Kieran McGeeney wasn't reading too much into Armagh's facile Dr McKenna Cup first round victory over St Mary's yesterday.

He was already looking ahead to the Orchard County's other Section B games against Antrim and Monaghan, which will serve as preparation for what is sure to be a tough Allianz League Division 2 campaign.

"There will be bigger and strong tests and after Christmas we'll be having different conversations," the manager told the Irish News.

"We scored well today. We lost a wee bit of pace in the second half, but there seems to be a push on. We've been working on that for a while.

"Antrim will give us a good test and Monaghan are All-Ireland semi-finalists, so no matter what team they put out they will be good. We're looking forward to it, but we need a strong test because we start off with Kildare in the National League and it seems every game after that is tough.

"Obviously, ourselves and Fermanagh went up (from Division 3), so we'd be sort of on a par, but then you have the likes of Meath, Cork, Tipperary, Clare and Donegal, who have some serious squads in there. It will be a tough hunting ground for us, but that's what we want and where we need to be."

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