All-Ireland SFC Final Preview: Armagh and Galway meet in the 'friendly final'
FRIENDLY: Galway manager Padraic Joyce and Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
You could be mistaken for thinking this is the friendly final.
Most definitely, the mutual appreciation between the two management teams is genuine but it wasn’t so long ago the players were at each other's throats in front of the Cusack Stand.
Their two championship meetings since have passed off without much incident but then both teams knew they were already through to the knock-out stages.
If there is any residual heat from those skirmishes at the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final, it could manifest itself Sunday.
Both would rightly argue they have become more disciplined since. With the exception of Connaire Mackin’s retrospective ban, there has been little in the way of flashpoints.
The restraint is just as evident in their muzzling of teams. Kerry were the first team in eight championship games to score over 15 points in normal time against Armagh.
Similarly, nobody but Dublin, who hit the 16 mark, have achieved it countering Galway. Sixteen points was the winning score for Armagh in their meeting with Galway last year and would have won this season’s clash.
Mackin’s introduction is tough on Peter McGrane when he has been an ever-present in this championship, but if it happens it suggests Kieran McGeeney is adopting more of a horses for courses approach and Armagh need a little more brawn in the middle third.
For that very reason, Rian O’Neill will spend most of his time complementing Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey rather than toggling in and out from the inside forward line. If there is one player in the Armagh set-up who won’t be feeling first final jitters, it’s O’Neill.
Does Pádraic Joyce see Seán Kelly matching up with him? Kelly’s involvement is a bonus but nothing more. There is no doubt the Galway captain is an outstanding footballer but has been a shadow of himself due to injury.
Galway have demonstrated in his absence and the subdued presence of their other star men, Damien Comer and Shane Walsh, that they can perform and win.
Armagh aren’t without their own silk purses but the Corofin men Dylan McHugh, who they will watch like hawks, and Liam Silke are abundantly qualified on their toes as much as their heels.
Armagh’s white line fever is no more. They no longer suffer from the sweats they have worked up in the closing stages of games. If anything, it’s Galway who break out into a lather against Armagh.
Walsh’s crazy cross-field pass two years ago stays in the mind but more so do Armagh’s late goals.
They produced the last two scores of that game, 1-1, as they did with two points to win last year’s All-Ireland group meeting. Last month, Stefan Campbell forced a draw with the final score of the fixture.
Armagh don’t wilt. That being said, none of them have ever played in an All-Ireland final before. That it’s Galway should make the final debut easier for them but that inexperience jumps off the team sheet.
Armagh’s resolve, their bench, gives them a great chance. Enough to force extra-time for the second Sunday in a row perhaps but Galway’s familiarity with this stage to tell.
Galway.
Going into the 2022 All-Ireland SFC final, it didn’t go without notice that Seán Hurson hailed from the same Galbally Pearses club as Kerry coach Paddy Tally.
After his penalisation of John Daly for a crucial free which Kerry converted late in that game, that association was highlighted by disgruntled Galway supporters. Manager Pádraic Joyce didn’t go down that road but he took exception to the free as he still does.
“I haven’t seen a free given since that for that type of a free since,” he said last week. “I don’t know, I don’t think it cost us the game two years ago. I have said that before.”
Along with David Gough, Hurson is the leading referee in Gaelic football at the moment. He’s a steady operator who has a great knack of always looking in control like he was for the Armagh-Galway All-Ireland SFC group meeting in Sligo.
Although, he might warn Armagh not to stay so long in the dressing room at half-time this time around.
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