Rory Grugan believes Armagh must become “better at assessing what way the referee is refereeing the game”.

The Orchard County conceded 28 frees against Donegal in Ballybofey on Saturday night, while being awarded just twelve. Untimately, that lopsided free count cost them as Kieran McGeeney’s side lost by a single point.

Grugan says the visitors were too slow in adapting to Monaghan whistle blower Martin McNally’s handling of the game:

“We looked at the free count and there were two times more fouls against us and it's up to us to probably be quicker and better at assessing what way the referee is refereeing the game because different referees have different interpretations of the tackle,” the Armagh captain told The Irish News.

“Maybe it took us that bit longer to adjust and again we maybe weren't cute enough when Donegal were trying to win frees; they had a wee bit more experience on that side of things.”

“It's a big learning curve for us playing against teams that have been playing in Division One and playing last year's Ulster champions. They have nothing to learn on the free count side of things. In the second half they were holding the ball and winning their frees and keeping that two or three-point difference.”

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