If you were someone who subscribed to a conspiracy theory where draws such as those for the first round of the All Ireland senior football championship qualifiers which were held on Sunday evening last you would have plenty of evidence to convince that there was perhaps an anti Monaghan conspiracy as they were again handed the toughest draw in the eight pairings, coming out against Armagh who went into this year's championship as the reigning Ulster champions. One television pundit on Sunday evening expressed the opinion that "you have to feel sorry for Monaghan", in that they always seem to get the hard end of the draw as in the last two or three years they have drawn teams like Derry, Donegal and Kerry and now Armagh poses a real threat to the length of the summer that Monaghan can enjoy in the championship. Monaghan has shipped their fair degree of hard knocks in the last few weeks with the fall out from the Derry game still leaving a bitter taste and even worse feeling emanating from the outcome Tomas Freeman's Hearing and later his Appeal then Sunday evening's draw just added to that belief that someone out there doesn't like the Farney County. Against that though the Monaghan Armagh clashes is the plum tie of the opening round of the qualifiers and if there was a positive side to it, it was the fact that Monaghan were first out of the hat giving them home advantage. However with the game being in Clones Armagh will be just as much at home there as Monaghan so little advantage will accrue from that. There were five Ulster teams in the draw and the others got what might be termed as reasonable opposition with Donegal having home advantage against Carlow, Fermanagh are away against Wicklow and Down travel to London. Those games will be played on Saturday, July 4th. Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney was philosophical about the outcome of the draw conceding that he had learned over the years not to expect too much in such circumstances. "I didn't expect an easy draw and we certainly didn't get an easy draw no matter what way you look at it. This was the tough possible draw Monaghan could have got and describing it as the game of the round is certainly not an over exaggeration. Armagh have been the kingpins of Ulster football for the last 10 years or so and we know what is coming because they have not been in seven or eight of the last ten Ulster finals for nothing. It's a difficult task and it will be all the more difficult without one of our best forwards because it is very unlikely that we will have Tommy Freeman available. I suppose looking at it I could feel perhaps as someone suggested to me on Sunday night that it's probably more important to be a lucky manager in these things and than regarded as a good manager. I certainly don't fit the category as a lucky one as far as fixtures are concerned anyway and I suppose whether I'm a good one or not is still being debated, so will have to await the outcome there". Seamus McEnaney did agree though that as a pairing it would certainly bring the best out in Monaghan and that there was no reason why they should have a mental block about it. "This is a high-profile draw and as I said it is the game of the round. In fact this could have been the Ulster semi-final if results in the earlier round had gone differently but look, if we want to progress in this year's championship then we'll just have to be prepared and able to meet teams of the calibre of Armagh. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's a very difficult draw but it is a challenge, a new challenge for this team and we will have to draw on all our experience but I can also say that I am excited about the challenge for the team and myself and the other members of the backroom team. We could have drawn different opposition that would be regarded as weaker and you could be less motivated in your preparations for the couple of weeks before the game but there is no doubt that since the two names came out of the hat together on Sunday evening it has galvanised us and it has focused us and we will concentrate on nothing else until Saturday week". The suggestion that the game being in Clones gave home advantage to Monaghan was instantly dismissed by the Monaghan manager who would believe that Clones is more a home to Armagh than it is to Monaghan. "Playing in Clones is no disadvantage to Armagh because they have played more championship games than Monaghan there over the last 10 years, in fact they could possibly have played twice as many championship games in Clones as we have. As I said it's a tough draw and we knew last October when the draws for the Ulster championship were made that we were in the tough end of it with us or Derry playing the winners of the Tyrone v Armagh game so with this draw it doesn't get any easier. In fact it is harder but that's what we have to be able to do if we want to progress and I can say without fear of contradiction that we have received no favours from anyone in any way on any aspect of our games this year". ARMAGH BOSS Peter McDonnell. Armagh boss Peter McDonnell who has seen his side defeated in successive league campaigns by Monaghan wasn't unduly disappointed with the draw stating that "I didn't care who we got and the players would feel the same. I would be of the opinion that we needed a significant challenge to get us started again and I know that Monaghan will provide that challenge. They have beaten us in the league in the last two seasons and they have just been promoted to division 1 which would probably leave them going in as favourites given the fact that they are at home. It will certainly concentrate the mind because Monaghan have quite a good record in the qualifiers so we will just have to give it our best shot and see what comes out of it. The pairings in round 1 of the All Ireland senior football championship qualifiers are as follows: Donegal v Carlow, Ballybofey Monaghan v Armagh, Clones Meath v Waterford, Pairc Tailteann Wicklow v Fermanagh, Aughrim Wexford v Offaly, Wexford Park Louth v Tipperary, London v Down, Ruislip Leitrim v Longford. Carrick-on-Shannon. Tweet

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