ARMAGH have a clean bill of health heading into the All-Ireland final this weekend, outside of the couple of long-term absentees in Conor O’Neill and Ciaran Mackin, who both suffered season-ending injuries during the All-Ireland series.
In years gone by, Kieran McGeeney’s side have been hampered by knocks and niggles, but the availability of certain players and the strength in depth of the squad have bolstered their success this season.
McGeeney, in his 10th year in charge of his native county, heaped praised on his backroom team, the physios and the strength and conditioning coaches for the limited about of injuries his team have suffered.
“Conor (O’Neill) and Ciaran Mackin are a huge loss to us in terms of ability,” said the 2002 All-Ireland winning captain on the two missing men.
“They are definitely first-team players but again we have been trying to build a panel over the years, so we are able to have those types of injuries to those types of players and we are still able to play and sustain a level of consistency, and that has been good.
“Both fellas are at every training session, they are still doing the rehab, they are part of the squad. Everybody else is in good shape. The medical staff this year with Shane, Orla, Anthony and Julie I think need a lot of credit for the condition these boys are in.
“Being a girl in the GAA world doesn’t get you much, everybody gives me that credit because we get to wear tight t-shirts. Julie (Davis) has done a phenomenal job with these players, she has them in serious shape and has done the last 10 years.
“She has built them from a very low ebb, right up and in fairness to her, she deserves a lot of credit for the condition the players are in over a sustained time.”
On the prospect of facing Galway and coming up against Padraic Joyce for the third season in a row, McGeeney expects a tough challenge.
He was an interested viewer at the second All-Ireland semi-final, and saw the Connacht champions knock out Jim McGuinness’s Donegal.
“It was a tight game, there wasn’t much between them, and I didn’t expect there to be,” added the 2002 All-Ireland winning captain.
“There were two different styles, small and dynamic (Donegal), strong and aggressive of Galway, but Galway seemed to be able to take away the speed of the Donegal attack in (Peadar) Mogan, (Ryan) McHugh, that seemed to work to their favour.
“The goal, like a lot of the goals over that weekend, you could argue was lucky, but you would take those on a semi-final day. It was just a kick of the ball between them, and it’s Galway. It was never going to be any surprise no matter who came through.”
