All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Armagh 3-18 Galway 2-21 (Galway win 4-1 on penalties)
SOMETIMES Gaelic football is an insane game – made crazier by the controversial introduction of penalty shoot-outs to settle big Championship matches.
To varying degrees, both managers Kieran McGeeney and Padraic Joyce condemned the practice as Galway emerged from the “lottery” as winners of this unforgettable All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park.
“Penalty shoot-outs are for soccer,” blasted Joyce.
And he was the winning manager.
The two managers also condemned the melee at the mouth of the Cusack Park tunnel as both sets of players collided and wrestled at the end of normal time.
But where do you start dissecting this enthralling encounter?
Greg McCabe’s harsh red card in normal time? Rian O’Neill’s stupendous free that sent the game into extra-time? Armagh scoring two goals in stoppage-time with two Hail Mary balls lumped in on top of the Galway square?
Or perhaps Galway captain Sean Kelly being totally bemused at his retrospective red card once the teams emerged for extra-time and Armagh’s Aidan Nugent following him?
They felt like two sacrificial lambs so officials could at least say they ‘dealt’ with the mayhem at full-time.
In truth, David Coldrick and his officials had an impossible task as they compared and contrasted notes as to who threw punches and who didn’t and who were the peace-makers.
It was all a bit mad.
And the back-and-forth between a reporter and ‘Geezer’ who asked the Armagh manager if players should assume more responsibility when the temperature rises on the big days.
The Armagh boss returned the serve to the reporter: “What happens if somebody pushes you? Do you push back?”
The exchange ended in stalemate before McGeeney praised the thousands of Armagh supporters who had successfully ‘turned Croke Park orange’ for an afternoon no-one will forget in a hurry.
When Nugent and substitute Conor Turbitt hit Galway’s net in stoppage-time and Rian O’Neill conjured an incredible equaliser, it looked as though the Ulstermen would finish the job in extra-time.
But Galway played with their heads and their hearts, recovering from Rory Grugan’s extra-time major to nab one of their own a minute later through the imperturbable Cillian McDaid. And it was the Galway midfielder who grabbed a last-gasp equaliser to deny Armagh an All-Ireland semi-final date with Derry next month.
As it turned out, Galway converted four penalties out of four which was enough as 'Soupy' Campbell and Conor Turbitt missed theirs.
“Listen, that’s just the way sport is. It’s cruel,” said McGeeney afterwards.
“And going through replays is not fair on supporters either especially at the minute because it’s expensive coming to Dublin. It’s not a great way to do it; it’s a pure lottery.
“You would put your house on ‘Turbo’ and ‘Soupy’. They’ve been practising penalties because they knew it would happen in some game, but you hit the outside of the post, you hit a tuft of grass... It’s in the lap of the Gods. Yeah, it’s tough and it’s cruel on the boys in there and you really do feel for them.”
McGeeney definitely had pangs of regret in the immediate aftermath.
They didn’t play with the clear minds that typified their brilliant Championship wins over Tyrone and Donegal, with the Armagh boss feeling this was a quarter-final they left behind.
“We’re very disappointed,” said the Mullaghbawn man.
“We didn’t put our best foot forward for most of the game. We probably did enough at times to win it, but [there was] sloppiness at times…
“When we went for a couple of points the goals opened up but we possibly didn’t take enough chances in the middle part [of the game].
“There were probably 40 minutes in the middle where we were a bit sloppy and hesitant, where normally we’d be a bit braver than that.
“But the occasion can get to you, a lot of them are young players. It’s their first real go at this type of football so it can put the brakes on you a wee bit.”
On the melee at the end of normal time, Joyce insisted both sets of management teams acted swiftly to restore order.
Echoing Joyce’s observations, McGeeney said: “It’s not something you want to see. I suppose this year that’s two we’ve sort of been in, it’s unfortunate.
“But those things shouldn’t happen, they definitely shouldn’t, but there are a few simple things we could do to stop it. They shouldn’t be going in together at half-time. It’s not a nice part and I wouldn’t want to see it. But then trial by social media is a very poor way to go [referring to the fall-out of the NFL tie between Donegal and Armagh earlier in the season].
“It showed the last time, if people had actually sat down and watched the video, they might have got it right…”
McGeeney has been on the receiving end of some painful defeats as manager. Yesterday will rank with the toughest, alongside Donegal’s last-gasp win over his Kildare side in 2011.
“We’ve had a decent year but you’re constantly looking for those marginal gains… Sometimes people get a wee bit carried away with our history…
“It’s a tough ask to get up to the top, it takes a couple years but I think the group has the potential and they’re definitely better footballers than we ever were, it’s just getting that wee bit of luck.
“You saw McDaid’s point out there which was a screamer and Kevin Cassidy’s one here [Donegal versus Kildare in 2011] – some days you can’t do anything about them.
“I’m not saying by any stretch I’m a good manager. I enjoy it, I love football, I love my county and I love the GAA, it’s definitely a passion.”
Armagh, once again, leave an indelible mark on the Championship stage – but it’s Galway who advance to face Derry in the All-Ireland semi-finals on July 9.
The pain of this defeat will take some time to heal.
