SO there he was, on a rainy afternoon in Croke Park, August 2014. Stefan ‘Soupy’ Campbell running around like he owned the place.
Meath didn’t know how to handle the barrel-chested Armagh attacker. He was new to the inter-county scene and played the game with an uncomplicated joy.
Every bustling run, every jink and dummy that day seemed to lead to something.
The Orchard County, managed by Paul Grimley that year before handing over the reins to his assistant Kieran McGeeney, dismissed Meath in impressive fashion.
They should also have beaten Jim McGuinness’s Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-finals a couple of weeks later.
Aaron Kernan was magnificent in that narrow defeat to Donegal. He was the cerebral hub who knew how to pick holes in Donegal's blanket.
Fast-forward to last Sunday and eight years on from that Meath game: ‘Soupy’ Campbell was running around The Athletic Grounds like he owned the place.
Put plenty of grass in front of him, tell him to go wherever he thinks he can affect the game, let him play off the cuff, and there’s a good chance he’ll cause harm to the opposition.
Last Sunday’s commanding victory over defending All-Ireland champions Tyrone felt like a breakthrough win for Armagh, with Campbell at his expressive best.
And yet, for all the good contained in that six-point win, there is more in this Armagh team.
It was a far cry from their 2017 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat where the Red Hands ran over the top of them. Tyrone looked light years ahead of Armagh who were in Division Three.
Since ‘Geezer’ assumed the managerial reins in 2015, there’s been a fair amount of pain. And, it must be said, a lot of redemption found on the well-worn road of the old All-Ireland Qualifiers.
In McGeeney's first season in charge, some pundits gave them a chance of upsetting Donegal in Ulster. After all, they’d won the Division Three title and Rory Gallagher’s Donegal had a mid-table finish in Division One.
Of course, it was a desperately naïve punt as Armagh were coming from a much lower base.
Armagh, as it turned out, played like rabbits caught in headlights at The Athletic Grounds and were completely flummoxed by Donegal’s blanket defence that didn’t have to work too hard to snare their hosts.
Afterwards, Gallagher admitted as much that it was virtually mission impossible for their opponents to win the game.
“In the cold light of day we thought it would be difficult for a Division Three team to beat us,” said Gallagher.
The fact that Armagh were relegated back to Division Three the following season probably summed up where Armagh football was at in the last decade.
And yet, Armagh’s standing in the country was continually exaggerated by the mere fact Kieran McGeeney was their manager. He was their totem.
In hindsight, too much was expected of them.
They had good forwards but few exceptional ones.
Monaghan may have won an Ulster title from Division Three - in 2013 - but as the years tripped along Division One has become something of a glass ceiling for the rest.
It’s reached the stage where you can’t expect to win any major prizes unless you’re competing at the top table. But this reality didn't stop expectations soaring in the Orchard County. After all, ‘Geezer’ was in charge.
They were gone after two games in the 2016 Championship. In 2017, they recovered from an Ulster Championship defeat to Down and scored brilliant victories over Tipperary and Kildare before exiting to Tyrone.
More Ulster misery followed in 2018 when Rory Gallagher came back to haunt them with Fermanagh. It was another one of those days where Armagh didn’t know how to attack the blanket defence.
Individual mistakes ramped up, lucid minds became foggy, decision-making worsened and the game slipped from Armagh's tenuous grip.
Armagh have been trying to win games another way, a more aesthetically pleasing way, with a kicking game that is brilliant when it comes off but often flounders when facing into a crowded ’45.
Throughout the last eight years, though, Armagh have always been one of the most compelling watches on the Championship circuit.
No team endured pain like them, especially on the hard, austere provincial terrain, before they’d light up the All-Ireland Qualifiers with some spectacular performances.
Even in defeat to Roscommon in O’Moore Park in 2018, Armagh played an unbelievable game.
Meanwhile, the top teams were more functional, played the percentages, won games, but never set pulses racing.
What’s changed over the past two seasons, however, is Armagh are no longer coming from a low base.
They belong in Division One. Critically, decision-making inevitably improves. You problem-solve better than you were ever allowed to in Division Three or Two.
Anything is possible when you’re playing the top teams on regular basis.
Perhaps spooked by how easily Ryan McAnespie and Darren Hughes ran through them in Newry last July, Armagh didn't want to leave the same corridors open to Donegal in this year’s Ulster Championship clash in Ballybofey.
They played a more conservative game and were still picked off by their hosts. When they were paired again in last Monday's All-Ireland Qualifier draw, Armagh were probably hoping the game would be staged at Croke Park, and not Clones.
A faster pitch, more wide open spaces to attack and promising themselves a more aggressive approach than last time and you'd fancy Armagh to progress to the last eight.
But Clones is a much slower pitch.
There'll be no surprises how Donegal go about their business on Sunday.
Theirs is a defensive system that profits heavily from the opposition making bad choices in their half of the field – and it’s one that Armagh perennially struggle with.
For desire alone, Armagh out-stripped Tyrone by a considerable margin. Defensively, Tyrone were all over the place too.
Even though they've just knocked out the All-Ireland champions, Armagh's road gets steeper this weekend.
Sunday’s All-Ireland Qualifier will be the ultimate test of Donegal’s character following their soul-sapping extra-time loss to Derry in the Ulster final.
Likewise, Donegal are Armagh’s ultimate test from a tactical perspective.
The great thing about Championship Sundays is that you always get answers.
