Declan Bogue

FOR A FEW YEARS there, Kieran McGeeney decided he wasn’t going to do the media interviews after a game. He handed off the duties to a variety of selectors.

Whenever Armagh were beat though, he always put himself up. He didn’t want anyone making excuses for him. This year, he has been back on the post-match duties and appears to enjoy it. Certainly, he has always had interesting points to make and after making his first All Ireland final as a manager, was in talkative mood.

“They showed great resilience today. We felt like we shouldn’t have been behind. It was a soft goal but they’d probably feel about the goal we got. A bounce and a fist in. Yeah, they shown that over and over again and pushed every team to the limits,” he said.  

“At different times, they just didn’t get over that line.

“As we were getting closer to extra-time, we were all going, ‘F**k, 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.”

So. What does the next fortnight in Armagh look like? Given the county can get a tad, well, excitable?

“I can’t control the outside. But you can control the training,” he says.

“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.”

Over the last few years and the gut-wrenching defeats, you might have felt that he would have been better off jacking it in.  

When that is put to him, he answers by applying some sound logic.

“I remember saying it in here before about whatever it is, fifteen or twenty journalists and saying who is number one? Who hasn’t won a prize? Does that mean the rest of youse are shit? (steady on, Kieran).

“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.”

He continues, “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 ok. I think we have done a decent enough job.”

An interesting reaction to the result came from his selector, clad in orange socks on the night, Kieran Donaghy. He puffed his cheeks out and let it sink in. Kerry to the bone, though there’s no doubt a large part of his big heart is with Armagh.

“I’m married in so I have to be very careful what I say about Kerry people,” McGeeney joked.

Kieran Donaghy. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

“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 back doors 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.”

He continued, “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 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!”