THEY WERE favourites and Cavan hadn't looked a major threat in their win over Antrim but Armagh manager Peter McDonnell, taking his first steps in the senior championship with a county that has bagged six of the last nine Ulster titles, was still a happy man to have secured the result and a little vexed at the assumptions made on his team's behalf.
"People would have suggested before this that Armagh would have had their sights fixed on other things and other days, which was an absolute load of nonsense.
"Armagh have never won a championship match against Cavan here in their history and Armagh had lost their three last championship games to today so we weren't taking Cavan for granted and everything was put into this performance today, which was workmanlike and solid.
"It was uneasy going into the second half, as Cavan had the wind. Midway during the second half Cavan looked as though they were going to make real inroads into the lead. Fortunately that didn't materialise and our ability to pick off points throughout the whole match was important to us, and I'm well pleased with 17 points at the end."
Captain Paul McGrane received the television man-of-the-match award for a hard-edged display at centrefield that kept his team on the front foot. He said there had been concerns at how tenaciously Cavan had held on to the coat-tails of the match.
"In the first half we had the breeze but just couldn't get away," he said. "Peter reminded us in the changing room that it was 2006 since we'd won a championship match. We're just delighted to get the win and we know we have a bit of work to do the next day."
McDonnell said that whereas Cavan had exploited vulnerabilities in Armagh's performance he was satisfied at how the team had responded.
"The counterattack was always an area we'd identified. It's disappointing any time there's a turnover but we were able to get back, plug holes and stop runners, and Cavan found it difficult to get at us. I don't think they had a shot on goal in the whole match."
Home manager Donal Keoghan now faces a qualifier series that already consists of shows more Broadway than fringe. He felt his team had posed serious questions but not enough of them.
"I thought when we moved the ball quickly that we caused a lot of problems for Armagh. We kicked 13 points and I suppose Seánie (Johnston) was closed down but we'd the big man on the edge of the square, Dermot (McCabe), but as in the Antrim game we didn't put the ball in often enough and I'd be disappointed about that.
"I thought we had plenty of opportunity to put the ball in, in the last 15 minutes, but we elected to take shots. I'd be disappointed we didn't use that option often enough. We knew that Seánie was going to get particular pressure, although I thought he played well when we moved him out."
