NUGENT: 'ARMAGH TO GO UP A NOTCH'

ARMAGH captain Aidan Nugent says that Saturday's Division One clash against Monaghan falls into the 'must-win' category, even so early in the National Football League.

The Orchard men open their league campaign with the derby contest against Monaghan in Castleblaney at 6.30pm.

How teams finish in the league this season will decide their seeding in a new-look championship.

The sheer nature of the weekly games has made National League football a firm favourite part of the season for many fans and it is now come into sharp focus for teams too.

“It definitely is because in years gone by teams only peaked for the provincials and it was hard to know what teams done during pre-season but with your league standing affecting your championship seeding in the All-Ireland, I think it is going as good as championship week in, week out, championship pace anyway,” said Nugent.

“You want to be getting points on the board early instead of chasing points towards the end of the league.”

Nugent, who is joint-captain with Rian O'Neill feels the team is in a good position to build on the progress made last season and while losing to Galway was disappointing, he feels it is something his team can learn from.

“You can look at it that way, or you can look at it that it is all part of the process,” Nugent said.

“You are striving to get better, you are striving to become a better team and being able to string performances back-to-back. It is something that we have struggled with for a lot of years, so yes we left that game [v Galway] behind us, in our eyes and we should have been in the last four. But we didn't. Still, when you look back on the year, it was a step in the right direction.

“This year is about going one better, getting past that stage and see where it takes us.

“Sometimes as a player, you want to be winning titles, you want to win what is in front of you, but you can get caught up that if you don't win it then you think that your whole season as been a complete failure.

“When you take a step back, for us it is a step in the right direction, so this year the aim is to knock it up another notch and go at it again.”

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