In his 10th season as manager, after numerous knockbacks and much heavy criticism, Kieran McGeeney has guided Armagh back to the showpiece game in Gaelic football for only the fifth time in their history.
Saturday’s victory over Kerry shot in, unchallenged, at No. 2 in their all-time list of wins against the Kingdom.
And the Armagh manager was giddily forthcoming and reflective as he sought to convey what it all meant.
Back in late 2014, McGeeney inherited a side which had just tipped into Division 3 of the Allianz League. The early years were a grind and progress was slow, almost painfully so at times.
In his first four seasons, Armagh failed to win a match in Ulster, though they did reach the quarter-final stage via the backdoor in 2017 before shipping an unsightly beating against Tyrone.
Even as they gradually emerged as viable contenders for silverware in the early 2020s, there was still a narrative that the team and its manager were irredeemably cursed, with the much coveted Anglo-Celt proving elusive and some determined to conclude that McGeeney was part of the problem.
After the quarter-final penalty shootout loss to Monaghan last year, a few clubs were fed up and initiated a move to depose the manager. It was pushed to a vote last autumn and he survived thanks to the support of the county executive and, more critically, the players.
After the attempted putsch and the gleeful criticism, the Armagh boss has achieved something many thought beyond the current crop, reaching an All-Ireland final.
“I remember saying it in here before, when there’s 15 or 20 journalists, which of ye has won a prize? Who’s number one? Does that mean the rest of yiz are s**t?” McGeeney asked (probably hitting on something).
“We have a spectrum we all exist on. And sometimes what success looks like in one county will not look like what success looks like in another.
“One All-Ireland in 140 years, whether people like it or not, is what we’ve had. We have one other national title in the National League. We have 14 Ulster titles, half of which were won by one team. And the other seven were won by two teams.
“So, it’s not an illustrious (history). You’re trying to get people to understand that.
“But listen, I have a lot of… ‘fans’ out there that like to throw stuff at me. Sure what can I do? As I’ve said before, it’s obviously my sparkling personality that just seems to entice them to talk about me!
“I’ve said this before – most of the criticism comes from past players. Most of the people here (reporters) just want to talk about the game.
“And yes, we make a s**tload of mistakes, you make bad calls and you look back and you think you could change things.
“But in general, we’re doing okay. I think we’ve done a decent enough job compared to where we were.
“It’s not just me, there’s loads of people involved in that whole thing, trying to get money into the county and trying to get success.
“Even though I’ve only one arm, most of them (critics) are still very reluctant to talk to my face about those particular types of things. Most of it doesn’t bother me. When it affects my family, it annoys me.
“But look, I got it as a player and it’s usually from the same boys.”
“One All-Ireland in 140 years, whether people like it or not, is what we’ve had. We have one other national title in the National League. We have 14 Ulster titles, half of which were won by one team. And the other seven were won by two teams.”
His first competitive game in charge was a one-point win over Tipperary – 2-08 to 0-13 – in the 2015 league, Jamie Clarke rescuing the victory with two late points.
Aidan Forker and Stefan Campbell are two survivors from that game, the pair contributing a brace apiece as Armagh surged back at Kerry in the second half.
“The resilience part of it is borne out there. When you start in Division 3, which a lot of our older players have, that understanding and lack of hubris is a great thing to have in a set-up.
“Because they want to be coached and they want to learn and they want to push on. The openness to be coached on those finer, nuanced details. It’s a credit to those fellas.
“It’s a tough grind for some of those players that are there 10, 11 players. Armagh, like most mid-level counties, have those periods (of struggle).
“I’m delighted for them. I think there’s much more in them. I hope they push on and realise that today is a semi-final. But I also want to enjoy it.”
The last time Kerry and Armagh met in the championship was in 2006, when Kieran Donaghy, the former Underdog, was a breakout star of the summer and stood snarling in goalkeeper Paul Hearty’s face after slamming home the pivotal goal early in the second half that set Jack O’Connor’s side on the road to victory.
On Saturday, alongside McGeeney, he was plotting O’Connor and Kerry’s downfall.
“Kieran is a competitor,” says McGeeney. “That’s one thing I have always loved about playing against Kerry. It is always full on. They are all in. There’s no back doors with them and I like that.
“I like the way they play football. It is very aggressive, nobody ever talks about their aggressive streak.
“It sounds derogatory but it’s not. I think that’s how you play at this level.
“Kieran is the same and he’s a competitor and he’s a dyed in the wool Kerryman. There’s no doubt about that, he’s green and gold to the backbone.
“There’s no doubt Kieran Donaghy will go back to Kerry in his day and he’ll do a fantastic job there whenever he is asked. Hopefully he has learned a bit.
“We have definitely learned a lot from him. It was tough in one way but he’s a competitor. That’s what makes him so great. It’s in that Kerry blood. I have seen that with my own wife. You don’t want to cross them!”
In his post-mortem, O’Connor was quick enough to allude to the impact of the crowd, which was heavily lop-sided in Armagh’s direction, and which, he suggested, generated a sense of energy and momentum around the Ulster runners-up as the clock ticked down.
As if the scenes in the stands at full-time weren’t enough, McGeeney admitted that Armagh would go “nuts” over the coming fortnight.
“I can’t control the outside. But you can control the training. They’ve been well warned over the years about the noise – and you want your county to have that. You wouldn’t be the most popular man in Armagh if you told them not to take any drink tonight.
“Will Armagh go nuts? Yeah. There’s no doubt about that.
“But they’re entitled to do that. That’s the whole point of sport. The spectacle, the occasion. I want them to do that.
“I suppose I just want them to leave the players alone and let them do their bit. But we want our county to enjoy the next two weeks and the build-up to an All-Ireland final.”
Watch Donegal v Galway in the the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-final at 4pm on Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
