Oisin McConville says Armagh still have a long way to go before they can compete with the top teams.

The Orchard County will be expected to bounce back from their heavy Ulster SFC quarter-final loss to Donegal with a win over Wicklow in the qualifiers tomorrow, but McConville fears they won't be able to build on last year's run to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

"They felt as if they were very prepared for the (Donegal) game. A lot of work has gone into that Armagh team," the Crossmaglen joint-manager said in the Irish Independent.

"But maybe there were signs there that the performance was coming. Because they struggled to put Fermanagh away twice. We finished the league with a disappointing result against Sligo. And we had a disappointing performance and result against Cork in a recent challenge match.

"So maybe in many ways the writing has been on the wall. And maybe this is where we're at. Maybe we shouldn't be challenging the likes of Donegal at this moment in time. Maybe there's more work to be done."

McConville believes Armagh over-analysed things before the Donegal game.

"It's almost like we were so wrapped up in what we had to do to beat Donegal - tactics, the white board, video analysis - it's almost as if we forgot to play. You could see it from the opening minute; basic errors," he continued.

"The other side of the coin is the players have to take a lot of the flak for what went on. It's one thing managing but when you send players out there you have to perform. That was the one thing that let Armagh down, they went out and they weren't able to perform for whatever reason."

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