Peter McDonnell led Armagh to this year's Ulster U21 title

There has been speculation that a number of senior players may opt to join ex-boss Joe Kernan in stepping away from the Armagh senior set-up.

McDonnell was appointed to the Armagh job on Wednesday evening.

"I'm not in the business of discriminating against younger players or older players," said McDonnell.

"Performance is what matters. There is tremendous talent in the county."

McDonnell also believes that there is a lot of talent on the Armagh club scene which has yet to be tapped at intercounty level.

"There are some of those guys I would like to have a good close look at over the next few weeks as the final stages of our championship takes place."

On Wednesday night, the Armagh county board opted for McDonnell ahead of Paul Grimley and Michael McConville.

McDonnell guided Mullaghbawn to the Ulster Club title in 1995 and also achieved another provincial success with Errigal Ciaran five years later.

Paul Grimley was pipped for the Armagh job by McDonnell

He then had stints with Burren and Armagh Harps before guiding Armagh U21s to this year's Ulster title.

McDonnell has a big act to follow after Kernan's historic successes with the county over the past six years.

Kernan guided Armagh to their historic All-Ireland triumph in 2002 as well as four provincial titles - including a three-in-a-row from 2004 to 2006.

Grimley was part of the Armagh backroom team for all those successes before he left Joe Kernan's backroom team 13 months ago.

Last month, Grimley resigned as assistant manager of Cavan in order to concentrate on his attempt to secure the Armagh post and he is likely to be hugely disappointed at being overlooked for the role.

There has been speculation that a number of prominent Armagh players were keen that Grimley would get the job.

McDonnell will inherit a talented squad but his first task may be to ascertain whether several experienced players wish to prolong their intercounty careers.

These include the likes of Kieran McGeeney, Oisin McConville, Paul McGrane and Enda McNulty.