Armagh will have legions of supporters in Croke Park tomorrow but it was not always so.
"In early 1974, Armagh were ranked 31st out of the 32 county teams," Tommy Lynch explains in Quinn's pub in Camlough. "Only Kilkenny footballers were ranked worse. And no one was sure if there was a Kilkenny football team.
"In April that year, Armagh travelled to Carrick-on-Shannon to play Leitrim in the league and we couldn't put a team together."
"Three supporters turned up," adds his brother, Paddy. "In fact it was easier to name the supporters in those days than it was to name the team." On that rock-bottom day, one supporter had to put on a jersey and play in goal.
Following that, the entire county board and management resigned with the sole exception of Tommy Lynch. Amid the rubble of Armagh football, he formed a panel and set about building structures which could transform a diverse county full of good clubs into a unit capable of taking on the best in Ireland.
One of those he enlisted was Peter Makem. He approached Gerry O'Neill from Co Derry, brother of the Celtic manager, Martin, who was teaching in the Armagh side of Newry. He managed a team that had never had a manager before.
"And that," says Makem, "is the origin of modern Armagh football. Since then Armagh have won six Ulster titles and reached two All-Irelands, with the hope of winning their first tomorrow."
Among the members of that 1977 team, crushed in the final by Kerry, was Joe Kernan. He has managed Crossmaglen Rangers, bringing them to All-Ireland club victory and has now guided his county to a final in Croke Park - a ground where he has never lost as manager.
The story goes that at half-time in the semi- against Dublin, he waved his shirt from the 1977 final at his players. He told them this was the shirt he refused to swap with Brian Mullins that day. If they wanted a shirt on All-Ireland day, they'd better get out and fight for it. They did.
The Lynch brothers join company with other sages, Dominic Barden and Oliver Loughran, to trade records. One has never missed an Armagh game in over 30 years. Another has been to 40 football finals. Someone else has been to 48 hurling finals. But all live in a county which has never welcomed Sam at the Border.
Perfectly at ease with the mantle of underdog, they recall Kerry's defeats this season. The hope grows, the expectation swells and the quiet satisfaction of making it to football's top table is palpable.