GAA News

With only a month to go until the Ulster Championship, the Armagh footballers understandably have fire in their bellies... but for all the wrong reasons.

At this time of year, training is stepped up a gear up and down the country as the Championship draws closer on the horizon, but the Armagh footballers’ preparations for next month’s clash with Tyrone have been hit by a tummy bug that has ravaged a number of players in the squad.

It is an occurrence that will bring pack painful memories for those involved in the squad in 2009, when a similar bug had a detrimental effect on the camp prior to a clash against the same opposition at the same time of year.

It could be something in the water or could be because there are a few bad apples in the Orchard County, but it is far from ideal preparation for the Tyrone clash, with up to ten players believed to have been affected.

"When you have players in a closely knit group there is always the risk an infection like this can spread. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the worst of it is over," Armagh assistant boss Paul Grimley is quoted as saying on the Hogan Stand website.

Armagh have played Tyrone so often in recent years that they're probably sick of the sight of them at this stage, but let's just hope that phrase doesn't carry a literal meaning when the two sides cross paths on 10 June.