Former Armagh footballer Justin McNulty attending the relaunch of the AIB’s Volunteer VIP competition – to enter, visit www.aibvolunteervip.com. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Justin McNulty remembers it well. The devastated aftermath of the 1992 All-Ireland minor final. The dreaded losers’ banquet. A group of destroyed young Armagh men in sharp suits repairing to the Regency Hotel; to eat, to meet their families again, to begin mourning.
“There was a senior player who came to the hotel to talk to us,” McNulty recalls now, “to call us into a room and talk to a number of the minors and say, ‘This can be a springboard for success at senior level. We know you’re devastated by this, but this can be a springboard for success at senior level.’