Mcgeeney’s crew get with the programme GARRYDOYLE
FOR much of the last decade, only Dublin were allowed to win. Not anymore.
First Tyrone, then Kerry caught up. Now Armagh have come from nowhere to overtake them all and win just their second All-ireland title in 140 years of championship football.
Not just that; it is also the first time in the history of the GAA that an All-ireland has been won by a remote control.
Never before has a group of players been programmed to within an inch of their lives like this Armagh side.
They say most teams are a reflection of their manager.
Then there is Armagh. They are so tied up in Kieran Mcgeeney’s identity, it is impossible to distinguish between the two. Hard, scrappy, smart, calm, forceful, they play structured football at both ends of the field.
And more than any team, they never give up.
Mcgeeney lost six of his first eight Ulster SFC matches as manager; he has lost four straight penalty shoot outs; he has yet to win a provincial title but now after 10 years, he has an All-ireland.
Jarlath Burns was double jobbing as President of the
GAA and father of the Armagh No.26, Jarly Og.
“If you are a parent who has put a set of GAA posts in your back garden, then this belongs to you,” the
Uachtaran said.
Everyone cheered.
Mcgeeney
(right) cried.
And from the vantage point of the
Hogan Stand’s upper tier, a contrasting scene of joy and despair unfolded. On one side, the Galway players and management sportingly stayed on the field to applaud the team who had beaten them. To the other, Armagh’s players sang and danced. At long last, the team that has known more heartache than any other, had their moment.
As Armagh’s captain, Mcgeeney watched Joe Kernan chuck a loser’s plaque off the dressing room wall 22 years ago.
Yesterday, as manager, his team smashed through a ceiling.