Éamonn Fitzmaurice: McGeeney will be satisfied that Armagh can now cope with shock and awe
The introduction of Oisín O’Neill and Conor Turbitt was crucial in helping Armagh get a draw against Kerry. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
The hotly billed Super Sunday finale of the National Football League didn’t disappoint. It never does. There was drama everywhere, with winners and losers abounding. The Division 1 table at both top and bottom flipped frequently, with Dublin the ones left without the chair when the music finally stopped.
The quality of the football in all four divisions was breathtaking at times, considering what was at stake in many of the games. Refreshingly and importantly, there was plenty of physicality to go around as well, most notably in Salthill.
The teams enthusiastically looking forward to the finals in Croke Park next weekend will feel they have a free hit, with at least one eye on championship. The double billing on Sunday of Kerry against Donegal and Meath and Cork will make for two cracking contests, with four in-form teams having a right cut at each other.
The Division 3 final where Down play Wexford is laced with significance. Because Kildare have been relegated from Division 2, and the fact that they are guaranteed their spot in Sam Maguire by virtue of their Tailteann Cup victory in 2025 there is only one spot up for grabs. The winner of that encounter not only gets the Division 3 trophy but also the golden ticket to Sam Maguire football. Down won the regulation game in Wexford Park by 10 points. Remarkably, Wexford have achieved back-to-back promotions and are on the crest of a wave. It is all set up beautifully. But before we look forward here are a few discussion points from the weekend just passed.
You can be sure that a small part of Kieran McGeeney’s mind has been permanently preoccupied with their own kickout since their All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry last June. We have all analysed that famous 14 points in 15 minutes blitz plenty in the meantime, with the obvious observation being that if this can happen to Armagh it can happen to anyone.
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So what have the Armagh boss and his team changed in the meantime? Blaine Hughes is now the number one with Ethan Rafferty having to make do with a watching brief, and the occasional outfield cameo. Rafferty was a specialist fly-keeper in the old game whereas Hughes is of the more traditional mould which is suited to the new game. He is willing to try and pick out shorts by kicking through narrow gaps in an opposition press. He is very good at chipping it the requisite 20 metres to a player standing just outside the arc. Even when a few go wrong he is courageous and willing to persist.
In terms of revisiting last June and testing how they have adapted McGeeney will be delighted with the gut check they got on Sunday from the All-Ireland and League champions. The home side won only two of their first ten kickouts, and went ten points to zero down. It looked as if history was repeating itself but this time they navigated their way out. Last summer there was a shock element to the sustained brutality of that period. This time round there was no panic and they worked themselves back into the game.
There is now an acceptance and understanding that this is the new norm and that the tide will eventually turn. Darragh McMullan thundered into the game, and together with the introduction of Oisín O’Neill and Conor Turbitt was telling in bending the game in Armagh’s favour. Hughes and his restart receivers really upped the ante in the second half. He even hit one left-footed kick to the two position which caught the Kerry press unawares. It is still a work in progress for them. The next step will be to avoid losing so many in a row in the first place.
It was clear after the match how relieved John Cleary was that his charges were back in Division 1. It was interesting to hear him say that he felt that they weren’t ready before this point. They are now. It was just reward for his personal persistence and that of the management group and bunch of players that he has assembled around him.
Without a yerra in sight, I am genuinely delighted to see them back up in the top division, for a variety of reasons, some of them of the selfish variety from the Kerry perspective. But mostly I am happy for that group because of the resilience that they have shown and for how they have stuck at it.
Remove the Kerry-Cork rivalry and just look objectively at a team competing in any sport. They have had an amount of setbacks, some of which were self-inflicted. They are occasionally unloved in their own county. But they stick at it and keep coming back for more. They have won their supporters back, epitomised best in their home victory over Meath. A word of warning though. As they look towards championship a fortnight after their league final against the same opposition they will need to be careful against a side brimming in confidence for that Croke Park encounter. The last thing they need now is another Derry episode to puncture their deserved joy.
When Louth lost to Cork and Meath in rounds two and three of the league I wondered if they were satisfied. Was winning Leinster last year their ceiling and as a group would they fatten on that achievement and would their progress stall? However dig deeper and that was never going to be the case. To augment their successful group they are developing last year's under 20 All-Ireland finalists. Tadhg McDonnell has seen plenty of action already.
After losing those two games they have gone on a run of victories including beating Derry and Tyrone. Injuries to Ciarán Downey, Craig Lennon and Conor Grimes have not hobbled them. Tommy Durnin and Conor Early are a formidable midfield partnership. Their half-back line is a major source of attack for them. Dara McDonnell at six is excellent, both offensively and defensively. Paul Matthews, Ciarán Keenan and Kieran McArdle are all finishers.
And then there is Sam Mulroy. He is continuing his All-Star form again this season. He is once more the top scorer in Division 2, having amassed 2-43 so far, an average of seven points a game. He also works hard, links and assists. Gavin Devlin is an extremely sharp operator and now that he has got his feet under the desk he is getting the best out of them. They are on the same side of the draw as Dublin (managed by their former boss) in Leinster, once they account for Wexford in the quarter-final. They will fancy their chances.
Longford are a great story. After the game their match winner Daniel Reynolds spoke brilliantly. While getting promoted was clearly important to him, as was the support of the home crowd, the opportunity to play the league final in Croke Park is what shone through. It highlighted for me how lucky the top-ranked teams are to play there so regularly and why it remains an elusive dream for others.
Their journey back to Division 3 for the first time since 2023 has been far from straightforward. This season they lost to London and drew with Tipperary, before going down to a heavy defeat against Leitrim in round six. They had a couple of one-point victories against Waterford and again on Sunday against a fancied Wicklow, who they trailed by 12 points at one stage. They were eight down as the clock ticked into the last ten minutes, and looked out of it.
During that madcap endgame Oisín O’Toole scrambled a goal to bring them back from the dead and it really was game on when Paddy Moran danced through the Wicklow defence to deftly finish for another goal. To credit Wicklow, every time Longford got within touching distance they reacted. First Mark Jackson and then Jonathon Carlin pushed them one ahead. On both occasions Joseph Hagan kicked great equalisers for the home side. It set the stage for Reynolds to emerge as the late hero when he punched the winner to send his team to Division 3, and more importantly, for himself, in the short term, on that treasured outing to Croke Park next weekend.
