Kieran McGeeney says Armagh’s unity and ‘we before me’ mantra was a big factor in their first All-Ireland win since 2002.
The Armagh squad have endured their fair share of tough days, on and off the field.
Losing two Ulster finals in a row on penalty shoot-outs and losing two All-Ireland quarter finals in a row on penalty shoot-outs led to them being seen as a team that couldn’t close out games. Off-the-field, their midfielder Niall Grimley suffered the terrible tragedy of losing his brother in a car accident last November.
But the Armagh manager says that the squad have always rallied around each other when things got tough.
“Sometimes, when you’re at your lowest, that’s when the GAA is at its best,” McGeeney said to Joanne Cantwell in the Carrickdale Hotel in Dundalk on Sunday night.
“In those moments this year, this particular group have always stood beside their partners.”
McGeeney, who has now won an All-Ireland as a player and manager says one of their big mantras is ‘trying to make the man beside you look like an All-Star.’
“It’s a big mantra in this team, ‘we before me, you try to make the man beside you look like an All-Star.
“You lift him up, you carry him when he’s at his lowest.
“To me, that’s what they did today. That’s what they’ve been doing for the last four or five years. Nobody else has noticed it but we have.”
“We’ve had some tough moments as a squad. We had a talk about it last Saturday night, talking about the glue that binds us together, not just as a team but as a GAA community,” he added.
McGeeney also paid tribute to his opposite number Padraic Joyce speaking after the game.
“It’s fine margins,” he said.
“I feel for Joycer. He’s no different than me. It’s a thin line, sliding doors as they say. He’s put his life and soul into this, the same way I have, the same way those Galway players have.
“It’s funny, you’re seen as one thing, you’re one point ahead and (then you’re) seen as another. But I suppose we’ll take this one. I’ve been seen as a gobs***e long enough, I suppose I’ll take one day you know?”
