When Kieran McGeeney took the Armagh job over a decade ago, it wasn’t long before the critique on his managerial credentials were complete.
‘Great players don’t always make the best managers’ became the consensus around the Orchard County.
With no Ulster Championship wins in his first four seasons, Armagh supporters could have been forgiven for losing faith in the McGeeney project.
As the years have moved on and the shoots of progress have emerged, the journey has become more akin to Aesop’s fable of ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ rather than the movie ‘Gone in 60 Seconds.’
On my holidays in Spain last week, I met of couple of die-hard Armagh supporters fully invested in their county’s journey.
One of the men told me that he had friends, so disillusioned with the former All-Ireland winning captain’s tenure, that they no longer attended games involving their beloved county.
I can’t lie, those mystery individuals that he spoke of were weirdly in my thoughts after the final whistle. I couldn’t help but contemplate if, they would now have a change of heart and admit they maybe got it wrong, and would they now be back on the bandwagon and on the scrounge looking tickets for a fortnight’s time?
I have to say, I hope they are forced to stay at home.
The biggest compliment I could give to the Armagh manager is that he has created a team in his own image. Honest, committed, resilient and fiercely competitive. It took a while but he has moulded a side who never know when they are beaten.
Outside of penalties, no Championship defeats in two years speaks volumes.
Of course, as highlighted prior to the game, there were things that needed to happen in order for Armagh to win on Saturday. The obvious one was that David Clifford had to be negated.
That box was ticked successfully, highlighting further that Kerry are too reliant on their prince for scores and when he is tied up inside, they just don’t have a Plan B to get him on the ball running at teams.
Perhaps the men in the Kingdom will look at the role Rian O’Neill played for Armagh and wonder what if they just let him loose in the middle of the field.
The other was the impact needed from the bench, should the game be tight entering the final quarter.
This is where Armagh held all the aces with the scoring contributions from Stefan Campbell, Ross McQuillan, and Jarly Óg Burns massive.
If Campbell was the Rolls Royce off the bench, then the reintroduction of Conor Turbitt was surely the Ferrari to the finish.
It was tough on Aidan Nugent to get sub-subbed but it was the right call as ‘Turbo’ came back on to seal the deal. A big game was going to be needed from Rian and he stood up with a man of the match performance.
Kicking monster scorers at one end, catching balls in the square at the other, the Crossmaglen man was immense. But for all those admirable characteristics, the one thing that has dodged this group consistently is a slice of Lady Luck on the big day.
Coming back from five points down was never part of the script and at a stage it looked like Armagh might be done, especially had Tom O’Sullivan taken his gilt-edge goal chance. But as they negotiated the ropes, that luck came in the form of a spilled ball that fell nicely into the hands of Barry McCambridge.
During extra-time, when the Kerry squeeze was on, Armagh showed their worth in the physical stakes in the middle third.
I thought the kicking of Blaine Hughes, coupled with the ability of Armagh to come up with another ball winner around the middle, was a massive factor in the victory.
Naturally the players and management deserve most of the plaudits, but the people in the background who have stayed loyal to the Geezer project for the last decade have played a bigger role than most will realise.
The sprint was done a long time ago but as the marathon enters the final stretch. We all wait with bated breath and hope that the tortoise will be the one to get over the line in first place come Sunday week.
It was all going to script on Saturday as Conor Laverty and Down secured the Tailteann Cup without playing close to their best.
Although the Mournemen looked the much superior team, they appeared a little bound by nerves as they stumbled over the line. The spark provided from the bench by Danny Magill ,coupled with Laois struggling to breach Down with any semblance of a running game, were big factors coming down the final straight.
A guarantee of tier one football for 2025 was just reward bringing to end a very successful season for the men in red and black.
Galway’s ability to get inside the Donegal defensive shield was crucial in this second semi-final.
Often the ball-carrier would be met with two support runners coming from wide areas and at least another couple coming the blind side of the ball-carrier down the centre. But crucially it was the probing down the left side with the overload on the right which brought most joy in the end.
Galway’s last five points of the game came from initially probing down the left before the fast switch to the overload of numbers on the right.
Donegal were a joy to watch in the first half with the scores from Michael Langan and Oisin Gallen things of beauty. They had a scoring efficiency of almost 80 per cent but as the bodies tired that razor-sharp accuracy waned as that figure dipped to below 50 per cent in the second half.
But when all the analysing is done and dusted, it will be the nothing ball that ends up in the Donegal net and the unfortunate free given against Ciaran Thompson that will stick out as the two big moments in the game.
For now, it is sheer disappointment at a missed opportunity in Donegal. But when they remind themselves what happened in Jim McGuinness’s year two last time around, the spirits will quickly lift as they reflect on a brilliant season.