Barry just happy to get through

The name of Seeley has always been synonymous with Lurgan Clan na Gael, and some Armagh fans from other parts of the county had to take a second look at the programme before realising that Barry hails from cross-town rivals Clann ireann.

His dad, Martin, was a skillful footballer in the early years following the formation of the St Paul’s club and young Barry, who is also a keen hurler, played for youth teams at St Paul’s before joining the Shore Road club at juvenile level.

Having caught his breath, he told the ‘Mail’ shortly after the final whistle: “We got a real scare at the end out there, but somehow I knew we were always going to come through.

“When you’re six or seven points up you expect to win a match but it was about character at the end even though we were hanging on by our fingertips.”

The Armagh attacker gave some credit to the losing Derry side as well: “Maybe you could say that Derry showed character as well, they came at us in droves in the last few minutes and scored two good goals.

“But we desperately wanted to get into the next round, so hopefully today will be a wake-up call.”

Armagh minors’ assistant manager, Kieran Robinson was also relieved with the one-point victory. “I think we would have had shot ourselves in the foot if we’d lost that game”, he stressed. “We had it won twice you could say. I don’t think anyone could have saved those late goals”.

The Annaghmore man continued: “People were asking if we had the hunger to fight for another Ulster title, but the target was to put two good minor teams back-to-back. This team has to make its own history.”

Kieran understands, however, that this young Orchard side will still have more to do if they are to create their own story.

“Beating Derry is a start, but we have Monaghan in the next round so we won’t have too much time to dwell on this win,” he added.