Shane Stapleton looks ahead to this weekend’s All-Ireland final between Galway and Armagh at Croke Park.
Thumb through the pages of history and some brilliant footballers have gone on to duke it out as managers in All-Ireland finals.
Kevin Heffernan captained Dublin to glory in 1958, four-time winner Mick O’Dwyer was Footballer of the Year in 1969, and the duo had amazing tussles on the sidelines with Dublin and Kerry.
Interestingly, Heffo remains the only person ever to be named player of the year, in 1974, despite being manager.
Two men with similar records as players — double All Stars and double All-Ireland winners Conor Counihan and James McCartan — managed their teams in the 2010 decider when Cork came out on top against Down.
Although it always ended in misery, Mayo icon James Horan has done battle on the touchline with Brian Dooher and Jim Gavin on the big days, and often in classic games.
However, the meeting of Padraic Joyce and Kieran McGeeney — two long-time friends who shared a call after winning their respective semi-finals — is up there with any of them.
Six All Stars shared evenly between them, successive Texaco Footballer of the Year titles in 2001 and 2002 respectively, each has already secured their place in the footballing folklore of Galway and Armagh.
In the past, your columnist has ghost-written articles for both of Sunday’s managers, and it was never dull with either. Men who played sport with their hearts on their sleeves also made their points that way.
Joyce wanted Galway to play more attacking football, and was not shy of getting that point across even though his old comrade Kevin Walsh was in charge of the county.
We would speak for 20 minutes or so, he’d read over a draft of the piece, and then recommend any adjustments. No fuss. Two years later, in late 2019, he took over the team and immediately spoke of winning an All-Ireland. Refreshing.
With McGeeney, our first-ever piece was a different experience altogether. We spoke at length and, after taking time to pare it down — from memory — to about 1200 words, the column was emailed his way.
When the phone rang a few hours later, the Mullaghbawn man explained that “yes, I said all of those things, but it’s just not the way I meant them”. Geezer is a man for detail and the veracity of a story, and decided to start from scratch.
He wrote an incredibly detailed piece of almost two thousand words, so intricate in its detail that I dared not adjust it. A simple case of sweeping for typos, and in it went.
A paragraph that stuck me was the following about Kerry and Dublin so regularly lifting Sam: “The reality of why they’re the best doesn’t sound as amazing as those writing the headlines would have you believe: that it was down to some piece of magic or natural talent.
“Then of course hearing about some magic makes the rest of us feel better about ourselves, because we know it’s beyond us and all that hard work and effort is just a waste of our valuable time.
“But read any of these stars’ books or interviews and they all say that they worked harder than anybody else and that’s why they got to the top.”
As former Meath footballer Mickey Burke, who spoke of his admiration for McGeeney, once put it: “All the stories about him spending 35 pounds on fruit every couple of days, all this kind of thing. He played until a right good age, maybe 36 and 37, and he changed his position. He moved with the times.”
Squeezing out every drop has been key in getting the Orchard County from also-rans to All-Ireland challengers. McGeeney has been at this for a decade now but claiming silverware still eludes him. Late defeats, penalty agony… they’ve had it all. All the way, he’s adapted, evolved, and upskilled his crew.
Damien Comer, who played in an All-Ireland for Galway against Kerry two seasons ago, told your columnist in 2017 about a tactical development that had caught his eye: “Kieran McGeeney used a goalie as a fly-keeper as a way of breaking out of defence, I think they’s something to that even though people might have laughed at it. I think there’s something to it.”
Geezer is not afraid to lay it on the line on the big day, no more than Joyce is. The latter understands the joy of winning and, in 2022, the searing misery that comes with being gallant losers.
Joyce’s recruitment of Cian O’Neill as coach has given them a tactical edge over most, and their defence has conceded just one goal in nine championship outings. Against who? Armagh, of course, in a dramatic drawn clash during the All-Ireland group stages.
Comer and Shane Walsh are both in their thirties now so time is running out, no more than it is for 35-year-old Paul Conroy. All have produced big moments for their county, but doing so in symphony could get them to the promised land on Sunday.
On the other side, Armagh have a gamut of stars who could light up Croke Park: Rian O’Neill, Rory Grugan, Conor Turbitt, Stefan Campbell, and others.
A draw at 11/2 is many people’s fancy, and it’s 20/1 for the game to be level at both half and full time.
We will finish on a sentiment of McGeeney’s from eight years ago: Let’s hope they referee the football this week like they do the hurling, and that we take the chains of these two great giants so that they can do what they do best: get wired into each other.
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