After the agony of recent years, Mcgeeney & Co have defied all odds to reach promised land
ONE of the great GAA stories of all has just been written, with Kieran Mcgeeney crafting the script.
Mcgeeney captained his county to their only previous All-ireland back in 2002 and, 22 years later and in his 10th year in charge of Armagh, he has now landed the ultimate prize once again.
This final won’t go down as a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but Armagh won’t care.
Aaron Mckay will forever be a hero in Armagh. His crucial score in the 47th minute was ultimately the difference. Soupy Cambell’s first contribution after coming off the bench was a game defining one. His driving run and handpass across the goal to the untracked Mckay was a brilliant piece of play.
But Armagh had heroes all over the pitch, none more so than Joe Mcelroy, who had a last-ditch block on Paul Conroy and that along with Ben Crealey’s turnover on Cillian Mcdaid were match-winning moments.
And how fitting it was that Jarly Og Burns, the son of the GAA president, held the ball aloft on the final whistle.
Galway will have huge regrets. Despite being nowhere near their best they still had enough possession and opportunities to at least bring it to extra time.
Shane Walsh was mesmerising in the final two years ago but had a real off day this time. He kicked one great score from play but missed four of his five frees/marks. The two efforts he had in the second half that dropped short seemed to suck the life out of his team.
Connor Gleeson might have been a better option to come up for a couple of long range frees as he would certainly have had the distance.
They will also be kicking themselves over opportunities they had on the counter-attack that were butchered while Armagh were scrambling back.
The game started brightly, standing at 0-3 each after nine minutes.
Galway’s defensive duo of Sean Mulkerrin and Dylan Mchugh was targeted by Armagh, especially early on.
Oisin Conaty lined up on Mulkerrin and had most possessions of any Armagh player in the game. He scored two brilliant points early on and added a third in the second half.
Joey Mcelroy was on Mchugh and was second to Conaty in terms of Armagh possessions.
The game hit a real lull midway through the first half. The amazing thing about it was that none of the stars performed anywhere near their potential.
Five of the 12 first half points were scored by midfielders.
Paul Conroy continued his outrageous form, kicking two points, and his marker Crealey, amazingly, kicked two of his own from only six first half possessions.
The only two forwards to score from play in the first half were Conaty and Cein Darcy, who was superb throughout.
When Conroy and Mcdaid put Galway two points up early in the second half, I felt they were really going to take control. But, typical of them, Armagh came straight back.
Rian O’neill’s score from under the Hogan Stand was one of the points of the day. After
the goal there were real signs that Armagh were going back into their shell. Because of the injury to Rory Grugan, they never got a chance to get any momentum on the scoreboard, only scoring 0-2 after the goal, which came in the 47th minute.
Niall Grimley’s effort under serious pressure was Roy of the Rovers stuff and Oisin O’neill kicked a monster from under the Cusack Stand, from a similar spot to where he missed one in the semi final against Kerry.
Armagh’s better efficiency won the day. They hit 0-6 from nine second half efforts while Galway got 0-7 from 17 shots.
Crucially for Armagh, they forced Galway into difficult shots right on the edge of the scoring zone. With Comer and
Walsh not firing and Rob Finnerty, their top scorer this year, gone off early, scores were hard to come by, despite loads of Tribe possession.
Significantly, Crealey really tightened up on Conroy, not allowing him to come onto the ball around the 45 and get shots away, though Mcdaid and Darcy did their best to keep Galway in the game.
If Armagh were going to win this, it was always going to be chaotic at the end and that’s the way it proved.
They have stuck together over the last few years despite four crushing penalty shootout defeats. That’s all a distant memory now, however.
They have defied all odds to reach the promised land.