WHEN it finally happens, few words can do justice to how you feel.
The emotion flows, the feelings a curious combination of shock, joy and overwhelming exhaustion. But it’s mainly one of unbridled relief.
Relief that 70 minutes - and six excruciating more – have been ended by Sean Hurson’s whistle. Relief that all of these years of waiting, of nearly days and early exits, are over and they have led to this moment.
There are hugs and handshakes. There are cheers. And, yes, there are tears.
As I stood in the Hogan lower, wrapped in an embrace with my 15-year-old son, I don’t mind admitting that the emotion of the moment, of the achievement, swept over me like a wave.
I thought of how lucky we were to experience this feeling together and I kept hold of him for as long as I could, and he didn’t immediately let go as he usually does. Instead he squeezed me tighter than he ever has before.
And then I looked to my left and could see that was the feeling being experienced too by GAA President Jarlath Burns when his son Jarly Óg raced up the steps to embrace so they could share in this moment. And it was a feeling being experienced by scores of other parents and their children around the stadium, around the country and across the world.
In that moment, as Glory Days echoed around Croke Park, I also thought of those who didn’t get to see this day but whose spirit helped drive Armagh to it. This was for them.
For Niall Grimley, mourning the loss of his brother Patrick who died in a crash that also claimed his wife, Ciera, and their friend Ciara McElvanna.
For Rian, Oisin and Calum O’Neill whose uncle Padraig took ill after the semi-final and passed last weekend.
For the family of Natalie McNally, killed in her Lurgan home in December 2022.
For Dr Sean McCann, ‘The Voice of the Athletic Grounds’ who died barely a month before his county won the All-Ireland.
For Caolan Finnegan, a Crossmaglen footballer who continues to heroically battle an aggressive brain tumour.
And for everyone who has followed Armagh, either in person or from afar, over the past 22 years.
We owe it all to this panel and to a totemic figure in Kieran McGeeney who embodies the county and has now achieved that most tremendous of feats in winning the All-Ireland as a captain and manager.
Of course, there have been dark days and hard roads. Weaker men than these would have struggled to overcome the heartbreak of losing in two Ulster finals on penalties.
But detractors who pointed to those losses as signs of weakness neglected to see that the fact they came so close to a provincial title was actually the marker of extreme progress. They didn’t price in that failure isn’t the opposite of success, it’s part of it.
Don’t forget we didn’t win a game in the Ulster championship in the first four years after McGeeney took over. But, as Geezer said on Sunday, sometimes your strongest steel is forged in fire and there followed those early struggles a Division Three title and later summer appearances; a signal of a breakthrough in quality and mentality. A new team was being born and a new belief was being seeded.
The supporters bus I was on that left Co Armagh early on Sunday morning was one filled with nervous excitement. It returned back up the road bubbling with songs and exultation. And a dollop of disbelief.
Winning All-Irelands is damn hard. It took Armagh 120 years to get our first and then these 22 tortuous years for a second.
The last time Sam was placed on the dashboard of a bus and taken up the road to Armagh, it was a different world.
We were living in a post-9/11 world with Bush and Blair on a war footing, Gérard Houillier and Kevin Keegan were Premier League managers and Atomic Kitten were topping the charts.
Amid the celebrations on Sunday, I tried to convince my son that these days are rare - he wasn’t born the last time Armagh were in the final. How long it takes to climb to this summit again, nobody knows.
But what we do know is how Sunday felt. And how yesterday’s celebrations felt. And that for the next year, at least, Armagh are All-Ireland SFC champions again.
It’s confirmation that dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.
