Toal bids to clip the wings of high-flying Ó Sé
Take midfield, for example. Most people are licking their lips, anticipating the battle between Darragh Ó Sé and Paul McGrane. Two of the best fielders in the game duking it out may become the decisive tussle.
As high fielding is an art on life support, it is no wonder Ó Sé and McGrane have grabbed headlines as the summer progressed. Their form, though, has meant their partners have been starved of plaudits. John Toal and Donal Daly are the overshadowed duo, the men who donkey work but only get scraps of praise. This is Toal’s fifth year on the Armagh panel, but chances are you haven’t heard of him until this year. Most of his time has been spent as a squad player. Only in the past two seasons, as Armagh struggled to fill the void created by Jarlath Burns’ retirement, has Toal established himself.
“Yeah, I suppose I have been knocking around the panel for the past five or six years, but I never really established myself until this year. It was hard to get into this team, we have some of the best players in Ireland on the team, and our bench is as strong as the first team.
“You have quality midfielders like Colm O’Neill and Philip Loughran on the bench, so you know one slip, one injury and you could easily be relegated to the bench. It has been that sort of competition that has kept us hungry all year.”
Although Toal made his Armagh debut as a 19-year-old in a league game against Donegal in '99, he had to wait until the first round against Tyrone for his Ulster championship debut. An impressive league campaign, when some of Armagh’s bigger stars were shaking the lead from their legs, convinced Joe Kernan and selectors they might have discovered a partner for McGrane.
Since Burns’ retirement in '99, Armagh have tried a variety of different players in the midfield role. John Donaldson, their perennial bench player, both McEntee twins and Barry O’Hagan all been played beside McGrane, with varying degrees of success. Last year, as Armagh stammered through the back door system, Toal was used in the half forward line. Given his eye for goal, he revelled in the position. A few months before, he scored the decisive goal for Jordanstown as they defeated UCD in the Sigerson Cup final, his Armagh team-mate Enda McNulty was a medal winner at full-back.
This year, Joe Kernan arrived and tinkered with the team. Kieran McGeeney tried as a third midfielder, Francie Bellew as centre-back. From many of the league experiments, one has stuck. John Toal in midfield. Now a regular in the side, does he notice any difference from other summers. “It is too hard to tell. Joe has obviously come in, his record speaks for itself. He is the most professional manager I have ever worked with. An All Ireland title was our ambition all the time and Joe hammered that into us. At the same time, he made sure we didn’t lose sight of our next opponents, that we weren’t looking too far ahead. We knew the quality of teams that were out there. We were playing Tyrone in the first round and that was an important victory for us, it kinda galvanised the team. Sunday will be our biggest test.”
Sunday brings Ó Sé and Daly in tandem. Against Dublin, Toal’s remit was to marshal Ciaran Whelan, not to let the inspirational Dublin midfielder out of his sight. Although Whelan got his wonder goal, Toal stuck to him superbly, frustrating Whelan to such an extent, that he was booked for flinging the ball at Toal mid-way through the second half. He can be expected to do a similar spoiling job on Ó Sé.
In Armagh, the long wait is almost over. As Toal says, “the place has gone crazy. There are people who have waited a lifetime to see Armagh in an All Ireland final, the whole thing has just been crazy for the last few weeks.”
Not as crazy as it might get, should Toal unearth a way to clip the wings of Darragh Ó Sé this weekend.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
