AS the dust begins to settle after the euphoric scenes of the last few days, it is still hard to believe that Armagh are All-Ireland champions. I have been considering what they may have done tactically on the day that made this result possible.
There was one thing that stood out for me which made the biggest impact. On the day there was an urgency by McGeeney’s men to go hard and finish out their attacks as quickly as possible and at the same try and force Galway into doing the opposite.
Everyone had to play their part in that. Galway ended up playing a much more patient, methodical, probing game that, to be quite frank, just didn’t suit them. There was too much caution and indecision that eventually became their undoing.
Take the first two attacks of the game from each team and look at the contrast. When Paul Conroy kicked the ball over the bar Galway had already kept the ball for two minutes and 10 seconds. On the resultant kickout it took Armagh exactly 25 seconds to work their first score.
From the next kick-out Galway worked it short and kept the ball for two-and-a-half minutes before Liam Silke kicked it over. The Tribesmen pressed and won the next kickout which lead to a free that Rob Finnerty converted, which would be his last kick of the game.
Armagh won the next restart short and it was exactly 25 seconds later that Oisin Conaty was kicking his and Armagh’s second score of the game. Can you see the trend?
In preparation, Armagh knew that if this game ended up in a frenzied end-to-end shoot-out then the odds were stacked against them.
This was a defensive masterclass, built on the foundation that if they can deny Galway space to run or kick into by being already set up defensively then they could eventually grind the Tribesmen into submission. Counter fast to get their own attacks dead. Then set-up quickly, slow Galway down – rinse and repeat. That’s exactly what they did, and it worked emphatically.
I remarked before the Kerry game that good fortune has evaded this gallant bunch on numerous occasions and maybe finally a few breaks would go Kieran McGeeney’s way.
I’m not suggesting for a second that Armagh were lucky to get over the line, but as much as they were deserving winners, it must be said the rub of the green also went their way. Finnerty going off was a massive blow for Galway and in that moment Armagh knew they had one less weapon in the artillery to worry about.
There were a couple of big scores that had a smidgen of good fortune about them too. What seemed was going to be a stray pass from Rory Grugan ended up a moment of opportunity as Aidan Forker got to it to sneak in between two Galway men.
Had the pass gone the way it was intended then it is unlikely Forker will break the line to score. Then there was the Damian Comer Hawkeye moment which looked like it was over.
The fourth and perhaps the most significant of them all was the goal. Upon the replay it looked like Stefan Campbell was trying to fist the ball over the bar.
So often we would see teams try to work the goal in these situations but the hand-pass is a hair’s breadth too far in front and the goalie or full-back may get a hand to it. But in this instance, as Campbell fists the ball it actually goes back the way right towards the path of the in-rushing Aaron McKay.
Much of the narrative going into this game, was what would happen if Damian Comer, Shane Walsh and Rob Finnerty all clicked on the one day. Hands up, I was somewhat complicit in this conversation as well.
But perhaps what we didn’t see coming was Aidan Forker taking Comer out of the game, Barry McCambridge dealing with Walsh and Finnerty going off injured.
It’s remarkable to think that man-markers Forker and McCambridge contributed more on the scoreboard than Comer and Walsh.
If someone had said before the game that Oisin Conaty would score more from play than the three Galway sharp-shooters combined and more than the rest of the Armagh forward line, you would have took some look at them.
But, on a day, when Shane Walsh left his shooting boots at home the stars just seemed to align.
This will be a game that the Galway star will want to forget, in particular that period between the 56th and 61st minutes where he kicked an easy chance wide, refused to take on a central free-kick/mark on the ‘45′ and crucially kicked another ‘mark’ into the arms of Blaine Hughes.
That was perhaps the biggest blow as that counter-attack ended up with an inspirational score from Niall Grimley. Then a horrible effort from Dylan McHugh ended up at the far end with a brilliant Oisin O’Neill score to put three in it with five minutes of normal remaining.
At that stage it was hard to see anything other than an Armagh win. But the story wasn’t over and when a quick-fire Galway brace had it back to a one-point game, all the momentum had swung in the Tribesmen’s favour.
Shane Walsh’s nightmare was about to get worse as he missed another free that seemed to suck the life out of his team despite there being another six minutes left.
I felt this is where Galway pulled on the brakes and just like how the match had begun, they went back to method instead of continuing with the madness.
In the remaining six minutes, despite having the ball for most of it, they could only conjure one shooting opportunity worth talking about.
Dylan McHugh was very unlucky with his shot off the post but that was all they could really muster.
Armagh had the deal sealed and Galway hoisted the white flag. It was far from a classic but for Armagh to win it didn’t need to be, and perhaps it couldn’t afford to be.
A defensive masterclass was what was required executed with everything we have come to expect from McGeeney and this Armagh team.
Discipline, commitment, aggression, organisation, resilience and a never-say-die attitude. Add in a modest sprinkling of star quality and the dream becomes a reality. Armagh All-Ireland Champions 2024.