The men’s GAA inter county season comes to an end this Sunday. It has gone by like a whirlwind and we are left with the two best teams fighting it out for the honour to lift Sam Maguire. It is a novel pairing.
Galway last won Sam in 2001, with Armagh winning a year later. Both have reached finals since then. Armagh in 2003 and Galway in 2022 but success has eluded them.
For one side, exhilaration awaits and for the other, despair.
Croke Park is our colosseum and those lucky enough to have a ticket will get to witness some of our greatest athletes on show. I was lucky to be at the hurling final last weekend to see the magic of Tony Kelly propelling his Clare side to victory.
It was heart-breaking for Patrick Horgan and the Cork team. There should be no extra-time if sides are level at the end of normal time. It is a final and players deserve that second day out.
Emotion plays a huge part in the day. Getting that pitch right is paramount. Too much emotion and it overpowers you, too little and the occasion passes you by.
For both teams, though they have had a lot of bad days to contend with, process and bounce back from.
That despair that both Armagh and Galway have felt from losing has been a driving force for them. Jim McGuinness referenced that Galway looked “a bit more battle hardened than us” in his post-match interview after their defeat to the Tribesmen in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“They showed great resilience” was how Kieran McGeeney summed up his side’s extra-time win over Kerry in their semi-final.
Jack O’Connor, the Kerry manager, spoke of the crowd and how “the goal we conceded was a killer in the sense it got the Armagh crowd into it”.
Both counties have a huge fan base so expect to feel a lot of emotion from the stands as they get behind their sides.
History over the past few years has shown that there has never been much between these teams.
A penalty shoot-out saw Galway the victors at the quarter-final stage two years ago, Armagh beat Galway in the group stages last year while it ended all square in the group stages this year.
You would imagine that a similar tight affair will manifest once more.
What has been interesting for me, is that teams have found a way to change a strength into a weakness and have been able to exploit their blind spot.
It is not just this year that questions have been asked of Derry goalkeeper Odhrán Lynch’s positioning.
Against Galway, two years ago in the All-Ireland quarter-final, Damien Comer took advantage of a turnover to score a goal with Lynch outfield.
He, no more than Tyrone’s Niall Morgan and Monaghan’s Rory Beggan had been praised for being that extra man on kick-outs and helping out in their defence.
However, Jim McGuinness changed that strength to a weakness by exploiting Lynch’s positioning and finding the Derry net four times in the Ulster quarter-final.
The fact that Donegal got four goals that day highlighted Derry’s blind spot.
It is not just football that this happened either. Limerick, who are undoubtedly one of the best teams of all time, found this out against Cork in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final.
Their half-back line of Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes are renowned for their physicality and prowess under the high ball.
Indeed, it was considered extremely foolish to hit the ball down on top of them as this was a massive source of their distribution and scores.
Cork decided to target this and went at Declan Hannon and Diarmuid Byrnes with the high ball and attacked from all angles. They cleverly kept away from Kyle Hayes though, ensuring he did not win possession and start a counter attack.
This relentless knocking of Limerick’s strength allowed Cork’s pacy forwards to shine.
Again at the weekend, all the talk was about Cork’s dynamic axis of midfielder Darragh Fitzgibbon and centre half-forward Shane Barrett.
Before the final, Fitzgibbon had scored 0-22 in the championship and his assists to Barrett in the half-forward line resulted in him scoring 2-16.
Both were in the conversation for Hurler of the Year but Clare curbed their influence. Fitzgibbon did not get the space to make his trademark runs with Cathal Malone doing a brilliant man marking job on him.
Shane Barrett was taken off and huge kudos must go to John Conlon for this. The Rebels’ prior strengths of scoring 13 goals and their soaring pace were not allowed to prosper.
Both management sides this weekend will have looked at the strengths of their opposing team and how to turn that into a weakness they can exploit.
Galway’s half-back line has been particularly impressive with Dylan McHugh at the top of the list for Player of the Year.
Again a lot will depend on his performance at the weekend, but he is a player Armagh will look to negate.
Both himself and Liam Silke scored 0-4 from play and with John Maher orchestrating a lot of the recyclable ball and assists, these will be areas that Armagh will look to shut down.
Likewise, Barry Mc Cambridge has been excellent for Armagh scoring 2-4, 2-3 from play but will Damien Comer mark him and what does he do?
Will Comer stay near goal and allow McCambridge up the field and hope that a quick turnover pays dividend for the Annaghdown clubman?
McCambridge scored his goal while David Clifford stayed put. What way will they play the risk reward here?
The bench will be crucial and Armagh’s made such a massive difference against Kerry. I would expect Kieran McGeeney to name the same team, barring any late injuries, and stick with bringing on Stefan Campbell, Jarly Óg Burns, Ross McQuillan and Jason Duffy as the game progresses.
It would appear that Galway’s major injuries are clearing up and there is an expectation that captain Seán Kelly will play. How fit he is though is not clear as he has looked injured for a lot of the year.
Tactics, structure, composure, identity, patience will all have been rehearsed and spoken about by Armagh and Galway ad nauseam but it is that piece of magic that separates the winners and the losers.
Tony Kelly, despite not having a great season and being outshone by his marker Tim O’Mahony in the first half, decided enough was enough and began to shine.
The captain fantastic scored 1-4 to haul his team up the Hogan Stand steps. Enough was enough.
That is how Armagh beat Kerry. Instead of retreating, they decided to go for the win in extra-time.
Galway found the gaps and Rob Finnerty and Liam Silke obliged against Donegal.
Shane Walsh is perhaps mirroring Tony Kelly. Class is permanent. Can he come up with a performance to match that of two years ago?
Will Conor Turbitt continue to excel? or who else will step up?
Kieran McGeeney has referenced in other interviews the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans held off the Persian army for three days and spoke of how the soldiers fought with their shield in their left hand, to protect the soldier beside them.
This influenced his thinking as a team player and as a manager. The philosophy of the Spartans was summed up in the film 300 with the words ” No retreat. No surrender. That is Spartan Law”.
This may also be Armagh’s motto as they leave the Hogan stand tunnel.
In the film ‘A Year ‘Til Sunday’, which followed Galway’s journey to becoming All-Ireland champions in 1998, their manager, John O’Mahony spoke before their quarter-final clash with Mayo in the Connacht championship.
He told his team including Pádraic Joyce the words “Now is the year. Today is the day.” Something I am sure Pádraic Joyce will be emphasising to his team.
It’s now up to each team to seize it. Carpe Diem.