Finally lifting Sam Maguire after so many on-field heartbreaks, Armagh’s All-Ireland winners have become a byword for resilience in the days since their final victory over Galway.
Yet even among a group who have collectively had to lift themselves from the canvas time and time again, few could have had to overcome as much as midfielder Niall Grimley in order to ascend the steps of the Hogan Stand on Sunday.
After a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, torn knee ligaments, and a broken neck that left him fearing whether he would be able to hold his baby daughter, physically the 30-year-old’s body has been put through the wringer over the past three years.
It was family tragedy, however, that prior to last weekend caused him to think of 2024 as the worst year of his life.
Almost nine months ago Grimley’s older brother Patrick was killed in a car accident when returning from his surprise 40th birthday, with Patrick’s wife Ciera, as well as Ciara McElvanna, the wife of Armagh’s 2002 All-Ireland winner Kevin, also losing their lives in the crash.
As the final whistle sounded in Croke Park, it was his absent sibling on Grimley’s mind.
“He would have been absolutely delighted and you almost just wish you could go and tell him,” he told the BBC’s The GAA Social podcast.
“You wish you could get the chance to see him again. After the final whistle, it’s amazing, the emotion, the celebration, but it’s like ‘ah no, he’s not here for this and I wish he was’.
“It was a special, unbelievable, moment but a very sad moment.”
