I found the last training session before the All-Ireland final a bit strange. My last words in the dressingroom every week were: “Let’s make sure we’re back next Tuesday night.” But then, with the final on the horizon, we’d run out of Tuesdays.
Staying in the Skylon the weekend before last, I met a good few of the Armagh fans, and it brought me back to 2012 and the impact getting to an All-Ireland can have on people, a community and a locality.
I remember it so well. Karl Lacey was working in Ulster Bank at the time with Kieran Donaghy, who had been in a good few finals with Kerry. At that time, there was a longer lead-in to the All-Ireland – four weeks, because we were in the earlier semi-final.
Kieran gave a bullet-point list to Karl of dos and don’ts for All-Ireland week and how to manage them. It included things like, getting the suit fittings out of the way within the first two or three days. Get the media day over with in the first week. Do not handle any ticket requests: get someone in the family or a close friend to do that for you, and if anyone approaches you at work or in the street, you say: “Chat to them, chat to them.”
Sunday will be interesting. I think we have two teams who will back their own style of play rather than setting out to negate the opposition
Another thing from Kieran concerned what he considered “the energy” to talk to random people. He recommended getting a phone to your ear if you see anyone coming and keeping it there!
If everyone who wanted to, spoke with you – and it’s from the bottom of their hearts and with immense goodwill – that’s about 20 conversations in a 30-minute lunch break, which can drain the energy. We would have used all of those suggestions.
So Armagh have the right man involved! I’m sure Kieran has distributed the same memo to their panel. Their press night was held two days after beating Kerry. The outside world can be going mad, but on the inside it’s calm and more organised.
We fired ahead with our normal lives. There was a training camp in Johnstown House about two weeks out and we might have taken a half-day on the Friday. Very few would have taken time off in the lead-up to the final. In my own case, I was keen to keep things as normal as possible, as I had all season. If I wasn’t taking time off before, why would I be doing it now?
Social media was another one. Get to a final and the apps are deleted. I always did that because they were simply another way for people to get in touch with you. Others might have done it differently, but it was all about conserving energy.
Get the media day over with in the first week. Do not handle any ticket requests: get someone in the family or a close friend to do that for you
Galway and Armagh have been through arduous weeks in terms of the number of games they have played in a short space of time, in the past six to eight weeks particularly. Maintaining energy levels is important.
I’m making it sound like we had to live reclusive lives and to be almost rude to people, but there were specific occasions when we got out. A couple of weeks out, we had a fans’ day in Ballybofey one Saturday after a training session. If we had reservations about this, Jim McGuinness would spin it as a positive.
“Try and feed off their energy,” he’d say. “Experience the excitement of it for a while.” You got a sense of that – what it means to the community – from the remarks of both Kieran McGeeney and Pádraic Joyce after this year’s semi-finals.
All-Ireland finals are different. On Sunday at the hurling final, you could see that Clare and Cork were out on the pitch much sooner. Normally you go out 20 minutes in advance, but last weekend, it was half an hour.
It sounds pedantic but you’re out on the field, warming up, meeting the President and parading for nearly a whole half of football before the half of football even starts. I remember practicing by meeting a pretend-President in an empty O’Donnell Park on a weekend day when the team went through the parade routine.
We used to leave the Abbey Hotel in Donegal town on a bus down to Johnstown House, and before we went, there was a meeting to go over everything again. We left, feeling confident – nothing could happen that we weren’t prepared for.
Sometimes, it didn’t work out that way. In the hotel on Saturday night, we would have a cup of tea and a bun with cream and jam at 9.30pm We stayed in chalets, like holiday apartments, a few of us in each one.
I was just heading up to hit the hay when Gary McFadden, a friend from the club who was in the squad that year, came running up the stairs, shouting: “Come on down, your mum and dad are on ‘Up For The Match!” Just when you thought you had everything covered.
Sunday will be interesting. I think we have two teams who will back their own style of play rather than setting out to negate the opposition. They have both played eight times in the championship and are well-rehearsed in what they are doing.
There is a familiarity there because of previous meetings, and that will entail lots of video review. Shane Walsh did well on Barry McCambridge the last day, in Sligo, so Armagh will be asking for more and the video will be well watched.
I was keen to keep things as normal as possible, as I had all season. If I wasn’t taking time off before, why would I be doing it now?
Dylan McHugh and Liam Silke have been great all season, but in the last couple of games, quarter-final and semi-final, they look to have elevated their game to another level. The cold, hard numbers on their scoring involvements are through the roof.
There will be a lot of chat about match-ups but, again, both of these teams will trust their zonal defence. Conor Turbitt will be marked and so will Andrew Murnin and Rory Grugan, but Galway will deal with the rest zonally.
Similarly for Armagh, Rob Finnerty, Damien Comer and Shane Walsh will also be marked, but I don’t see duties being assigned to any of the rest. Maybe Oisín Conaty, who did well on Ryan McHugh, will be asked to do the same job on his namesake Dylan.
In Sligo, both sides found weaknesses and will be analysing the video to study purple patches and looking to extend them on one side or shorten them on the other.
I think there will be anxiety because this is such an opportunity. Like the hurling without Limerick, this final without Dublin or Kerry is ready and waiting for both teams. The question is which county will handle that pressure more effectively.
