“Our hand passes were sloppy.”
Winning and getting over the line is the only thing that matters, right?
Wrong.
The performance does matter, because that’s what you are building on for the next game, so if your team wins but looks disorganised or complacent, then that will be brought into the next game.
It’s an elite way of thinking, to beat a team by a large margin and still be unhappy with aspects of the play, but it’s no surprise that Armagh manager, Kieran McGeeney is cut from this cloth.
An obsessive and serial winner, the former All-Ireland champion is constantly striving for perfection, improvement and progress. As a player, he was renowned for his determination and relentless will power.
He has brought this level of discipline and ambition to his management career, and even though his Armagh side beat Antrim in their opening championship game by 13 points, he still wasn’t happy.
Speaking to BBC Sport NI after the match, he said: “In the first half, our hand passes were sloppy.
“We were giving the ball away and there were a couple of long balls in when they weren’t on.
“You work that hard to get the ball, you don’t want to be giving it away too easy. But there’s definitely a better mix of what we can do.”
Goalkeeper Blaine Hughes was awarded man of the match, making some excellent saves, and although his boss was pleased with the sweeper keeper’s performance, he was less than pleased that Hughes was needed so often.
“It’s good to see the keeper doing well, but you don’t want to be keeping him too busy.
“He got a great save and those kick-outs were very good.
“Greg McCabe and Conor Mackin back there were very good for us too and gave us a wee bit of energy when we were lacking it.”
