Derry assistant manager John Morrison gives Seán Moran his analysis ahead of Saturday's quarter-final.

Derry assistant manager John Morrison has had a close-up view of both of Saturday's All-Ireland quarter-finalists. The county fell narrowly to both Armagh and Laois. While describing it as an "intriguing" match Morrison, a widely recognised coaching innovator, sees his native county of Armagh as having the firmer grounds for optimism.

Both he and Derry manager Mickey Moran have made no secret of their unhappiness at the intrusion of club activities into the county's training schedules.

"I felt we should have beaten Laois," says Morrison, "and would have if the county board had allowed us prepare properly instead of arranging so many club fixtures. But that's water under the bridge now. As for Saturday, the game can go one of three ways: narrow wins for Laois or Armagh or Armagh stuffing Laois."

Derry had the upper hand against Laois in the qualifier match of two weeks ago but allowed Mick O'Dwyer's team back into it after half-time. Morrison, however, feels that there is a vulnerability about the Leinster finalists.

Laois's season has been erratic. They woke up only in the second half of the Leinster final, steamrolled a hapless Kildare and had played poorly against Offaly, needing a last-minute goal from their player of the year Ross Munnelly to see them through.

"Ross Munnelly could play for any team at the moment," says Morrison. "He has great movement. And the midfielders are among the better in the country. But I still feel there's a lot of Laois players who drop their heads very quickly. Their full back line is also vulnerable. Joe Higgins is very good but he isn't yet back to his best.

"They're not physically strong. Donie Brennan, for instance, is a tricky player but volatile and could lose track of the game and Armagh will be expert at winding him up.

"Overall I don't think Laois have the intense game that Armagh and Tyrone have. They tend to 'burst' not 'build' if you understand me. They run and lay off the ball when they meet an opponent and tend to try and reach their front men by wee grubber kicks, which makes it hard to score goals.

"They don't play to a structure. Armagh will contain them with a blanket defence like Meath of old. They let you build all you want but stop you on the 45."

He also feels that Armagh have had a favourable bounce of the ball with the decision of Central Council not to enforce the suspension of midfielder Paul McGrane.

"Losing Paul McGrane would have been a huge blow to the confidence of the team. They've never had to do without him. Everyone says that Kieran McGeeney is the inspiration of the team but McGrane's the player."

O'Dwyer approaches the game with a style of play rather than a detailed game plan. His team play the running game familiar from his days with Kerry as well as his successful stint with Kildare.

Morrison believes that the ability to disrupt the team's centre back Tom Kelly will be crucial to Armagh's approach.

"Laois will play a straight 15 so Armagh will leave John McEntee on Tom Kelly. That could be important because Kelly likes to go forward on the basis that the centre forward follows. McEntee won't so he'll have to be marked and in a conventional line-out that means there'll be gaps for Armagh.

"Stop Munnelly and you stop Laois. One of the best ways to mark him is to use a shift system. It nearly worked for us but one player lost concentration. It means that players man-mark him intensely, knowing that they've 20 minutes to burn themselves out before being switched."

Armagh haven't been playing to their limits this summer and needed some radical refereeing interventions to get them past Tyrone over the two days of the Ulster final. They were similarly stretched in the Ulster first round against Donegal. It's a strength although founded in the weakness of their displays.

Morrison makes the distinction between Armagh and their opponents on those occasions.

"Being in a winning position doesn't mean you'll win, as Donegal and Tyrone found out, but in a losing position a team tends to lose. Armagh's strength is that they never really got into a losing position in those games. I often say winning is 95 per cent hard work and five per cent critical moments. Armagh are good on both counts."