Bernie Murray is currently putting the finishing touches to Ballymacnab’s preparations for this Sunday’s Armagh SFC final and he hopes they can go one step further than 12 months ago.

The former Monaghan player is a well-known figure on the coaching circuit and his charges face formidable opposition in the form of Crossmaglen Rangers at the Athletic Grounds this Sunday.

It is a repeat of last year’s decider which Ballymacnab lost by 1-15 to 0-24.

“So far things have gone well,” Murray said in an interview with GAA.ie. “Obviously last year they won the League for the first time which was a big achievement for the fellas as the club had never won a Senior trophy.

“Then we got big momentum getting to the final, we were going really, really well up until 10 minutes to go. Cross reeled us in with that bit of experience that they have, they ended up winning by six points.”

Murray and the Ballymacnab players didn’t dwell too long on the disappointment of that defeat…

“We dusted ourselves down, the guys got back in doing their gym work within two weeks starting to prepare for this year.

“They have worked really, really hard with Paul O'Connor and myself. Paul has been brilliant with the lads. We have a guy, Neil Alderdice doing the strength and conditioning with them, they have worked really hard over the course of the year.

“The experience from last year and over the last four or five years before us. Lenny Harbinson was there, the Antrim manager, before that with Brendan Trainor and before that Pascal Canavan was there with Brendan.

“So there was a lot of good foundations in place before Paul and myself came in. The guys are very, very driven and obviously very keen to win their first Senior Championship.”

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