YOU saw the difference between Armagh and Galway in that split second.
Paul Conroy with the ball in his hands, the posts in his sights and his right foot cocked to kick the equaliser in the dying seconds of injury-time…
The inside of Conroy’s boot met leather with a decent connection but the ball didn’t go far because Joe McElroy, Armagh’s unsung hero, spotted the danger. He dived full-length in a textbook block, the ball thumped into his hands, broke Armagh’s way and they cleared the danger.
Seconds later… The full-time whistle and euphoria takes the place of exhaustion and stress.
“I had no choice,” says McElroy of ‘the block’ that has secured his place in Orchard County folklore.
“I thought time was up but the ref gave them another bite of the cherry. At that point it was just ‘get on the man’s foot’. I had a quick scan around and (Cein) Darcy had made a strong run from half-back so he was being pushed out towards the sideline. I identified that Conroy was one of their main shooters and he was hovering.
“He has a very good right foot so basically I had to get across as quickly as possible because I knew he was pulling the trigger. I just dived and hoped for the best and luckily I got something on it because I had four or five dives in the game and I didn’t get anything on the others!
“Look you have to keep going, keep diving and eventually it’ll come off. We hadn’t got many blocks against Roscommon or Derry so I was just really happy to get one in those last moments of the game.
“It got us the ball back and we got up the field and thankfully the final whistle went.”
All season McIlroy has played a vital behind-the-scenes role for Armagh. He marks opposition dangermen out of the game, he covers space, he keeps the ball moving… A constant worker in a supporting role, the unflashy team player that makes others look so good.
“Last year I had a couple of injuries and I came back for the Galway game and the Monaghan (All-Ireland quarter-final) game,” he explains.
“Geezer gave me a couple of roles at the start of this year. He gave me a role of tagging key ball-players, or key runners/dangerous players and I did my job and that’s what kept me in the team.
“I did whatever my role was: to take a key player in one game, or he’d tell me: ‘Nullify him’ in the next one…
“That’s what kept me in the starting 15 and I was getting the full game all the time. The way it is now, everyone attacks and everyone defends, there’s no set positions. I play 10 or 12 but I’m not naturally a half-forward, I’m naturally a half-back.
“The game is up and down, up and down, transition and pressing kickouts so it was a brilliant year for me and I’ve really enjoyed every single moment of it.”
HIS ambition – Armagh’s ambition – will be to do what the team of 2002 could not and retain their crown next year. The challenge for a team that thrives on challenges is to keep the Sam Maguire in the Orchard County.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to pre-season already and seeing what extra one per cent I can get whether it’s physical, technical or tactical - whatever it is,” says the St Paul’s High School teacher.
“I just want to improve again and move on.
“We skipped to the big prize this year. We haven’t won Ulster so we’ll be gunning for that.
“My first year on the panel was 2016 and we actually got beat by Laois twice in the Championship (a replay was ordered after it emerged that Laois had used too many substitutes). It was a low-enough day to be honest and there’s a lot of players who soldiered on after that.
“There’s the likes of Brendan Donaghy, he’ll not be collecting an All-Ireland medal but he pushed us on from the depths of Division Three, Charlie Vernon is another and Ciaran McKeever as well.
“He finished in 2017 when I was in my second year and he showed all the young boys the standards, what they had to do right down to the diet. He was an unbelievable leader and, as a coach, the defensive stats speak for themselves this year. In the Championship we only conceded three goals, we only conceded five all season.
“We put a lot of emphasis on when to press, when not to press, taking out key men, looking at where they shoot from… Ciaran has been at the forefront of all that.”
WHEN he woke on Monday morning he spent an hour replying to message of congratulation from friends and family and then got up to be greeted by fans in the Carrickdale Hotel and then a sea of orange at the packed-out Athletic Grounds.
He shakes his head and smiles when he thinks of what Armagh have achieved and that broad grin won’t leave his face for weeks.
“It feels like a dream and I hope I don’t wake up from it,” he said.
“It is a dream come true. Any young lad’s dream is to play at Croke Park and get over the line and in such a tight fashion like it was as well…
“We’ve been on this journey for a long time.
“I took two years’ out but this is my eighth year with Armagh and a lot of the boys have been soldiering on through the whole 10 (that Kieran McGeeney has been manager) and ‘Geezer’ has kept us together and got everyone going in the same direction.
“He just completely changed the mindset of the starting 15 and how 16-to-42 is equally as important. Some of the in-house games we had before the final… The so-called ‘Blue team’ or the B-team has spanked the A-team a couple of times and I think that keeps you very honest and accountable.
“There’s always good competition for places and that’s what drives the team on. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday morning…
“Geezer giving us that mantra and that belief is what pushed the whole thing on.”
HIS club Armagh Harps have a very rich tradition in Gaelic Games that goes right back to the origins of the GAA in the Orchard County. Their record of 21 county titles (the last in 2017) is second only to Crossmaglen.
The Harps have produced icons from Jack Brattan to Charlie Vernon down the years but their only previous All-Ireland winner, Collie Holmes, won his three Celtic Crosses with Tyrone.
McElroy is the first Harps man to win with Armagh and since Pearse Og, the club that produced Ger Houlihan and Ronan Clarke among many others, had no-one on the panel, he is the only representative from the Cathedral City.
“The town has been absolutely bouncing,” he says.
“The Armagh fans – and I know this is like a broken record – but they are second-to-none. They are unbelievable. The semi-final against Kerry… The noise was just… I can’t describe it! They’re not wise the way they bring the colour, that sea of orange and it does make a massive difference in the big games.
“It’s worth a couple of points – 100 per cent it is. When you get a turnover you hear the roar… The other team might drop a ball short and you hear them again on their backs and then we get a score and the noise… The crowd makes the difference and hopefully they keep following us now on this journey for the next couple of years because we’re not done yet.”
