SUNDAY, 28 JULY
Armagh v Galway, Croke Park, 3.30pm
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available across the weekend.
TV
Live coverage on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Coverage as Gaeilge on RTÉ News from 2.55pm. The Sunday Game will recount the day’s events from 9.30pm on RTÉ2.
Live coverage also on GAAGO and BBC2 NI.
RADIO
Live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
Any mist will clear early on to leave a dry day with warm spells of hazy sunshine, possibly cloudier later further west. Highs of 18 to 23 degrees further east, in light to moderate southwest breezes.
For more, visit met.ie.
TEAMS
Galway: Connor Gleeson; Johnny McGrath, Sean Fitzgerald, Jack Glynn; Dylan McHugh, Liam Silke, Seán Mulkerrin; Paul Conroy, Sean Kelly (c); Matthew Tierney, John Maher, Cillian McDaid; Rob Finnerty, Damien Comer, Shane Walsh.
Subs: Conor Flaherty, John Daly, Eoghan Kelly, Daniel O’Flaherty, Kieran Molloy, Cathal Sweeney, Céin Darcy, Johnny Heaney, Liam Ó Conghaile, Tomo Culhane, Niall Daly.
Armagh: Blaine Hughes; Paddy Burns, Aaron McKay, Barry McCambridge; Connaire Mackin, Tiernan Kelly, Aidan Forker; Niall Grimley, Ben Crealey; Joe McElroy, Rian O’Neill, OisínConaty; Rory Gurgan, Andrew Murnin, Conor Turbitt.
Subs: Ethan Rafferty, Greg McCabe, Peter McGrane, Ciaran Higgins, Ross McQuillan, Shane McPartlan, Jason Duffy, Oisín O’Neill, Stefan Campbell, Aidan Nugent, Jarly Og Burns.
After 63 games, many of which were much maligned, the curtain comes down on the All-Ireland football championship on Sunday.
For just the seventh time, it’s Connacht versus Ulster in the decider, with Armagh and Galway set to slug it out to be crowned best of class in 2024.
With the Tribesmen accounting for champions Dublin and Armagh taking out Kerry, there is a real novelty factor to the decider, the most unlikely pairing in recent history.
And it pits together two sides whose rivalry is very much a recent phenomenon.
Having only met in the championship for the first time in 2001 – the Tribesmen edging out an Armagh side who claimed seven of the last eight points in a qualifier defeat en route to All-Ireland success – the remaining five clashes have occurred since 2013.
Such is the recency of this championship fixture, Padraic Joyce and Kieran McGeeney have been in charge of their native counties for 50% of their meetings, with McGeeney either captaining or managing the Orchard County in five of the six contests against the Connacht men.
Joyce v McGeeney
While there will be no shortage of quality on display on the pitch on Sunday, arguably the box-office draw will be on the sidelines.
Armagh have suffered no shortage of agonising heartbreak in recent years under Kieran McGeeney, and while the likes of Rian O’Neill, Rory Grugan and Stefan ‘Soupy’ Campbell are well-known throughout the country, there wouldn’t be the same level of recognition nationwide for a number of those set for their first All-Ireland appearance.
Goalkeeper Blain Hughes’s form has meant the absence of the dynamic Ethan Rafferty hasn’t been as costly as many feared. Conor Turbitt has lit up the championship up front, defender Aaron McKay looks well placed for an All-Star, Barry McCambridge served further notice of his importance to the Orchard County with a crucial goal against Kerry, while Joe McElroy and Paul Grimley have worked tirelessly around the middle.
Their profiles are growing with a longer championship run, but the X-Factor comes from the only Armagh man to lift Sam. Indeed you could argue next in line, in terms of recognition, is Kieran Donaghy, the man tasked with bringing more creativity and flexibility to the forward line.
His Galway counterpart Pádraic Joyce doesn’t quite dominate the conversation in quite the same manner. The Tribesmen’s second appearance on the final day of the football season in three years plus a number of lengthy championship journeys means Cillian McDaid, Dylan McHugh, Liam Silke, Matthew Tierney, and owing to huge performance this season, John Maher and Sean Mulkerrin, are very much in the public view.
And that is before we even get to the ‘Big Three’ of Paul Conroy, Damien Comer and Shane Walsh.
But Joyce, the 2001 All-Ireland winning captain and one of the most decorated footballers to emerge in a golden Galway crop, still holds his own.
The Killererin man has more All-Star awards that that triumvirate of Conroy, Comer and Walsh put together – only a Galway collapse and a below-par performance is likely to prevent Conroy picking up his first award this year – and this year’s sideline match-up pits one of the most complete forwards of the last 30 years against one of the most iconic, inspirational and teak-tough defender in that same period.
That shared journey from playing to leading your native county as a manager – allowing for the fact the Crossmaglen legend has 10 years inter-county management experience before Joyce took over in the Galway hotseat – has also seen a level of respect between the two men.
Following the semi-final win over Donegal, Joyce was asked if he could have envisaged, after their All-Ireland series draw on 16 June, that the two counties would cross paths again on the final day of the championship.
“If you ask Kieran McGeeney next week what was texted to him that night, that’ll answer the question for you,” told reporters after getting past Donegal last time out.
The Armagh boss confirmed later the message, among other things, predicted they would meet again in the showpiece.
“I know him a long time, an unbelievable player in his day and he’s a competitor through and through,” McGeeney said last week.
Two giants of the game, but only one can join the select band of those to lead their county to ultimate glory as both captain and manager.
Chances of a cracker at Croker?
Even the eternal football optimists – which appears to be, anecdotally at least, a dwindling contingent – would have to admit that the current championship has been one of toil for large periods.
Be it structural – the merits of the provincial championships followed by a round-robin All-Ireland series, where it takes 24 games to remove four teams – scheduling – the condensed nature of fixtures and use of Croke Park for games not struggling to attract considerable numbers – or the work of the Football Review Committee (FRC) tasked with making the game more attractive, the most charitable viewpoint would be there is room for improvement.
Throw in an All-Ireland hurling final for the ages last Sunday, and you get a sense that the big ball fraternity are hoping, rather than expecting a fitting finale to close out the year.
But what are the chances of an open and free-flowing contest?
They have met three times in the last three years, with a draw (2024), a one-point win for Armagh (2023) and a penalty shootout victory for Galway (2022) an indication that there is little to choose between the sides.
The 2022 quarter-final clash was a highly entertaining affair, the Orchard men plundering two late goals to force extra-time, but only Rian O’Neill was successful from the spot as they bowed out.
This year’s clash in the All-Ireland series saw one of the most dour halves of football across the championship, with Armagh trailing at the break despite have the wind at their back. Their unlikely second-half fightback to earn a draw almost felt like a win given how far off the pace they were in the opening 35 minutes.
Last year’s meeting was somewhat better fare towards the business end – it saw Rory Grugan kick a late winner and Shane Walsh fail to land an equalising point in the 79th minute – but essentially we could do with more of 2022, and less of what has followed.
Attacking prowess
The stick used regularly to beat Armagh is the accusation that the handbrake is generally pulled up.
Individually, their forwards may not quite stack up against their Galway counterparts, but if you judge an attacking unit by their link man (Grugan), in-form finisher (Turbitt) and a potential game changer (O’Neill), they stack up well against most sides.
Throw in a forward line where every player knows his role and a well developed counter-attack, then there is good reason to believe that the Galway rearguard will be severely tested if the Orchard men put their attacking minds to it.
That if, however, is a significant if. At times they can drift through games, adopting a patient and probing approach to work an opening.
While that charge could be levelled at the vast majority of sides, it is the unfulfilled potential, in the eyes of detractors, that sticks in the craw.
This viewpoint was aired by Lee Keegan following the championship clash between the sides in June.
“Armagh remind me at times of the Mayo of old,” he said. “When the game went into pandemonium mode, they seemed to flourish and finished really strong. Galway gave them 1-01 off mistakes from their kickout, and essentially, on the back of one glaring error for Tiernan Kelly’s goal, their season has flipped.”
Galway’s weaponry up front is clear for all to see, but fitness concerns have loomed large. Talisman Damien Comer has been working his way back to match sharpness after an ankle problem. Shane Walsh, who appeared during the Connacht final after 12-week lay-off and has started each game since despite appearing in bother at different times.
“He was really good against Derry. He was excellent against Dublin for us as well,” Joyce told the media last week when asked if there were any concerns over the Kilmacud Crokes man.
“The last day [against Donegal], he left with three, four points on the board and assisted a couple of score…he’s doing fine. He’ll be raring to go on Sunday.”
Captain Sean Kelly has been named to start, the only change in the starting XV, but it remains to be seen whether the Moycullen man a) starts (he was also down to start the semi-final), and b) is able to last the pace in such a demanding environment.
From a Galway perspective, success may hinge on the simply having their players primed for 70 minutes or more.
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Armagh v Galway, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
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