from the potential clash between participating in a league final and preparing for a team’s championship aspirations.
During the 2023 and ’24 seasons, none of the Division One final contestants progressed beyond the All-Ireland quarter-finals in the same year.
In 2023, Mayo secured the top spot in Division One but lost to Roscommon just a week later when they started their championship campaign.
Galway secured victory in Connacht that summer but subsequently fell to Mayo during the preliminary quarter-finals. Shortly after, Kevin McStay’s team was defeated by Dublin a week later.
Last year, Derry lost their championship opener to Donegal three weeks after beating Dublin in an enthralling Division One final.
The Dubs retained their Leinster title but both were knocked out at the last eight stage of the All-Ireland by Galway, with Kerry beating Derry at the same stage.
Grugan stated that he “appreciates why some teams” might focus more on their championship run rather than ending the league season strong, but as part of an increasing number who believe this issue should be tackled, the Ballymacnab native feels it warrants attention.
It’s unfortunate. Since we were in the lower portion of the league table, we needed to put in our best effort just to maintain our position. We had discussed how crucial it was to remain at that high standard and solidify the advancement we’ve achieved together.
It’s unfortunate that they can’t allocate one or two additional weeks, either by beginning the league slightly sooner in early January despite the poor weather conditions and lack of preseason matches, or perhaps finding such time in late August and extending the club season. This would help create a clearer gap between the league and championships, enhancing the integrity of the competitions—this concept has been frequently discussed recently.
“Because it’s something wrong when any team decides they don’t want to get to a final.
Clearly, everyone gives top priority to the championship, particularly in Ulster, and I get why some teams focus on this. However, it remains one of your key tournaments.
Everybody mentions that on a day like today, with the cream of the crop, the excitement unfolds from one end of the country to another across various leagues. Teams within close range of skill levels face off against each other, making for fantastic matches. It ought to be clear that once you find yourself among the upper echelon of Division One, your aim should be to come out victorious.
“Hopefully they can do something about that next year.”
Grugan played a crucial role in their All-Ireland victory last year and has continued his strong performance at the beginning of 2025.
As he stated himself, the league was “inconsistent” for Armagh. They secured three victories and managed one draw but suffered significant losses against both Kerry and Donegal.
Trying to get used to other teams targeting results against them as All-Ireland champions has been something very new in this league campaign.
“We’re a bit up and down. It’s new territory for us, we’re trying to build new players, get used to new rules and there’s the other thing of having the target on your back.
“You just have to try and get back to the things that got you where you were last year, that hard work as a team and using the squad.“That’s something Geezer’s banging the drum on the whole time, we have to still have that humility to work hard and be the team who wants to be the hunter and not the hunted.”
Armagh had those few bad halves but they also had a couple of brilliant halves, not least against Dublin and Tyrone early on.
The improvement in their speed of transitioning from defense to offense last year has benefited them under the new rules.
Kieran McGeeney wasn’t impressed with the FRC’s decision to tweak the rule around the goalkeeper’s involvement, something he said Armagh had worked hard on during the league with Ethan Rafferty.
However, overall, Grugan believes they have “embraced it” when it comes to the alterations he thought were necessary for the game.
“It depends on your mindset, both individually and collectively. Personally, I’ve said before, the game needed to change from what it was. They had to do something.
It has been quite revolutionary, but I believe players excel at adapting. You can observe that they’ve embraced this approach, particularly during the initial stages of the league as everything felt novel and exciting; everybody was keen to give it a shot and generally aligned with one another.
Perhaps as the season progressed, the stakes became higher with promotions and relegations looming, which made everyone somewhat more irritable. However, I believe we’ve embraced this challenge.
There are members of our team who can exploit certain aspects related to the rules, much like most teams.
You’ve noticed the significance of tall players in midfield and their skill at converting two-pointers, as well as how you organize your attacks within a structured system and similar aspects.
“As you can tell, we’re not yet flawless; there’s plenty left to improve upon. However, we now have some time to gel as a team before the championship and find out how far we can go this summer.”
Regardless of Armagh’s role in securing the 15-point victory over Derry that concluded their league season, it was Shane McGuigan’s early dismissal in the first half that had the most significant effect.
Due to the adjustment in the rules following the fifth round, Derry was required to maintain three players upfront even after receiving a red card. This made their defense quite vulnerable against the relentless attack from Armagh, who benefited significantly from having a numerical superiority in offense.
In several of their initial matches, Armagh suffered losses due to players being sent off with red cards. Even so, Grugan observed a significant change that has become even more pronounced since then.
We discussed this matter concerning the initial two or three matches where players received red cards, which was devastating. Regardless of how one approaches the traditional game and attempts to manage with just fourteen players, the challenge becomes even tougher when needing to maintain a defensive lineup of four backs whilst constantly being short-handed during both attacks and defenses.
“You could see how hard it is to split the pitch, and how much Derry then struggled to get out with their own kickouts. We managed to pen them in.
“We had a bit of fortune with a couple of the goals but you can pin a team in and kill the game on the scoreboard in a short blast. It just shows how important discipline is.
We made some errors today, with a few 50-metre penalties for arguing with the referee. This is part of the learning curve, and we must improve in this area; otherwise, top teams will take advantage of us.
