Kieran Donaghy will be part of Kerry management one day, believes Kieran McGeeney
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS: Armagh selector Kieran Donaghy and Kerry performance coach Tony Griffin after the game. Pic: James Crombie, Inpho
At the final whistle, Kieran Donaghy held his head in his hands. Not sure whether to celebrate, not sure at all.
Only when he was embraced by a player did he break from his stunned state. It was Eamon Cregan 1994 all over again and he was one conflicted man.
Kieran McGeeney agreed it probably was a difficult build-up for his coach who he believes will be a part of the Kerry management in the future.
“I’m married in (to Ballymacelligott woman and Armagh physio Maura), so I have to be very careful what I say about Kerry people,” smiled McGeeney.
“Kieran is a competitor. That's one thing I have always loved about playing against Kerry. It is always full-on. They are all in. There's no backdoors with them and I like that.
“I like the way they play football. It is very aggressive, nobody ever talks about their aggressive streak. It sounds derogatory but it's not. I think that's how you play at this level.
"Kieran is the same and he's a competitor and he's a dyed-in-the-wool Kerryman. There's no doubt about that, he's green and gold to the backbone.
“When I asked him in, it was a tough ask for him, because I said and he might not have thought it at the time there could be games (v Kerry) there. He has played them before in the league, there's no doubt Kieran Donaghy will go back to Kerry in his day and he'll do a fantastic job there whenever he is asked.
“Hopefully, he has learned a bit. We have definitely learned a lot from him. It was tough in one way but he's a competitor. That's what makes him so great. It's in that Kerry blood. I have seen that with my own wife. You don't want to cross them!”
After losing four from four championship penalty shoot-outs over these last three seasons, McGeeney feared the game would be decided by them again but his team’s stoutness won out.
“They showed great resilience today. We felt like we shouldn’t have been behind. It was a soft (Paul Murphy) goal but they’d probably feel about the goal we got (by Barry McCambridge). A bounce and a fist in.
“Yeah, they shown that over and over again and pushed every team to the limits. At different times, they just didn’t get over that line. As we were getting closer to extra-time, we were all going, ‘Fuck, is it going to be penalties again?’
"But the boys went after it, Ross (McQuillan), Turbo (Conor Turbitt), they really went to win the game, which is something you have to be really proud of as well.”
A fifth ever All-Ireland final for Armagh, it’s an achievement for McGeeney who has had his fair share of brickbats thrown at him down through the years for a lack of silverware.
“I remember saying it in here before about whatever it is, 15 or 20 journalists and saying who is number one? Who hasn’t won a prize? Does that mean the rest of youse are shit? We all have a spectrum we exist on. And sometimes what success looks like in one county is not what success will look like in another.
“And one All Ireland in 140 years, whether people like it or not, is what we have. We have had one national title in the national league.
“We have 14 Ulster titles, half of which was won by one team, and the other seven were won by two teams. So it’s not an illustrious thing. You are trying to get people to understand that.
“But listen, I have a lot of fans out there that like to throw stuff at me. Sure what can I do? As I said before, it’s obviously my sparkling personality that seems to entice them to talk about me. No doubt one or two of them will have to hold it to the next one and hoping we get beat.
“I have said this before, most of the criticism comes from past players. It’s very rarely a journalist. Most of the people here talk about the game and yes, we make a shitload of mistakes and you get one or two bad calls.
"There are things when you look back you would have changed one or two things. But in general, we are doing okay. I think we have done a decent enough job in terms of where we were.”
McGeeney will allow the team let their hair down tonight. Armagh, he knows, will go crazy but it’s a good crazy.
“I can’t control the outside. But you can control the training. They have been warned over the years about the noise, and you want your county to have that. You don’t want the fans… you wouldn’t be the most popular man in Armagh if you went and told them they weren’t to have a drink tonight. So, you let that go.
“It’s a wee bit easier now, to be honest. If you look at the two-week gap, it used to be four and five. Tomorrow morning you are in recovery. A lot of sore bodies in there, they know they will have to be back on the pitch by Tuesday because they know they are playing. They will be in six sessions, max, to be able to do something. It’s a wee bit easier that way.
“Will Armagh go nuts? Yeah. There’s no doubt about that. But they are entitled to do it. That’s supporters, the whole point of sport and spectacle and the occasion. I want them to do that, I suppose I just want them to leave the players alone and let them do their bit.
“That’s what we want. We want our county to enjoy the build-up and the next two weeks to the All-Ireland final. That bit’s going to be hard to handle, the bit inside won’t.
McGeeney added: "I’ve no doubt I’ll get more (criticism). The hardest thing about those is for my family. Even though I’ve only one arm (he had shoulder surgery earlier this year) most of them are still reluctant to talk to my face about those particular type of things.
"Most of it doesn’t bother me. When it affects my family, it bothers me. I got it as a player – and it was usually from the same boys."
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