Armagh and Done going all out to d

BUT IT’S GO THE ORCH

THERE isn’t a ticket to be had for Clones tomorrow.

A full house, and an electric atmosphere on a really great occasion — but that shouldn’t lull the top brass into a false sense of security.

The Connacht final last Sunday and tomorrow’s Ulster decider tap into something primal that will always be an integral part of the GAA.

But you can’t rely on a couple of days like these to carry the rest of your Championship.

It’s actually hard to talk about doing away with the provincials when you watch Padraic Joyce and the Galway crew embrace the win in the west.

And watch how Armagh and Donegal try to go all out to destroy each in a packed Clones.

Contrast that with a Dublin win by a double-figure margin in Croke Park — it will be Stephen Cluxton’s 18th Leinster title, which highlights how ridiculous that province has been for a long time.

Look at the video and photographs of Paudie Clifford going through the motions in his acceptance speech in Ennis.

He nearly looked embarrassed when lifting the trophy for a split second.

Believe

I do believe that there is space for the provincials but they can’t be attached to the All-Ireland series in a big way any more.

So what’s it like to be involved in Ulster final weekend?

It carries many memories for me. Mostly bad, unfortunately, but the good outweigh the bad once you get older and gain a bit of perspective.

I was part of eight Ulster finals and won only three.

That’s a 37.5 per cent win percentage. We all know that 40 is a pass mark in exams so you can assume that I failed when it comes to Ulster finals!

The early finals in my career with Donegal were embarrassing because we didn’t conduct ourselves properly around the occasion, even getting away from what happened on the pitch.

I think back now to us going to Fintra beach outside Killybegs for a supposed recovery session in the sea the day after losing the big one in Clones.

I thought we were a mess.

Kids would turn up keen to get autographs and see their heroes in the flesh, and too many of us were all over the place.

We just didn’t represent our county properly back then.

The two finals that nag at me are those of 2006 and 2016 — they were ones we really should have won.

I see it across the board in other sports and, for some reason, the ones you lose seem to stick out the most.

Endless

Sean Cavanagh getting away from me in 2016 — that goes through my mind on an endless loop.

Our final against Armagh in 2006 was a really tight affair.

They were one of the best teams in Ireland at the time and going for their third Ulster title in a row — which hadn’t been achieved since Down in 1961.

It was close and claustrophobic and low-scoring — Armagh won in the end by 1-9 to 0-9.

Late on, I was through on Paul Hearty and took a point. It still nags at me that I didn’t try and put the ball in the net.

I did a lot good in both of those games too but it’s those moments where you didn’t deliver that you can’t cast aside.

People obviously normally associate the Ulster final with Clones and that’s OK, but I played two Ulster finals in Croke Park, and it didn’t bother me we’d left the Monaghan town, and even the province itself.