With the team stagnating and struggling to take the next step by claiming a statement victory, McGeeney had to survive a county board vote last autumn to remain in situ after nine years in the job.
Armagh don’t have a long history of reaching All-Ireland finals - but Kieran McGeeney says he could see a pathway to one with these players, even at their lowest moments.
Asked if he could imagine them scaling such lofty heights on the back of last year’s elimination, McGeeney said: “Yeah, I probably could. I felt we were unlucky again that night. You try to put the outline of a plan together but we missed a lot of shots. “I couldn’t have said for definite, but I wouldn’t have gone back unless I could have pushed them on. We’re in an All-Ireland final, and it’s a great achievement – but the whole thing about getting to finals is that you want to win them.”
There was no doubting the merit of Armagh’s win, yet they were second best for about three-quarters of normal time. Kerry led 0-10 to 0-6 at half-time and threatened to cut loose after the break but from three decent goal opportunities, only one was taken as Paul Murphy palmed to the net from close range in the 47th minute to put them five up.
McGeeney knows that he has no control over that, so there’s no point in even trying to contain the madness.
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