“Dear Armagh Player,
“It is with great pleasure that I write to each one of you today, wishing you the best of luck at the All-Ireland football Championship final! You have already made history and should be very proud of yourself.
“I understand how much this match means to you, and am honoured if I have provided some inspiration to you along the way. But you are also an inspiration to the thousands of people who will be watching you, and who have followed the Armagh Team all season.
“As one who also has heritage from Ireland (my great grandfather, Abe O’Grady, was an Irish emigrant), I know the “luck of the Irish” is not just a saying! Best wishes to you on a successful match.
“Your co-countryman, Muhammad Ali.”
The letter was an idea from Armagh’s sports psychologists, Hugh Campbell and Des Jennings, who made contact with The Greatest’s organisation to see if he would agree to pen them.
Lesser known is the story of the following year when Armagh again made a final and reached out to Ali.
“He sent us another letter saying that we defied the critics by being the defending champs,” Campbell later explained. “When we lost, Ali’s wife rang me to tell me that he wanted to know what happened and to deliver a personal message to me. That message was ‘keep going’ and they later sent me back the jersey I had sent them, this time with Ali’s signature and I have it proudly hung up and framed.”
Kieran McGeeney set for new heights
There is esteemed company and then there is the sort of prestigious circle Kieran McGeeney will find himself in should Armagh win on Sunday.
As it stands, just five men have both captained and managed their counties to All-Ireland senior football wins.
Kevin Heffernan led Dublin to the 1958 All-Ireland on the pitch, and their 1974, ’76 and ’83 wins as manager. Tony Hanahoe, Dublin’s captain in ’74 and ’76, was player manager in ’77 when Heffernan stepped away for a year.
Paidí Ó Sé lifted Sam Maguire in 1985 and then managed Kerry to the 1997 and 2000 All-Ireland. Billy Morgan – 1973 as player and 1989 and ’90 as manager – did likewise. And most recently, one of McGeeney’s old sparring partners Brian Dooher co-managed Tyrone to their 2021 win, having captained them in 2005 and ’08 under Mickey Harte.
Both McGeeney and Pádraic Joyce are both former Footballers of the Year (Joyce won the Texaco version of the award in 2001, Declan Meehan won the All-Stars version) and whoever prevails on Sunday will join Heffernan and Morgan as the only men to have gone on to manage All-Ireland champions.
Number of the day: 4
The number of goals, between them, Armagh and Galway have conceded in this year’s Championship in 17 matches. Armagh shipped two in their Ulster semi-final against Down, scored by Ryan Magill and a Paddy Burns own goal, and then none until Paul Murphy’s in the All-Ireland semi-final. Galway have only conceded one, to Armagh as it happens, when Tiernan Kelly capitalised on a misjudged Galway kickout.
That old American line about offence winning games and defence winning championships seems particularly apt this year.
