Armagh manger, Kieran McGeeney, left, pictured with Armagh selector Ciaran McKeever after their side's victory in the 2023 GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 3 match between Galway and Armagh at Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Armagh selector Ciaran McKeever is in awe of the huge amount of work that Kieran McGeeney has put into his role as team manager over the course of the last 10 years.
The picture he paints is of someone whose dedication to the job borders on obsessiveness as he leaves no stone unturned in his mission to build a team capable of winning the Sam Magure Cup.
“It’s insane,” says McKeever when asked what McGeeney has put in to his Armagh project.
“Look, people fire a lot of stick at him but that’s part and parcel of being at that level. We always say when you put yourself above the parapet you’re there to be criticised.
“The amount of hours he puts in, the detail he goes into. In 2017, that’s one example, he knew he was missing links and we were sent to look for them at academy level, Peter McGrane and Oisin Conaty are part of that and are consistent starters now at 21, 22 years of age.
“He’s always thinking outside of the box. Even when we lost those penalty shoot-outs, you’re coming home on the bus and you’re dejected. He’s on that bus onto us, looking for the 1%, there’s a reason we didn’t win today and we need to find it.
“That’s just the way the man is, that’s the way he played and that’s the way he manages. That’s the culture he has embedded in this group of players in Rory (Grugan) and Aidan (Forker) and ‘Soupy’ (Stefan Campbell) and Andrew (Murnin) and Aidan Nugent and players like that.”
Armagh’s progression to Sunday’s All-Ireland Final suggests that McGeeney and his management team have found a few more vital one per cents this year.
What specifically has transformed them from a very good team that was unfortunate to lose big games by the finest of margins into one now winning them?
“You need luck, there’s no doubt about it; you need the rub of the green, the bounce of the ball,” says McKeever.
“There are different aspects we have improved too. We would have been criticised a lot for not seeing out games, not being better on the ball. It was probably a case of we were always trying the right things but maybe not executing in those tight matches going down the stretch.
“Maybe we got lost with the emotions of the crowd and played with the crowd; don’t get me wrong the Armagh crowd is brilliant, it gives you energy but at the same time you have to play with clear emotion and make clear, decisive decisions in those key moments.
“We did delve into that a lot over the last number of years. We tried to work on it and we tried to come up with different set scenarios. We have grasped that and we have got better at that.
“There are loads of different one percenters that we have looked at over the last few years to try and to our game. It’s probably no coincidence we find ourselves where we are.”
