Armagh star Oisín Conaty says neither he nor his teammates were perturbed by their somewhat unproductive trip to Carton House last Friday.
The prestigious Kildare venue was set to host the 2024 All-Ireland champions for a training weekend, but the highly rated playing surfaces were lined out instead as soccer pitches for the impending visit of Premier League giants Manchester United, as broken by The Irish News earlier this week.
A 15th placed finish in the league under Ruben Amorim last season means the Red Devils are without any European football, and coupled with the current international break, they will have had 23 days without action by the time an April 13 clash with Leeds rolls around.
Armagh, meanwhile, are in the midst of their own sizeable league and championship gap from March 22 to an Ulster preliminary bout against Tyrone on Sunday week. Many intercounty squads have been on training camps abroad.
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But the 2024 Young Footballer of the Year was in jovial form on the issue as the Red Hand clash comes into view:
“It wasn’t a massive deal. We just went up the road and I suppose the only difference is we slept in our own bed.
“Everything was the same, the meetings, the trainings, everything. We got two good sessions in and another walk-through session. It was perfect, all good. Hopefully push things on this week for a big battle next week.
“We were down there for the day, I suppose. If United were there - I’m a Liverpool man - so there could have been a bit of a stand-off. United need the result, don’t they?
“They need the training in the last few years they’ve been going through. So yeah, let them have it!”
There was something of a social media storm, with The Irish News contacting Carton House for comment but receiving no response to date.
NI football players watched Rory McIlroy's show off his golfing skills at Carton House. Picture by NI Football Team
NI football players watching Rory McIlroy show off his golfing skills at Carton House back in 2016.
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Armagh also offered to reline the pitch themselves when their initial plans were scuppered, but to no avail as they retraced their steps back home having completed a running session.
Viewers commented on X:
“Great story. Stare down Michael Carrick or Kieran McGeeney. I know which one I’d be choosing.”
Others on Facebook joked that Armagh should have stayed and played the English giants, using their 15 v 11 advantage.
Conaty however feels the incident has been blown out of proportion:
“I think this has been blown out a bit, I think a few of the lads said we’re going to train in Carrington here next weekend! When we went down, it was all over Twitter (X) on Tuesday. The pitches weren’t lined out, so we just went back up the road and we trained in Armagh.
“It was a Saturday and Sunday, no big deal. We felt like we got three good sessions in. Yeah, we’re happy with the weekend. I saw it coming out yesterday, a few tweets and a few slaggings, but (all) perfect.”
With the light hearted theme continuing, Conaty - who was again nominated for Young Footballer of the Year in 2025 and scored Armagh’s key goal in their crucial league defeat of Dublin - insists he’ll be staying out of the money end of things should the Orchard have received any kind of compensation:
“I’ll leave that to the county board, I’m no good with the dealings of the financial side of it, so we’ll let them do that!”