ARMAGH made their own luck last Sunday and their gung-ho gameplan produced arguably the best Championship win of the Kieran McGeeney era.
The Orchardmen went into their final group game against unbeaten Galway with progression to the knockout stage still far from certain. The Tribesmen led by two points at the break but Armagh’s front-foot, positive approach paid off when Rory Grugan curled over an injury-time free-kick to win a game that could have gone either way.
Jason Duffy was one of the Armagh scorers in Carrick-on-Shannon. The Cullyhanna clubman felt Armagh’s attacking mindset created the circumstances whereby getting the little bit of luck that has so often deserted his county enabled them to get over the line after so many near misses.
“We went at them from the start and you create your own luck at the end of the day,” he said.
“Maybe in games we sat off teams and invited them forward and that gave them the opportunity to get the scores that pushed them over the line whereas we went at them and it paid off for us. It gave us that bit of luck and we’ll take good confidence out of that.
“We hadn’t been firing on all cylinders but we ground out the win.”
Duffy had come out on the losing side against Galway in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final and against Derry (also on penalties) in the Ulster final. The jubilant scenes after the one-point victory on Sunday showed how much winning a close encounter meant to the Armagh camp.
“It’s good to turn that around,” he said.
“We have had that tag that we’ve bottled it on a few occasions but we showed resilience out there and we pushed on and got a result.
“I suppose it’s mindset. We went with intent out there from the start, we went at them, we pushed up for every kickout which is a bit different from the last few games and it paid dividends. We need to keep at it and keep moving forward in that direction.
“We weren’t playing badly, as such, we knew we were there-or-thereabouts and hopefully this will be that bit of a spark that will get us going and push us on further down the line maybe.”
The flame-haired half-forward is a tireless worker in the Armagh cause. He covers acres of ground and is fast becoming a cult hero with the Orchard county fans. He says he works no harder than his teammates.
“Everybody is the same in that middle-eight position,” he said.
“I’m no different than any of the other boys. It has to be done.”
Armagh’s win and Tyrone’s draw meant the Orchardmen unexpectedly topped their group and went straight through to the last eight. They have next weekend off to rest and prepare for their quarter-final while Galway clash with Mayo and Tyrone tangle with Donegal in Ballybofey.
“It gives you that extra week to get a bit of recovery in and you maybe get a bit of homework done a well so it (getting a break) is a positive, it’s a benefit,” said Duffy.
And Armagh will have Rian O’Neill back for their quarter-final. O’Neill was red-carded in the round two clash with Tyrone and that Kieran McGeeney’s men got by without him last Sunday was a undoubted confidence boost.
“That was massive,” said Duffy.
“We have the likes of him coming back in and that’ll be an even bigger positive and more momentum going into the next game. Rian is a massive player for us – he’s worth four-or-five points so it’ll definitely be good to get him back in too.”
