Peter Canavan has been praising Armagh ahead of tomorrow's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Tyrone.

Canavan, whose last-gasp free broke Armagh hearts in the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final, has been impressed by the 'remarkable improvements' the Orchard County have made since losing to Down in the Ulster SFC quarter-final on June 4.

"A few weeks back you would have said there are very few stars on the Armagh team and if they're going to deliver it's going to be a concerted effort from everybody putting their shoulder behind the wheel - and we're starting to see that now," the Tyrone legend is quoted as saying in the Irish News.

"With Armagh, when you're on a roll you make the most of it. They have made remarkable improvements in a very short space of time and they are a young team but this is the first time we'll see them against a Division 1 side."

While Jamie Clarke grabbed all the headlines following his superb display against Kildare last weekend, Canavan was equally impressed by Brendan Donaghy's performance at the heart of the defence. 

"I've never seen Brendan Donaghy having a better game in an Armagh jersey," he continued.

"He was absolutely outstanding from a defensive point of view and going forward as well. He came out with the ball, he was setting up scores and he took a great point himself.

"It was just his reading of the game. Kildare might have had two goal chances in the first half only for Brendan Donaghy being the last man, coming across and at the end of the game he caught a high ball when you might have expected some Armagh players to break it.

"If Clarke was inspirational at the front, Donaghy was certainly inspirational at the back."

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