Armagh in for the long haul
Benny Tierney, who hung up his gloves to become Joe Kernan’s goalkeeping coach, believes Armagh are a better team this year simply because of the belief factor. “If you haven’t won the All-Ireland, there will always be doubts in your head as a player. But look at Stevie McDonnell, he is twice the capacity as a player this year, Marsden there is getting through ten times the amount of work and Stevie is feeding off that. Paul McGrane is benefiting from having Philip Loughran as a partner, so I think they are better.”
Tierney and fellow All-Ireland medallist Diarmuid Marsden were in Croke Park yesterday to launch the 4th annual MBNA Kick Fada competition, which comes with a €1,500 holiday prize when it is contested on September 21. Kildare’s Mark Herbert has won the three previous competitions.
However, with the All-Ireland final the following afternoon, both Marsden and Tierney might be busy that weekend, although Armagh’s talented full-forward is taking nothing for granted.
“I suppose people are thinking we are back because of 25 good minutes against Dublin,” said Marsden. “But, we didn’t play as well against Limerick as we did against Dublin, so we know there is still room for improvement.”
One area that doesn’t need too much tinkering is Armagh’s explosive inside-forward line. Marsden provides the toil, while McDonnell annihilates opposition with his lethal feet. Although it seems to be only in the past six weeks that the nation has caught on to how talented McDonnell really is, playing beside him for four years, Marsden was never in any doubt that the Killeavy man had the tools to be one of the best attackers in the game.
“Steven exploded onto the scene in 2000. Maybe he didn’t play well against Kerry that year, but last year, I thought he was right up there with Geezer and McGrane for the footballer of the year award. He has got everything a forward could ask for, really. From marking him in training, I can tell you he is in no way slight. And he has just been exceptional this year.
“He is deceptively tall, and is very strong as well, which means if a good ball comes into him, he will nearly always catch it. He has perfect balance and you can just see from the weekend, to score a hat-trick at this time of the year against a team like Limerick shows he is a forward of real class.
“But that is the great thing about us this year, we have five or six forwards who can score now. For years, we were dependant on the likes of Steven or Oisin, Ronan Clarke came in last year to lighten the load. But now all six forwards can score.”
When Monaghan wrested the Ulster title away from them, quarter-final days in Croker seemed a long way away. But Marsden believes the Dublin game re-awakened the desire. “Maybe we did need a game like that, against the Dubs in front of a packed house in Croker to release the shackles and play like we could. Before that, we were just playing in fits and starts.”
Marsden enjoyed the experience of the championship back-roads this year, travelling from Waterford to Antrim. “I know people have said this is an easier route for teams like Armagh and Galway, but if you win the All-Ireland this way, you earn it.”
There was never any question of Tierney going back after he announced his retirement. His wife had their second child late last year and he was feeling pressure from other areas of his life to walk away from the game. But after tasting Sam, he couldn’t walk away completely. One chat with Kernan later and Tierney was Armagh’s new goalkeeping coach. His rival for the number 1 shirt, Paul Hearty, suddenly became his student.
“I am still happy to be part of the panel in this way. Coaching was always something I was interested in, because coaching for goalkeepers is an area neglected in the GAA, I think. So, I am able to work with Paul and tell him things that I wish somebody was around to tell me ten years ago. It might have made me a better keeper.”
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