A cracker lies in store in Clones on Saturday

Will things come full circle for an injury-ravaged Armagh side in Saturday’s Ulster Championship semi-final at Clones?

Tyrone were the last team to defeat the Orchard County in 70 minutes of championship football – that being an All-Ireland round robin clash in O’Neill’s Healy Park in June 2003.

Since then, Kieran McGeeney’s side have proven themselves to be an obstinate bunch, in the best possible meaning of the word. A few ill-fated high-profile penalty shoot-out defeats and a drawn group stage encounter aside, they’ve conquered all-comers and reached the promised land last season for only the second time in the county’s history.

Tyrone by contrast have been nowhere near as consistent. Since their own All-Ireland winning season of 2021, they have only claimed back-to-back victories in the championship on one solitary occasion, overcoming Clare and Cork in last year’s group stages.

A few weeks later, they suffered a surprise defeat to Roscommon and that was the end of that. Yet despite their contrasting fortunes in recent years, no-one will be putting the house on an Armagh victory this Saturday.

For one thing, Tyrone are tipping along nicely. Since David Clifford’s late, late show at Pomeroy in round four of the league, they haven’t lost a single game, though – spoil-sport alert – that does come with a caveat or two.

Donegal and Dublin weren’t quite at full pelt with Division One status already banked, while Cavan, whom they overcame with something to spare in the first-round of Ulster, aren’t really bona fide contenders for the ultimate prize.

Saturday, therefore, should tell a story about where Tyrone really stand in the overall scheme of things, but the feeling is that they’re heading in the right direction in the first year under the guidance of Malachy O’Rourke.

Then there’s Armagh. It’s a big ask to retain their All-Ireland title (Down are the last team from the province to have done so, back in 1960/61) let alone getting their hands on the Anglo Celt for the first time since 2008, and they weren’t quite at their imperious best in their championship opener against Antrim. A bit harsh, we acknowledge, given they still racked up a ridiculous tally of 1-34.

As the hooter sounded and the teams left the pitch for half-time, rank outsiders Antrim were 0-14 to 0-13 to the good, though McGeeney’s men rolled through the gears on their way to an 11-point victory at Corrigan Park.

Not to be sniffed at, but there’s much bigger tests to come, starting this Saturday, and time will tell whether their injury-ravaged squad will hold up to the challenge.

They could only call upon five starters from last year’s All-Ireland triumph over Galway in their outing against the Saffrons – though it must be noted that their quartet of championship debut boys did extremely well, with three of them scoring, namely Tomás McCormack, Calum O’Neill (the first Belleek man to play Championship for Armagh) and Darragh McMullan.

Others to impress included Oisin O’Neill, who was sprung from the bench and scored three two-pointers, the evergreen Rory Grugan and Ross McQuillan.

Some of their more familiar names will also return this weekend, such as Paddy Burns, who suffered an allergic reaction the day before the Antrim game, though others, like Aaron McKay and Ciaran Mackin, are out for the foreseeable future.

There’s many others we could namecheck – midfield partners Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey played no part against Antrim, nor did Oisin Conaty or Conor Turbitt, all of whom played a major role in their All-Ireland triumph. Time will tell quite how many of them will see action this weekend.

Tyrone have had a more steady look about them in terms of personnel, though they too haven’t been immune from injury.

Darragh Canavan sat out their win over Cavan with a hamstring injury, and time will tell whether he’ll be back this weekend. Mark Bradley has missed their last two matches with a calf strain, while Padraig Hampsey and Conor Meyler haven’t seen competitive action this season.

On the whole, the Red Hands are going well – they’ve only conceded a single goal since that aforementioned defeat to Kerry, they have one of the strongest midfields in the country, Darren McCurry and Kieran McGeary look like men reborn, and they have momentum.

So this is a tough one to call. Perhaps the pieces are in place for Tyrone to edge matters in their first championship outing at Clones since 2017, but it will take a massive performance even if Armagh do look relatively vulnerable. It should make for riveting viewing, whatever comes to pass.