Peter Fitzpatrick has confirmed that Armagh's Johnny Murtagh is on his way to the Wee County.

The highly-rated forward, who joined Dublin club Parnells from Crossmaglen Rangers last year, was born in Louth and will be a welcome addition to their attack in 2012 after Armagh manager Paddy O'Rourke recently told him that he could not guarantee him a starting place in the Orchard County team.

Murtagh, whose last appearance for Armagh was as a second half substitute in last summer's drawn All-Ireland qualifier against Wicklow, is now poised to line out for his third county, having also worn the New York jersey in the past.

"As I've said before, I would always be interested in a player of Johnny Murtagh's quality if he was available to us," Louth manager Fitzpatrick said in the Irish News.

"I met Johnny last Thursday and after a brief discussion he agreed to join Louth. Now all that remains to be done is for the necessary paperwork to be completed.

"We've three weeks to go to the start of the National League and I'd say that would give us enough time for everything to be in order for Johnny to be available for our first match in the competition against Westmeath.

"Naturally, we're delighted that Johnny has agreed to come to Louth, and we saw for ourselves at close hand his capability as a footballer when he played for New York in a game against us in Gaelic Park when we were on a break in New York last year." Tweet

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