Malachy Clerkin
Footballer of the year
Paul Conroy (Galway): Armagh’s All-Ireland was such a collective triumph that there isn’t an obvious standout from the champions. Conroy couldn’t have done much more to get Galway over the line, including a brilliant display in the final.
Game of the year
Mayo v Dublin (Dr Hyde Park, June 16th): It finished 0-17 to 0-17, with Dublin going the length of the pitch to equalise in the dying seconds. End to end stuff all the way, Cormac Costello flying for the Dubs, Aidan O’Shea carrying the fight for Mayo. Ryan O’Donoghue looked like he’d won it with a late free but Ciarán Kilkenny, Jack McCaffrey and Costello had other ideas.
Moment of the year
Donegal’s first goal against Derry in April: Ryan McHugh won a break under a kick-out and with Derry goalkeeper Odhran Lynch having pushed up, Donegal were away. Dara Ó Boaill took his time and lobbed his finish into an empty net. The first of four goals on the day. Derry’s year never recovered. Donegal’s was only getting started.
Biggest disappointment
Derry, obviously: They came in as league champions, back-to-back Ulster champions, All-Ireland contenders. They failed to live up to any of it. A meek exit from Ulster was followed by a nothing group stage and a win on penalties over Mayo. They had nothing left for Kerry in the quarter-final. Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin moved on. What now?
Biggest surprise
Armagh are All-Ireland champions: They hadn’t been in a final since 2003. They hadn’t been in a semi-final since 2005. They lost back-to-back Ulster finals on penalties. For all their stickability, it was so hard to imagine the year ending on the steps of the Hogan Stand after all they’d been through. More power to them.
Seán Moran
Footballer of the year
Kieran McGeeney (Armagh): Fifty years ago, it was decided by the judges of the Texaco sports awards that the football winner should be Kevin Heffernan in recognition of his work in the transformation of the Dublin footballers. In 2008 The Sunday Game gave their All-Ireland Man of the Match citation to Brian Cody to acknowledge both the collective excellence of Kilkenny and his role in managing it. This season, McGeeney is a similar choice. In his 10th year, he coaxed an All-Ireland out of a team of players that had become associated with serial inability to deliver. His stewardship of the county was unrelenting and without ego, appointing the strongest personalities as coaches in order to eke out the incremental improvements necessary to win the All-Ireland he always believed was in the team.
Game of the year
Armagh v Kerry (Croke Park, July 13th): The All-Ireland semi-final was the portal into Armagh’s All-Ireland. Having finally won a quarter-final, the team had alibis for under-performance and appeared to be availing of them in a poor first half. Something clicked afterwards and having been taken to edge of defeat, they responded and brought the match to extra time where the energy of their bench left the championship favourites almost literally standing.
Moment of the year
A family affair: There is no shortage of GAA presidents, who have had the honour and joy of presenting an All-Ireland to their own county but for incumbent Jarlath Burns to get to congratulate his own son, Jarly Óg, who came off the bench on Sunday, on the achievement was unique. Twenty-five years ago, the same father captained Armagh and in a typically measured and eloquent interview, took his leave of intercounty football after losing the 1999 semi-final to Meath. It made those of us around back then feel old – but somehow edified.
Biggest disappointment
Derry: Rewind four months and pre-championship speculation centred on whether league winners Derry had joined the front rank of contenders with Dublin and Kerry. Consensus was that they deserved that status and that they had in Mickey Harte, a manager who knew the way. Whatever about Dublin and Kerry, the most recent All-Ireland winners, Derry never got off the blocks and their season went down in flames and recrimination, leaving Harte as a one-year appointment.
Biggest surprise
Cork beating Donegal: On a beautiful bank holiday Saturday in Cork, Ulster champions Donegal, unbeaten all year in major competition, arrived in Páirc Uí Rinn trailing a formidable defensive record of not having conceded a goal. There was a brilliant atmosphere and the home team exposed the visitors in an unexpected way, hustling turnovers and using their blistering pace to score three goals and post a most unexpected win. Even Jim McGuinness looked a bit surprised but immediately turned it into ‘learnings’ for the future. Cork vowed this time to follow through on a brilliant result but ultimately they didn’t, either against Tyrone or more notably, Louth.
Denis Walsh
Footballer of the year
Rian O’Neill (Armagh): In a year like this the chances of anybody looking outside the All-Ireland champions for candidates are nil. In any case, it is hard to think of one from the list of also-rans. O’Neill didn’t have a storming final, but of the Armagh players that had been in with a shout of winning Footballer of the Year he probably fared best. His all-court performance against Kerry in the semi-final was one of the outstanding displays of the championship, an exhibition of leadership and maturity and sensational kicking.
Game of the year
Armagh v Kerry (Croke Park, July 13th): The selection comes from a shortlist. Of the seven knock-out matches played in Croke Park in the final month of the season, this was the most dramatic and compelling spectacle. The round robin phase of the championship threw up some atmospheric and engaging matches such as Mayo v Dublin and Cork v Donegal but of the 63 games it took to decide the football championship, most of them died on the tongue, like sherbet.
Moment of the year
Dylan McHugh’s point v Dublin: The winning scores came later, but Dylan McHugh’s equaliser against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter final was absolutely critical to Galway’s momentum at a time in the game when they had Dublin on the run. Their defeat of the All-Ireland champions applied shock pads to a championship that was taking its last breath.
Biggest disappointment
The provincial championships: Two of the provincial finals were thrilling spectacles and two of the others exceeded low expectations, but those games were no justification for wasting five weeks of precious time in a GAA calendar that is pulled tight, like a Victorian corset. The football championship needs a third tier, more room to breathe in the schedule and greater emphasis on matches between peers rather than against old foes and neighbours.
Biggest Surprise
Armagh winning the All-Ireland: Their profile coming into this season was not unlike the Clare hurlers in 1995. Just like Clare, Armagh had lost all the matches that really mattered in the previous couple of years. To win the All-Ireland Armagh needed to win a series of battles with themselves first, just as Clare did.
Gordon Manning
Footballer of the year
Barry McCambridge (Armagh): McCambridge didn’t start any game during the Ulster Championship, but he was an ever present from the first round of the All-Ireland group stages all the way until the All-Ireland final. He was seen as the Orchard’s go to man-marker. Among the players he picked up were Shane McGuigan, David Clifford and Shane Walsh. And he still somehow managed to get up the field and score 2-5 in the championship. He made a hell of an impact during the business end of the season.
Game of the year
Armagh v Kerry (Croke Park, July 13th): The game that changed everything, a moment of realisation within the Armagh group that confirmed a belief they could indeed go the distance. Kerry had enough chances to win the match but from the moment Armagh grabbed the momentum, it looked like there would only be one winner. They used their bench brilliantly and in extra-time Armagh dominated the contest.
Moment of the year
Louth beating Cork to qualify for a first ever All-Ireland quarter-final: The game was dour, but the emotion at the final whistle, and the setting throughout, was magic. Grattan Park in Inniskeen might just be the most atmospheric championship ground in the country. At the final whistle, the Louth players and management were surrounded by adoring fans. It’s a cliche, but grown men cried. Kids swarmed around for autographs and selfies, and the players happily obliged. There was genuine warmth and appreciation between the people and their team. The sun was shining, nobody was in a hurry to leave Inniskeen. It was good for the soul.
Biggest disappointment
The Mickey Harte months: How did it all unravel? Harte guided Derry to the league title at the end of March, beating Dublin in the final after an epic contest. They were seen then by many as All-Ireland favourites but the Harte project in Derry came apart in a matter of weeks – defeats to Donegal, Galway and Armagh tossing their season to the wind, all control lost. His first game as Derry manager was a McKenna Cup win over Cavan on January 3rd. Harte stepped down as manager on July 8th. A league title won, but so much more lost along the way.
Biggest surprise
Armagh winning the All-Ireland: It was no shock Armagh won the All-Ireland, but few can say they were tipping Kieran McGeeney’s men for glory at the start of the year. Indeed, on the day Derry beat Dublin in the Division One league final, Armagh lost the Division Two decider to Donegal. The vast majority of championship previews had the Sam Maguire winner coming from a trio of Dublin, Kerry and Derry. A few weeks later Armagh lost the Ulster final to Donegal, after a penalty shootout. It wasn’t meant to be their year. Until it was.
