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Sean Cavanagh Explains Why He Has No Sympathy For Armagh After Latest Heartbreak

Sean Cavanagh Explains Why He Has No Sympathy For Armagh After Latest Heartbreak
Gary Connaughton
By Gary Connaughton
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Armagh's Ulster final loss to Donegal was very much a familiar story.

Kieran McGeeney's side put themselves into a brilliant position to win the game, only to give up a late lead and see the contest go to extra-time. They would once again go three points ahead with only a few minutes to go in the afters, only to allow Donegal to level things up once again.

Of course, we all know what happened next. Armagh would go on to suffer defeat in the penalty shootout, the fourth occasion in the last couple of years that they would lose a championship game via this method.

Plenty has been made about this 'unlucky' Armagh team in the aftermath of Sunday's game, although some believe that questions must be asked about their mentality after this latest heartbreaking defeat.

READ HERE: Permutations For The Munster And Leinster Hurling Championships With 2 Weekends To Go

Sean Cavanagh has no sympathy for Armagh after latest heartbreak

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Not only have Armagh made a habit of losing penalty shootouts in recent times, but they were also in strong positions to win a number of those games before that point.

Their failure to do so quite often came down to reverting to more conservative tactics once they got into the lead, something that cost them once again against Donegal.

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Speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, Sean Cavanagh explained why you could not have too much sympathy for Armagh despite them suffering yet another heartbreaking defeat in a big game.

It's hard to watch them lose like that. I know you can make jokes about it, but it's time and time again. There is a trend that has been appearing.

The penalties is one thing, where you start asking questions or can they not deal with that sort of temperament you need to get through penalties.

For me, it's more how they stopped playing with 20 minutes to go in normal time and how they stopped playing with seven minutes to go in extra-time.

That replicated what we saw against Monaghan for a good portion of normal time and extra-time last year. Similarly, they were two points up against Derry in extra-time, with a man up at point because Derry had a black card, and they pulled the handbrake in that game.

We have seen this behaviour from them in the last couple of years. Yeah you can say they're unlucky, but at some point you have to look at yourselves and why aren't you finishing these teams off.

This is something that Armagh will need to address ahead of the All-Ireland series, although the way in which is has plagued the team in recent season suggest that it might not be an easy issue to fix.

Until they sort it out, it's likely that their wait for provincial or All-Ireland glory will stretch even further.

SEE ALSO: GAA President Jarlath Burns Calls Out Sean Cavanagh Over 'Crazy' Comments On TV

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