Better late than never – an apt description not only for Armagh’s recent All-Ireland Football triumph but also for this column.
The players’ celebrations may only have eased off slightly, rather than ended, so they’ll hardly have noticed among their happy haze, but I wouldn’t want Orchard County supporters saying in years to come that yer man Archer never congratulated us.
I’m keen to avoid a stain on my reputation which would be the direct opposite of ‘Paint Yourself Orange’-gate – the allegation some years ago that I was overly biased in favour of Armagh.
And unlike those who talk about apologising without ever actually saying ‘sorry’, or say they’re ‘sorry if…’, I’ll actually put the requisite words out there.
First, to explain. A fortnight of family holiday time, booked months ago at the behest of my wonderful wife, meant I missed the build-up week to the All-Ireland Final, the game itself, and the week that followed of hailing the new heroes.
It’s utterly untrue that I spent days of that time off painting my daughter’s bedroom maroon – it’s definitely lilac.
Sure, I was mostly in counties Antrim and Derry over those two weeks, but I did actually go to the Orchard County, albeit only for a family funeral.
When I returned to the office I was greeting by one Tyrone-supporting colleague asking ‘Have you recovered from Armagh’s win yet?’ To be fair to her, she lives in Portadown. Some people have it tougher.
Where was I?
Oh, yes – well done, Armagh.
It’s now a quarter of a century since I started covering GAA for the Irish News and Armagh were also the big breakthrough story in that season of 1999.
That year the Orchardmen ended a 17-year wait for provincial success. That also sticks in my holey memory banks because it was one of the rare occasions on which I correctly predicted the winners of the Anglo-Celt Cup.
Some within Irish News Towers mocked me for my choice, not only because of the county involved but also to a large extent because it was based on Armagh’s performances in the National Football League.
That old dismissal of ‘It’s only the league…’ has been almost totally transformed. Besides the actual recent link between league placing and chances of competing for the Sam Maguire Cup, there’s been the longstanding article of faith that you could only win the All-Ireland if you’d been playing your league football in Division One.
Yet Armagh came out of Division Two to become All-Ireland champions, just as they’d done 22 years earlier.
In some ways Armagh’s All-Ireland win this year was even more surprising than their 2002 success, or their 1999 Ulster.
However, the idea that it’s somehow inexplicable doesn’t bear scrutiny.
On the very evening of the All-Ireland Final one review of the season listed quite a few counties who’d believe themselves in contention to take the trophy off Armagh next year.
Obviously the usual suspects – Dublin and Kerry – were there, along with defeated All-Ireland Finalists Galway, but the others named even included Down.
Perhaps I’ll be proved wrong, and a year from now I’ll be typing about the Mournemen having ended their 31-year wait to lift ‘Sam’, but their manager Conor Laverty would be the first to tell you they’ve a much longer road to travel towards that destination.
Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney has been a much-maligned manager but he proved to be a master at managing expectations, with different messages presented internally and externally.
Instead of the outside view, the story of a side that always fell short, Armagh’s vision of themselves was a team coming closer and closer, until they reached the promised land.
GAA supporters tend not to shout the odds in public, preferring not to tempt fate, but plenty of Armagh fans had been expressing confidence in recent years, despite a series of near misses and agonising setbacks in penalty shoot-outs.
Armagh talked the talk, then also walked the walk. In reality their players ran the run, with incredible levels of fitness helping them outlast opponents, notably in the really major matches, against Kerry and then Galway in the final.
They’re much more than a bunch of finely-tuned athletes, though, with some seriously skilful footballers. Note that all their scores in the decider came from play, some of them absolute pearlers.
Sure, Galway choked to such an extent that even Mayo supporters felt able to mock them and their misfiring forwards. Yet their opponents had eroded Galway’s confidence, and even when the Tribesmen belatedly began launching waves of attacks they continued to crash against the massed Armagh defensive structure.
Like his own manager in 2002, Joe Kernan, McGeeney surrounded himself with talent on the sidelines – including Kieran Donaghy, Ciaran McKeever, and Ciaran McKinney. It wasn’t necessary to have a first name sounding like the boss’s either; McGeeney also brought in Conleith Gilligan from Derry.
If an Ulster team was to win the All-Ireland this year most observers would have expected it to be the Oak Leafers.
Armagh overtook everyone, though – and deservedly so.
* There was genuine sadness for Tyrone GAA at the weekend with the death of former county football captain and manager Jody O’Neill.
I had the privilege of interviewing the Coalisland legend last year and the most striking thing about him was his modesty and humility about his own outstanding playing ability.
Also worth remembering is that despite his delight when Tyrone finally won their first All-Ireland in 2003 he always made a point of highlighting Armagh’s grace in accepting their defeat that day. A great man, who will be much missed – condolences to his family and friends.
