ON THE FACE of it, Kieran McGeeney appears to be a bit of an enigma.
A fearsome competitor, he’s often been described as the ‘Roy Keane of the GAA.’ MMA coach John Kavanagh once said he is “probably one of the most intense human beings I’ve ever met.”
But despite his hardened exterior, McGeeney is a coach with the ability to connect with his players on a deeper level. The majority of the group that played under him at Kildare would run through a wall for him. The current Armagh crop are presumably the same.
“Very loyal, usually caring, very much a man-manager,” former Kildare defender Andriú Mac Lochlainn said about McGeeney on Newstalk’s GAA Podcast on Friday.
“He can keep enough distance to make the tough calls but yet cares in terms of what’s going on in people’s lives to try and help them along the way.
“I know of certain (Kildare) players who may have not got the results they needed in the Leaving Cert or might have been drifting through in a professional capacity. He would have sat them down and talked to them in terms of their own goals in life, never mind football.
“I know guys would have been doing PLC courses and he would have been giving these guys tuition so they could get into college and progress in their own life. I don’t know if any manager is doing that in the modern era.”
During Jamie Clarke’s tenure in New York last November, McGeeney arrived in town for the Conor McGregor fight against Eddie Alvarez at the Madison Square Garden.
Clarke was surprised at the warm hug McGeeney initiated when they met. They grabbed a coffee and went for a stroll in Midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park. By the end of the conversation, McGeeney had whet his appetite. Clarke knew he was coming home.
The 28-year-old is an artistic soul with a penchant for fashion and coffee. A flair player, but one with an undoubted hard edge.
They may have two completely different personality types, but both McGeeney and Clarke are winners. And they’re managing to bring the best out of one another.
With Clarke back in tow, Armagh adopted a more expansive style of football this season.
The Crossmaglen ace has improved with every game and he gave his best performance of the year last night in Croke Park. He scored four points, but his fingerprints were all over Armagh’s good play.
“The thing about Jamie is that Jamie always wants the ball,” explains Armagh selector Paddy McKeever.
“He always shows. Even when he can have quieter games he’s always capable of doing something special to turn a game. I think all round, the fact that he was there for virtually every release, every ball coming from midfield, his work rate in showing for the ball sort of marked him out how special he was today.
“The amount of assists that he had, the free-kicks that he won. Sometimes it’s not always about getting the goal or posting up 0-6 or 0-7, his work rate was phenomenal today, very good.”
He miscued the odd pass and didn’t hit the target with every shot, but Clarke has brought the sort of end product to his game that makes him virtually unstoppable in this form.
The key point is that he’s still not afraid to try things, McGeeney hasn’t coached the instinctive forward play out of him. Clarke can express himself while adhering to the game plan.
McGeeney has managed to build a team and system around Clarke, which is allowing him to thrive. Four wins on the bounce and all of a sudden Armagh are entering bonus territory.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
