ARMAGH'S All-Ireland winning full-back Justin McNulty believes his former club and county team-mate, and current Orchard boss Kieran McGeeney, should be given the space to decide his own fate.
McNulty soldiered with ‘Geezer’ when Armagh brought Sam Maguire to the county in 2002 and was part of the Orchard coaching set-up under McGeeney’s watch in 2017.
Armagh’s campaign ended last weekend when they were cruelly knocked out of the Championship by neighbours Monaghan in a penalty shoot-out, the third time in the space of 12 months, including last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Galway and this summer’s Ulster final to Derry, that they have lost on spot kicks.
“I strongly agree with Oisin McConville’s stance on this, that continuity is vitally important,” noted the Mullaghbawn native.
“Kieran McGeeney is the man who led Armagh to the promised land as a player and I believe strongly that he has that capability as a manager as well. There’ll be nobody hurting more than him and nobody hurting more than the players.
“I think Geezer will be doing a lot of soul searching now. He’ll be hurting, mostly for the players because he believes in them, and he has high expectations of them. He will take his time to reflect, and he deserves that time.
“Him and the management team and the players will sit down together and review the season and decide how best to proceed and I think that’s the way it should happen whereby they collectively decide.
“Armagh players are the best looked after players in the country and Geezer makes that happen. I think a pertinent question to pose is, do the Armagh players want Geezer to stay? I think for the most part they would.”
McNulty also believes that McGeeney’s reappointment as Armagh boss will mean that no player will step away from the set-up. The likes of Aidan Forker, Rory Grugan, Stefan Campbell and Andrew Murnin are in now their 30s, but still have plenty to give according to McNulty.
“Aidan was the best player on the park (against Monaghan), and I don’t see Rory (stepping away) either, especially if Geezer stays on, those lads won’t walk away. They’ll feel they still have something to give and still have more to achieve and they’re hungry for it.
“That will also be flavoured by what Geezer’s decision is. Potentially, if there was a change of management, those boys might decide no, so that’s something that I’d be wary of.”
In terms of moving forward, the former Armagh defender believes that the hurt of 2023 can drive the current team forward into next season, but McNulty does feel that expectations around the group need tampered.
“I think the hurt will certainly drive the team forward. They know they didn’t perform to their potential and they’ll be very hungry to put that right and to find out how they achieve that next season.
“There was a huge swell of expectation that we thought Monaghan was almost a gimme, which was nonsensical because we know what a fighting dog they are when they’re cornered, and they always have been.
“There has to be a reality check in that, people expect Armagh to be competing for All-Irelands every year. There’s huge fandom in Armagh, we have wonderful fans, we have the best fans in the country, which is wonderful.
“But we’ve only won one All-Ireland in 140 years. They don’t come around too often, and they’re hard got to, they’re hard won. I believe that we need to realise that we are still competing at the top table.”
