Kieran McGeeney wasn't surprised by the ferocity of Antrim's challenge against Armagh.

The promotion-chasing Orchardmen were expected to cruise to victory at the Athletic Grounds on Saturday night, but were pushed to the pin of the collar by their Ulster rivals.

"I knew it would be competitive," the Armagh manager told the Irish News.

"Antrim have been competitive in all their games bar Offaly. But it was a good game for us to try and break down that defence, our inside forward line was blocked from getting possession.

"I was happy with the result, we had a lot of misses, a lot of wides, but still they fought it out which is very pleasing and it's also very good to bring a lot of people back down to reality."

McGeeney continued to experiment with Ciaran McKeever at full forward and the erstwhile half back duly delivered with a tally of 1-1.

"Ciaran played very well. He's a good player, a smart player and he got on the ball as much as you could want. He played very well as did Charlie (Vernon), Blaine Hughes made a great save from the penalty and his kick-outs were good too, so there's a lot of positives from it," he added.

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