Kieran McGeeney and the art of not giving in

OVER THE LINE: Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney during the GAA Football All-Ireland SFC match against Galway at Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

He could not stomach mediocrity. This is how it was. This is how it is. Justin McNulty’s first recollection of his club-mate Kieran McGeeney reinforces his three-word summary of his persona now: the ultimate competitor.

“Geezer was sitting in the back of the Mullaghbawn minibus, parked the far side of the pitch and Charlie Grant, our long-serving mentor, was giving out to him. I’ll never forget it. Geezer was crying because Charlie had criticised some part of his performance.” 

His youthful mind was struck by how heartfelt that conversation was. A few years later he was struck by the enormity of what McGeeney was doing. The first time he represented his county was as an U14 with a South Armagh selection headed for Cork.

The first time he played senior for Mullaghbawn was a challenge against Knockbridge of Louth. On a glorious Sunday evening, McNulty stood on the sideline in awe. A man he now considers to be one of his best friends was playing adult football at 14 years of age.

“Later he was a big draw in New York,” explains McNulty. “ I was only breaking into the county panel. At that time, you could go and play on a weekend pass. They would want him out regularly and he would say he’d go but I want Justy with me. They weren’t necessarily interested in me but the experiences I got from that were phenomenal. I have so much to be thankful for. He is a man I’d trust with my life. I have always said, the person who had the most responsibility for Armagh’s success was Kieran McGeeney.

“In 1992 we played the minor All-Ireland final. My twin brother Paul started; I was a sub. Afterwards we went to the Regency hotel for our post-match banquet. Kieran McGeeney came along as a young Armagh player to meet all these minors. We were devastated after we’d lost and he turned up to speak to us about staying together, stay focused and keep working. ‘This is a building block.’ 

“Ten years later we were All-Ireland champions. In the room that day was Andrew McCann, Paul McGrane, Diarmuid Marsden, Barry O’Hagan, Des Mackin and myself. That was the level of his vision.” 

RESILIENCE: Kieran McGeeney's unwavering resilience was the bedrock Armagh would build on. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

During their playing careers, McGeeney, Justin and Enda McNulty would gather on Christmas mornings at the foot of Slieve Gullion mountain and race to the top. By 2002 the Armagh captain had transferred to Na Fianna. He worked in the capital as a development officer for the Irish Sports Council and Dublin was his base.

After they ascended to the peak and lifted Sam Maguire, McNulty and McGeeney sat amongst their friends and family in the players’ lounge. With a silent nod, they locked eyes and snuck away, this time downwards. Out onto the Croke Park pitch for a moment of commemoration between two childhood friends. Eventually a steward emerged and told them to get off, just one example in a long list of McGeeney’s ongoing feud with officialdom.

This was hardwired into his makeup. Michael Jordan was one of his sporting heroes. As a player everything he did was rooted in defiance. In training it was no great shock when tempers flared and he butted heads with a team-mate. Often the sparring partner happened to be a car journey companion, like McNulty or Jarlath Burns. No one escaped the scope, least of all himself. McGeeney went to Queens University and won a Sigerson Cup in 1993 in a star-studded squad that included James McCartan, Gavin Murdock, Malachy O’Rourke, Paul McGrane and Derry All-Ireland winner Éamonn Burns.

“We’d a seriously talented outfit from a bunch of different counties,” recalls Burns. “Kieran was in the middle of it. He was hard as nails. Now, you always knew Armagh was number one.

“He did civil engineering in the same class as Anthony Tohill and Paul Brewster. Back then gym work wasn’t popular at all, but he was massive into it. Anthony had just come back from Australia and they were bouncing off each other.

“Paul from Fermanagh was keen as mustard too. The PUC, where the gym and PE Hall was in Queens had a wee balcony. I’d look down from there and see these three men trying to outdo each other in the gym, pumping iron like there was no tomorrow.” 

Derry haunted much of McGeeney’s early toils. Armagh were hammered by them in repeatedly. There was the Ulster final defeat of ’98. By that stage Burns felt there were players ready to give up the ghost if not for McGeeney. His unwavering resilience was the bedrock they would build on.

Kerry bookended his latter playing days. In 2002 Marc Ó Sé still remembers how much of their pre-game discussion focused on Armagh’s colossal centre-back. Four years later he can vividly recall Paul Galvin targeting an efficient strip tackle on McGeeney. That arduous feat would send a powerful message. The kingdom coming for the king.

He was Ireland captain for the International Rules series that season, in due course giving birth to one of the great GAA quotes: “If you wanna box, say you wanna box and we'll box. If you wanna play football, say you wanna play football and we'll play football.” 

It was a fundamental part of his character and spiralled into a caricature. Such spikiness was unquestionably there, stresses Ó Sé. In the parade, he could hear the Aussies sledging Graham Geraghty, the first flash of sparks that would ignite into an explosion of violence. The ball was thrown in and he turned to see McGeeney wrestling on the floor, having taken down three opponents with him. He wasn’t struggling either.

But there was a gentleness beneath the steel.

“Four or five days before the first game Alan Brogan invited us to Castleknock for a pint,” says Ó Sé. “Out we went, myself, Brogan and Aidan O’Mahony. Of course, O’Mahony and I ended up in Coppers until 4am.

THEY ARE GOOD LADS: Kieran McGenney backed Marc O'Se and Aidan O'Mahony when Eoin Liston wanted to send them home. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

“We’d a team meeting the next morning anyway. O’Mahony didn’t turn up and they smelled a rat. Bomber (selector Eoin Liston) actually wanted to send us home and get two other lads in. It was McGeeney who stood in. ‘They are good lads. They aren’t going.’ He backed us, it really meant you wanted to pay him back on the field.” 

In various press conferences or public speaking events, McGeeney sometimes cycles through an exhaustive list of his favourite books and inspirational people. Look at Lieutenant Gilbert S Daniels, he told a crowd at St Ronan's College, the man who revolutionised the America Air Force cockpit. Daniels compared the average logged physical dimensions of pilots with the individual records and discovered only a small minority fit across the board. It led to adjustable seats and strap. One size does not fit all, basically.

One of his admired novels is The Good Psychopath’s Guide to Success by Kevin Dutton, a professor of psychology, and Andy McNab, a former SAS operative. The Battle of Thermopylae is another.

“It’s the book that the film 300 is based on, and it’s about the Spartans,” he told attendees at the Pope John Paul II awards in the Kildare and Leighlin diocese 15 years ago.

“What I took from it, more than anything else, was their motto — 'come home with your shield or upon it.'

“The Spartans were renowned as the greatest fighting army in the world and they carried their shield in their left hand with their spear in their right. They carried the shield in their left hand so that they could protect the man beside them.” 

LONGEST SERVING INTER-COUNTY MANAGER: Kieran McGeeney is currently the longest-serving inter-county football manager after Colm Collins stepped down as Clare boss. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

McGeeney is currently the longest-serving inter-county football manager after Colm Collins stepped down as Clare boss. Before Armagh there was Kildare. From 2008 on he reached four consecutive All-Ireland quarter-finals. When the clubs brought the curtain down on his tenure, Eamonn Callaghan took to social media in disgust: “I've never been ashamed in my life to be a Kildare footballer, until tonight.”

“He was so honest, never trying to bullshit you or provoke a reaction,” Callaghan says now. “I think players appreciate that, I certainly did anyway. I hardly ever read a book but he gave me one three or four days after we finished up in 2010. Just after Down beat us, he told me to read Bounce. It took me weeks, but I finished it and did get plenty out of it.

“The Spartan stuff, we actually took bits and pieces from that movie and used it when he spoke. That was his way: ‘It is all about the man beside you. Make him look good. It is not about yourself.’ 

“I remember we would’ve said during training, ‘if we do our jobs, Johnny Doyle should get an All-Star.’ All the hard work around the middle is for Johnny. You set the platform for him. The work we do will benefit him and that benefits the group.” 

In the aftermath of their dramatic one-point victory over Galway, McGeeney addressed the gathered press. Often after victories it is one of his coaching ticket, Kieran Donaghy or Ciarán McKeever, who engage with media. On this occasion the manager emerged to revel in their victory while admitting the amount of added time was “tough to take.” When asked if he took issue with it McGeeney declined to go any further, speculating if he says something it will result in a suspension or a “smart-arse email”.

This is a theme. In 2017 he was served a 12-week suspension after an alleged verbal altercation with a linesman. Continuous post-game interviews include criticism of officials. In 2011, Jim McGuinness took issue with a pre-match comment made by a member of the Kildare backroom team that referenced Donegal’s cynical fouling.

“Kieran McGeeney was a phenomenal player and he never cried or whinged - we were not impressed by what we read,” declared McGuinness.

“Jim knows where I am if he wants to chat to me,” responded McGeeney. “I could talk about different things, what Donegal players said to me after the game and stuff like that but that is childish. Jim should know better.” 

Consult anyone who encountered him in Tipperary where he spent a campaign with the hurlers as a performance coach, Kildare or Armagh and they say the same thing. When Kieran McGeeney commits he commits completely. Heart and soul. A promise and a threat. That intensity extends to everything and everyone. As the lack of silverware extends it has become a growing criticism. By pouring every fibre into every game, does it inflict huge pressure on himself and hinder the team?

In Omagh last month, McGeeney watched his 14-man outfit fall short against Tyrone and wore his disappointment outright. After the final whistle he took a moment with his wife, Maura, who is the Armagh physio. In a hallway nearby, the opening question referenced that apparent pain: “Obviously, you are hurting…” Then for the first time he leant credence to that strain of commentary: “We are killing teams setting up chances and their shot to score ratio exceeds ours. It is not as if we don’t have the forwards. A lot of the shots aren’t under great pressure. I think a lot of it is more pressure they put on themselves,” he said with a sigh.

“It is mental tiredness of not getting over that line. They showed great determination to keep going at it. You have to give them credit. They are a great bunch and I’d do anything for them.” 

To go from that emotional low to the lofty high of Carrick-On-Shannon in two weeks is an enormous step and perfect illustration of how delicately poised this championship is. Fine margins result in enormous shifts.

“The pressure…,” says McNulty. “There were signs erected in the county saying your time is up, which is incredible. His belief was unwavering but the pressure on him was enormous and the pressure on the team was enormous. They aren’t there yet. They won’t be happy to be in a quarter-final.” 

That is the double-edged sword of McGeeney distilled. There is a proven track record of getting teams to a certain level. Now Armagh crave more. So they must do more.

“He gets a reaction out of players. After he left, we went from Division 1 to Division 3 and I don’t think that was a coincidence,” says Callaghan with conviction.

“If we didn’t have that fire, we wouldn’t have got to the level. We were competing with top teams. We would be nowhere near that if we didn’t have that level of intensity. I don’t think it was Kieran McGeeney’s fault we weren’t successful. I think it is the same in Armagh. If you have anyone else in that job, you don’t know where they would be.” 

McGeeney took over from his friend Paul Grimley and is devotedly loyal to his circle. As recently as this year Armagh continue to play Kildare in challenge games and he always makes time for his former players afterwards. He consults the likes of Paul McGrane and Diarmuid Mardsen on the standout performers in the club championship and who deserves a call up. McNulty labels it McGeeney’s “network of trust”.

His indelible service to the county ensures that extends both ways. Yet McGeeney knows better than most even that sentiment has a shelf-life. In his first interview with Armagh TV after being appointed manager in 2014, he spelled that out.

“I’m also very aware when you manage a team, eventually you are going to be disliked,” he said with typical sincerity.

“That is part and parcel. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how much you win, eventually you have your sell by date. I just hope within that particular period I do what is needed.” 

On Saturday they need a win.