City of Armagh still have destiny in own hands in battle to avoid relegation play-off
City of Armagh’s Division 1A status is still in their own hands despite losing to the bottom two sides in their last couple of games.
Chris Parker’s side are eighth, two points ahead of UCD in the battle to avoid the relegation playoff.
Armagh travel to second-placed St Mary’s in their penultimate game, and Parker is happy that his side are dependent on other results.
He said: “We spoke about that after Garryowen, we have trained very well the past number of weeks and it just hasn’t transferred onto the pitch on a Saturday.
“We have just said it is in our on hands. It is in the playing group’s own hands and we have been here before last season. They have experience of it it, they now just have to go and pitch up and deliver.
“St Mary’s are flying this year, they have got a really good set-up. When people look at the fixtures there is little to no expectation on us.
“Within the group we know that our performances aren’t where we would like them to be and we are certainly going down there with the focus that we need an improved performance, and if we can deliver that we’ll see if that can bring us some points on the league table.”
Armagh have produced some big results on the road this season, beating the likes of Terenure and Young Munster.
“The boys know that within the league itself anyone on their day can do a number on each other, and it is about making sure you pitch up on the day, look after yourself, and you can have a really good chance of coming away with points,” added Parker.
“Mary’s could have an off day but we are focused on making sure we have an on day and deliver a performance that we can hang our hat on, and can be more proud of compared to the last couple of weeks.
“Across all the leagues the majority of the sides have something to play for and everyone is still scrapping, every point matters and even points difference at times is going to matter now between positions in the league.
“There is very little between ourselves and UCD on points difference, so everything matters and when everyone is scrapping for something it comes down to those marginal calls and marginal decisions, and hoping that you are on the right side of them.”
Parker has identified where the team need to improve.
He explained: “We maybe have put a bit too much pressure on ourselves the last couple of weeks; the pressure and expectation externally is not there this week, internally we maybe just need to let the hand-brake off a wee bit more and have more belief in ourselves.”
Ulster hooker James McCormick is available.
Ballynahinch are five points outside the playoff places and host third place Cork Con.
Rueben Crothers, Marcus Rea and Conor McKee are all available.
Queen’s just need two points against Naas at the Dub to secure their Division 1B status next season.
Queen’s will also be safe regardless of the Naas result if one of Trinity or Highfield fail to win.
Ireland U20s hooker Henry Walker and Ulster prop Bryan O’Connor return to the front row.
Scrum-half Clarke Logan also returns from Irish U20s duty and centre Wilhelm De Klerk is available.