Armagh 1-18; Kerry 1-16
Nine years into his reign, this was Armagh-geddon day for Orchard Manager Kieran McGeeney. He knew defeat would have spelled the end of his tenure in charge and also understood that only for player power backing him last Fall, the county board would have jettisoned him for someone new.
Hardly surprising then that following Armagh’s surprise two-point win over Kerry in Croke Park on Saturday after extra time, that it was the bravery of his players and their never-say-die attitude that "Geezer," as he is known dwelt on in the interviews with the media afterwards.
This squad has gone through the wringer, losing successive Ulster finals on penalty shoot-outs and also two All Ireland quarter-finals on penalty shoot-outs.
“To come out on top is great for the players. To get that semi-final into an All-Ireland final, like we still haven’t won anything, but still it’s a great achievement for a team that’s been knocked back and knocked back and knocked back. I’m delighted for them, I hope they realize there’s a big thing in front of them. I think if we give it our best, we’ll give any team a rattle.”
Certainly, there is no reason to doubt the sheer tenacity of this group as they showed in front of 55,000 on Saturday that they have the capacity to keep coming back, even after extra time, so that they can advance to the final stage.
On-field skipper 21 years ago when the county won their only Sam Maguire title, Geezer will now know that there has been only a kick of a ball between Galway and themselves in recent years and the game is there for the taking.
It looked like the same sad story on Saturday evening until defender Barry McCambridge arrived to score an opportunistic goal, as he flicked home after Kerry ‘keeper Shane Ryan spilled a Rian O'Neill point attempt that had gone awry.
On such moments of fortune are games won and lost. After a good opening hour of play in which it looked like Kerry, leading 0-10 to 0-6 at the interval, were on course for yet another final appearance, it was Armagh who had the temerity to fight back and actually lead five minutes from time.
However true to their DNA, Kerry reined them in to force extra time. Once again the surprise was that the Ulster team made the running in this period as supersub Jarly Óg Burns and Conor Turbitt scored points of the first 10 minutes to leave with the higher ground for the final strait.
Paudie Clifford narrowed the deficit to the minimum and the specter of more penalty shootout linking Armagh and defeat arose in the mind. As Kerry pushed for a score they were turned over and the clever Turbitt used his second coming to seal the game and his side’s fate for once as winners rather than losers in this scenario.
Kerry Boss Jack O'Connor pointed to the impact of the crowd whereby Armagh supporters outnumbered those from the deep south by at least three to one.
The cheer on the sound of the final whistle was such that it felt like a final had been won but Armagh supporters were venting their pleasure at getting to the last game of the season with a team that many had written off.
Armagh: B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, P McGrane (0-1); B McCambridge (1-0), T Kelly, A Forker (0-2); N Grimley (0-2), B Crealey; O Conaty, R O'Neill (0-3), J McElroy; R Grugan (0-1f), A Murnin, C Turbitt (0-5, 0-3f) Subs: S Campbell (0-2) for McGrane (ht), J Duffy for Conaty (49), A Nugent for Crealey (57), R McQuillan (0-1) for A Forker (60), O O'Neill for Murnin (62), J Óg Burns (0-1) for Turbitt (ET), Turbitt for Nugent (80), Conaty for Grugan (84).
Kerry: S Ryan; P Murphy (1-0), J Foley, T O'Sullivan; B Ó Beaglaioch, T Morley, G White; D O'Connor (0-1), J O’Connor; T Brosnan (0-1), P Clifford (0-2), D Moynihan (0-1); D Clifford (0-4, 0-2f, 0-1m), S O’Shea (0-04, 0-1f, 0-1 '45), P Geaney Subs: C Burke (0-1) for Moynihan (47), K Spillane for Geaney (47), D Geaney (0-1) for Brosnan (58), G O'Sullivan for Ó Beaglaioch (64), B D O'Sullivan for J O'Connor (73), M Breen for White (ET) D Casey for T O'Sullivan (74, temp), T O'Sullivan for Foley (78), S O'Brien for D O’Connor (80), S O’Brien for P Murphy (84).
Ref D Gough (Meath).
