Armagh more in need of silverware booster

Such is the longevity of Kieran McGeeney’s managerial career that when he was appointed Kildare boss 15 days shy of his 36th birthday in 2007, Jim McGuinness was player-manager of Naomh Conaill in his native Donegal.

In the intervening 17 years, McGuinness — who is 13 months younger than McGeeney — managed Donegal to an All-Ireland win in 2012, another final appearance two years later and three Ulster titles.

He then focused on soccer and had spells with Glasgow Celtic, Beijing Guoan, Charlotte Independence and Derry City before returning to manage Donegal last autumn.

McGeeney, meanwhile, stayed with Kildare until 2013. He is now in his 11th season with his native Armagh, 10 as manager and one as assistant to Paul Grimley. Only Derry’s Mickey Harte has had a longer innings as an inter-county manager. But whereas Harte has been one of the most successful managers in the history of Gaelic football, McGeeney has yet to secure any championship silverware.

He coached Armagh to the Division 3 league titles in 2015 and 2018, as well as promotion to Division 1 in 2020, when there was no final played due to Covid restrictions. He was also at the helm when Kildare won the Division 2 title in 2012 and the O’Byrne Cup in 2013.

McGeeney knows the virtue of patience. Though he made his championship debut for Armagh in 1992, he did not win his first Ulster medal until 1999 when current GAA president Jarlath Burns captained the side. Armagh had to wait another three seasons before they secured their historic All-Ireland breakthrough.

By the time McGeeney returned as manager, those glory days were over with the team languishing in Division 3. Incredibly, they have not won an Ulster title since 2008 and last year’s provincial final appearance was their first in 15 years. Furthermore, they did not win an Ulster championship game under McGeeney until they beat Down in 2019.

Today’s Division 2 decider won’t mean a whole lot in the greater scheme of things, but McGeeney needs to prove he can win trophies as a manager.

Even Oscar Wilde’s famous quote about misfortune and carelessness doesn’t capture the torment of Armagh, who have lost three high-profile penalty shoot-outs — against Galway in the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final, against Derry in last year’s Ulster final and against Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final. McGeeney has not been a lucky general, but at times both he and his players have contributed to their rotten luck. For example, the decision to deploy an outfield player, Ethan Rafferty, as goalkeeper yielded mixed results.

In the 2022 shoot-out against Galway, he failed to save any of the winners’ four penalties. In the Ulster final shoot-out against Derry, he saved one. His opposite number Odhrán Lynch stopped three, including one from Rafferty, whose error early in the game allowed Derry to score a crucial goal.

Arguably the cruellest defeat came in the epic All-Ireland quarter-final against Monaghan. Having dusted themselves down after their Ulster final heartbreak, Armagh topped their group in the Sam Maguire round-robin series. Avoiding a preliminary quarter-final gave them a huge advantage and the other group winners — Dublin, Kerry and Derry — advanced to the last four.

But Armagh fluffed their lines badly. Again they were found wanting in a penalty shoot-out which, for the first time in the All-Ireland series, required two full rounds of kicks to separate the sides. Seventeen of the place kicks were converted, but Rory

The players he has managed have been steadfast in their support of him.

Beggan twice saved from Callum Cumiskey and though Rafferty stopped Gary Mohan’s first effort, he made no mistake with his second.

Armagh changed the order of their kickers in the second round, leaving Cumiskey with the deciding kick. Presumably it was made in the hope that the tie would be decided by then. It wasn’t and the pressure told on Cumiskey, whose effort was smothered by Beggan. It was noticeable that McGeeney made no effort to console the distraught kicker on the pitch afterwards.

Few county boards would have kept faith with McGeeney for this length of time. Armagh proved the exception and it is notable that the players he has managed, both in Kildare and Armagh, have been steadfast in their support of him.

He did appoint former Derry player and Kilcoo manager Conleith Gilligan to his coaching team, which also includes ex-Kerry star Kieran Donaghy.

After three seasons in Division 1, this campaign in Division 2 was less demanding, allowing Armagh to adjust their style.

They are now back playing a more attacking brand of football without impacting on their defensive set-up.

Ex-joint captain Rian O’Neill missed much of the campaign, while Rafferty missed it all after sustaining a serious ankle injury with his club Grange.

Éamonn Fitzmaurice recently suggested that so much of their outfield play went through Rafferty that they had become too predictable. In his absence, Aidan Forker and Greg McCabe have emerged as key figures.

Blaine Hughes is a more specialist goalkeeper than Rafferty and they only conceded two goals — both against Cork — in the league. Trusting O’Neill with a specific role, possibly as a target man on the edge of the square rather than being a Jack of all trades, is a work in progress.

Newcomers Peter McGrane and Oisín Conaty — who scored in all but one of their seven league games and finished with a tally of 0-13 — have given McGeeney new options.

Psychologically, they need to win silverware more than Donegal and what better way to mark the beginning of Burns’ presidency than presenting a trophy to his fellow county man Forker?