Armagh's Tiernan Kelly celebrates at Croke Park. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
"What a day, it is one of those things you dream about for a long time, and it has been a long time coming," Tiernan Kelly says about winning an All-Ireland SFC Final with Armagh.
A tight and tense decider at Croke Park culminated in a narrow Armagh victory with Kelly delighted to occupy a central role. "It is great to get over the line," Kelly says.
"You see the emotions from the fans and even the players, what it means to them. So, a cracker day, it is hard to take in, hopefully in the next few days it will sink in, and realise what we have done."
Ultimately, Armagh's resilience was rewarded. Several harrowing losses in recent years hurt, but Armagh did enough to recapture the Sam Maguire Cup. "That is what Geezer was saying in the other interviews, we were trying our hardest to lose it," Kelly reflected.
“Cracker day”
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 28, 2024
You can say that again Tiernan Kelly 👏 pic.twitter.com/pfaMUKm8J3
"We were giving balls away, we probably wouldn't be happy with how we performed in the last five or 10 minutes, but a couple of breaks went our way. You need those bits of luck on big days here, just to get over the line, it is unbelievable."
On Sunday evening Armagh brought silverware home, but Kelly acknowledges that it might take a while to truly appreciate the significance of the achievement. "It probably hasn't sunk in," Kelly says.
"There will be great nights and great celebrations. It will not be until the next few days or weeks again when we meet up as a group that we will understand what we have done. We ticked that box that we wanted to do for so long.
"The boys will enjoy it, boys will get away for a bit of a break, it will be a good summer for a change."
