For all of the complaining, negative press, and endless complaints about the state of Gaelic football, 2024 really has served up some welcome surprises.
Although some of the games weren’t the most entertaining, we did have quite a lot of upsets, thrillers, and truly remarkable moments to stick our teeth into.
With the season officially wrapped up, we have decided to look back at the five most shocking moments in the 2024 championship.
5. Roscommon Eliminate Tyrone
Tyrone had finally won two games in a row for the first time since their All-Ireland winning campaign back in 2021, after they had beaten Clare and Cork consecutively.
That gave them home advantage in the preliminary quarter-final round against Roscommon, a team that had won a single game all season, and were relegated from Division One.
Things looked a bit dire to begin with when a usually full Healy Park was looking pretty empty, and it went from bad to worse for the Ulster side as the Rossies completely dominated the first half.
A second half rally brought Tyrone back to touching distance but it wasn’t enough to get them over the line, and the Red Hand county exited the championship with a whimper.
4. Donegal’s Derry Ambush
If possible, try and transport your mind back to that faithful day when Donegal ambushed Derry in the Ulster quarter-final.
Derry had just beaten Dublin in the Division One final, not a single soul in the Oakleaf county was questioning any decision that Mickey Harte was making, and the journey to Sam Maguire seemed almost inevitable.
Even Joe Brolly had gone suspiciously quiet as Harte lead the Derry men to McKenna Cup and League success, and with the last two Ulster titles locked away in the trophy cabinet, then this game against Division Two side Donegal was surely a formality.
Jim McGuinness however, had other ideas, as he had clearly been plotting since the championship draw was made, and set the team up to expose Odhran Lynch and Derry’s sweeper-keeper system.
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Goal after goal went in, and the reigning Ulster champions crumbled so badly that they never really recovered again.
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3. Galway Shock Dublin
When an injury-cursed Galway drew Dublin in the quarter final stages of the championship, it looked like Padraic Joyce’s side would be exiting the competition.
The fact that they finished second in their group and had to play the extra preliminary round didn’t do them any favours either, but a Shane Walsh masterclass, and some surprising misses from Dublin’s key men, meant that Galway pulled off one of the greatest upsets in recent times.
The Dubs had not been kicked out of the championship in the quarter-final stages since 2009, and suddenly the whole competition burst into life as it became an open race for glory.
2. Mickey Harte’s Departure
Mickey Harte being appointed as Derry manager was one of the biggest shocks in the history of Gaelic football, and his departure from the same role coming less than 12 months later was almost just as shocking.
Reported as having a three-year term in charge, the fact that the Tyrone native decided to walk away after just one season supports the theory that there were some unhappy people in the Oakleaf camp, and that not all was well between management and players.
After the Donegal ambush, Derry lost to Galway, Armagh, and then Kerry in a game that pretty much everybody would rather forget.
Harte made it clear on the BBC that he wasn’t retired, so we still might see him back on the sideline in 2025.
1. Armagh All-Ireland Champions
Even the most die-hard Armagh fan would admit that they didn’t think their beloved county would be crowned as All-Ireland champions at the start of this season.
When the Orchard county lost yet another penalty shoot-out in the Ulster final, many thought that would be the final blow that made this team collapse, because the pain was almost too unbearable to watch.
However, they came back with a resilience and defiance that will go down in GAA history, and managed to pull off one of the most unlikely success stories that you will ever see.
