IT WAS A Bank Holiday back in 2015, that tested the mettle of the Irish GAA correspondents.
After spending years lecturing the rest of the country that sacrifice and discipline were the very bottom line of any team or players that wanted to be taken seriously, all of a sudden they were issued with a challenge.
The Armagh county board were calling a press briefing with Kieran McGeeney and some players available for interview. All were welcome.
As long as they could get to the Canal Court in Newry, for a 6am start on a Bank Holiday Monday.
This was most unusual, but not unprecedented. It ruled out a night of Bulmers, barbecue and a morning of flatulence rolling around under a duvet.
McGeeney was testing us.
However, if there’s one thing journalists love more than their comfort, it is handy quotes. The press corps present and queuing up for the Bain Marie full of bacon that morning resembled the first gather-up of the year for pre-season training; hopeful, giddy and the odd trace of a hangover.
Turned out, this was a format McGeeney liked. There were further meetings arranged, once or twice a season for a few years.
He took it on tour, conquering cosy, intimate venues such as Embers Café in Armagh City with Stefan Campbell as his dutiful support act. He wasn’t afraid of the big rooms, packing out the mezzanine level of the Armagh City Hotel.
Each time, he could talk for an hour. Such a timeframe caused a schism within those turning up with the dictaphones. You had the Bloods who wanted him to talk endlessly about referees, the lack of a properly defined tackle in Gaelic football, competition structures and the likes. They wanted ‘lines’ for news pieces.
And then you had the Crips. I belonged to the Crips. I could find myself ending up with four hours of transcription and nothing in the way of a story, but I’ll never forget Kieran McGeeney telling me that he was in the habit of eating three chocolate bars a day because he trained at least an hour, often two, every day.
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Sometimes, he looked like he could happily walk away from it all, but there was always something deeper there.
“I’ve always loved Armagh, it’s been in my blood since I was a kid,” McGeeney once pointed out.
“From as far back as I was running, I represented Armagh at sprint level and long-jump level and then all the underage so it’s a big part of me.”
More than once I found myself reprimanded by the newshounds as I tried to pave the way to asking what his maximum bench press was. I regret nothing.
He never failed to say something interesting. He wasn’t afraid to say that he felt Ulster teams, contrary to perception, were not the most physical teams, that honour belonging to Mayo.
He didn’t quite lie back on the couch with a box of tissues to hand, but he got plenty off his chest about competition structures, the methods of reaching decisions by administrators and lack of promotion for the games.
More than anything, he addressed the constant sniping about the training habits of modern county squads, asking if people had any idea what amateur boxers and swimmers did for their sport?
Most curiously, for a man from south Armagh, he enthused about a book he had been reading called ‘The Good Psychopath’, that was co-authored by Kevin Dutton and former SAS agent Andy McNab.
Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
So here’s a stat to make you feel old.
Kieran McGeeney, he of granite jaw, pumped bicep and pecs that could toss an outhouse with one well-aimed flex, has been involved in county football across five different decades.
While still a schoolboy, he was asked to come in and train with Armagh seniors as the league campaign for 1989-90 began. After sufficiently impressing, he made his debut in December 1989, against Kerry, no less.
Six months later, he was playing for the county in the Ulster minor championship.
But he was on the county team for a full decade before he got to experience what an Ulster final was like.
There were years Armagh couldn’t buy a win and the young McGeeney was off like a shot to America for the summer.
Other years they put in almost comical levels of effort and got nothing out of it. 1993 stands out; they played six games and failed to reach the final, drawing with Fermanagh and Tyrone before overcoming them in the replay, and then losing their semi-final replay to Donegal.
Some of those years bear passing resemblance to Armagh in the years under McGeeney’s management.
It started in 2015, when they were stuffed by Donegal. Cavan had them for eight points in 2016. Down beat them in 2017. Fermanagh did the same in 2018.
It wasn’t until his fifth year in charge that they won a single game in Ulster; a one-point win over Down.
From such a slow start, Armagh have now reached their fourth consecutive Ulster final.
For McGeeney personally, it will be the tenth time he has woken up on the morning of an Ulster final as a participant.
He has the distinction of not only winning six titles as a player, but never losing a final.
With Kieran Hughes after winning in 2000. Andrew Paton / INPHO
Andrew Paton / INPHO / INPHO
As a manager though, he has been on the wrong side of two penalty shootouts and last year’s agonising extra-time loss to Donegal.
It’s fair to say that they enter this decider as warm favourites against Monaghan.
Right now, the provincial championships are rotting from the inside out. For now, all seems fine. The crowds will continue to turn up and Clones will still be full of families dining out of car boots and young ones making shows of themselves.
The lack of proper rewards for winning your province though, is the jab of the arsenic syringe on the arse of the provincial championships.
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Armagh however, have kept the fizz going for the last few years.
They still turn up and turn Clones into street theatre.
The team still go out and produce footballing excellence.
And sure, maybe there are some in the Armagh dressing room with Celtic Crosses that crave an Ulster title while McGeeney is not fussed.
But the time is coming soon.
And on that day, as St Tiernach’s Park is turned into a bubbling orange, we will remember that nothing beats the sunny day of the Ulster final in Clones.
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What would an Ulster title mean for this Armagh team at the fourth time of asking?
IT WAS A Bank Holiday back in 2015, that tested the mettle of the Irish GAA correspondents.
After spending years lecturing the rest of the country that sacrifice and discipline were the very bottom line of any team or players that wanted to be taken seriously, all of a sudden they were issued with a challenge.
The Armagh county board were calling a press briefing with Kieran McGeeney and some players available for interview. All were welcome.
As long as they could get to the Canal Court in Newry, for a 6am start on a Bank Holiday Monday.
This was most unusual, but not unprecedented. It ruled out a night of Bulmers, barbecue and a morning of flatulence rolling around under a duvet.
McGeeney was testing us.
However, if there’s one thing journalists love more than their comfort, it is handy quotes. The press corps present and queuing up for the Bain Marie full of bacon that morning resembled the first gather-up of the year for pre-season training; hopeful, giddy and the odd trace of a hangover.
Turned out, this was a format McGeeney liked. There were further meetings arranged, once or twice a season for a few years.
He took it on tour, conquering cosy, intimate venues such as Embers Café in Armagh City with Stefan Campbell as his dutiful support act. He wasn’t afraid of the big rooms, packing out the mezzanine level of the Armagh City Hotel.
Each time, he could talk for an hour. Such a timeframe caused a schism within those turning up with the dictaphones. You had the Bloods who wanted him to talk endlessly about referees, the lack of a properly defined tackle in Gaelic football, competition structures and the likes. They wanted ‘lines’ for news pieces.
And then you had the Crips. I belonged to the Crips. I could find myself ending up with four hours of transcription and nothing in the way of a story, but I’ll never forget Kieran McGeeney telling me that he was in the habit of eating three chocolate bars a day because he trained at least an hour, often two, every day.
Sometimes, he looked like he could happily walk away from it all, but there was always something deeper there.
“I’ve always loved Armagh, it’s been in my blood since I was a kid,” McGeeney once pointed out.
“From as far back as I was running, I represented Armagh at sprint level and long-jump level and then all the underage so it’s a big part of me.”
He never failed to say something interesting. He wasn’t afraid to say that he felt Ulster teams, contrary to perception, were not the most physical teams, that honour belonging to Mayo.
He didn’t quite lie back on the couch with a box of tissues to hand, but he got plenty off his chest about competition structures, the methods of reaching decisions by administrators and lack of promotion for the games.
More than anything, he addressed the constant sniping about the training habits of modern county squads, asking if people had any idea what amateur boxers and swimmers did for their sport?
Most curiously, for a man from south Armagh, he enthused about a book he had been reading called ‘The Good Psychopath’, that was co-authored by Kevin Dutton and former SAS agent Andy McNab.
So here’s a stat to make you feel old.
Kieran McGeeney, he of granite jaw, pumped bicep and pecs that could toss an outhouse with one well-aimed flex, has been involved in county football across five different decades.
While still a schoolboy, he was asked to come in and train with Armagh seniors as the league campaign for 1989-90 began. After sufficiently impressing, he made his debut in December 1989, against Kerry, no less.
Six months later, he was playing for the county in the Ulster minor championship.
But he was on the county team for a full decade before he got to experience what an Ulster final was like.
There were years Armagh couldn’t buy a win and the young McGeeney was off like a shot to America for the summer.
Other years they put in almost comical levels of effort and got nothing out of it. 1993 stands out; they played six games and failed to reach the final, drawing with Fermanagh and Tyrone before overcoming them in the replay, and then losing their semi-final replay to Donegal.
Some of those years bear passing resemblance to Armagh in the years under McGeeney’s management.
It started in 2015, when they were stuffed by Donegal. Cavan had them for eight points in 2016. Down beat them in 2017. Fermanagh did the same in 2018.
It wasn’t until his fifth year in charge that they won a single game in Ulster; a one-point win over Down.
From such a slow start, Armagh have now reached their fourth consecutive Ulster final.
For McGeeney personally, it will be the tenth time he has woken up on the morning of an Ulster final as a participant.
He has the distinction of not only winning six titles as a player, but never losing a final.
As a manager though, he has been on the wrong side of two penalty shootouts and last year’s agonising extra-time loss to Donegal.
It’s fair to say that they enter this decider as warm favourites against Monaghan.
Right now, the provincial championships are rotting from the inside out. For now, all seems fine. The crowds will continue to turn up and Clones will still be full of families dining out of car boots and young ones making shows of themselves.
The lack of proper rewards for winning your province though, is the jab of the arsenic syringe on the arse of the provincial championships.
Armagh however, have kept the fizz going for the last few years.
They still turn up and turn Clones into street theatre.
The team still go out and produce footballing excellence.
And sure, maybe there are some in the Armagh dressing room with Celtic Crosses that crave an Ulster title while McGeeney is not fussed.
But the time is coming soon.
And on that day, as St Tiernach’s Park is turned into a bubbling orange, we will remember that nothing beats the sunny day of the Ulster final in Clones.
*****
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