ARMAGH sit proudly at the top of Division One.
We are only in February so it's early days, but the Orchard County are certainly making noise.
There was a time Kieran McGeeney was the only ‘true’ believer and, dare I say, some of his players may not have thought them capable of challenging for the bigger honours.
They should now start to believe in a quietly confident way.
The challenge to the players will be keeping the feet on the ground – there have never been any medals given out in February.
'Geezer' will play his part, fine-tuning players' focus and if a bubble has to be burst, he'll do it.
When Kieran took the reins, he was the natural successor having taken Kildare as far as he could.
It was a successful tenure when you consider everything.
He has been subjected to a lot of criticism from within and outside Armagh in these last seven years.
There are plenty of hurlers 'on the ditch' and in this game you have to be thick-skinned.
The reality is that any man, woman and child has an opinion on a player or manager before they step onto a field or side-line.
Human nature is such that we begin to form an opinion on someone within the first 10 seconds. If you decide to partake in any team sport, indeed any sport, and expect a smooth sailing, I’m afraid you aren’t buying into reality.
I have certainly felt like I have had to prove people wrong in the past.
Am I a tad defensive, maybe even paranoid? Probably.
I think everyone believes they have something to prove at some point in their life.
Like any home, there was a huge amount of love in our house growing up - not that you would know it sometimes when peace would break out between wars.
However, we were taught to never give up, accept disappointment, give your very best and work hard.
My parents facilitated sport in a manner where it was placed as important as academia (well, maybe not as important, but certainly a close second).
No better place to learn, accept and grow as a person than on a football field.
All sport, whether that is an individual event or team game, mirrors a lot of what we all have to deal with in life.
Johnny Giles famously said that he went into professional football as a 16-year-old and came out a 16-year-old.
Perhaps Giles was inferring that professional sport shielded him from life’s realities whereas I can only talk as an amateur with a day job, exams and studies.
We put club and inter-county players in both codes on a pedestal within Irish society.
Rightly so, when you consider what players give up, have given up and continue to do in a voluntary capacity in most cases.
A significant number of people will point to commitment levels now expected as a reason not to dedicate themselves to the game, at either club or county level.
They will question whether the juice is worth the squeeze.
But I can tell you that win, lose or draw, it’s always been worth the squeeze to me.
There were over 20,000 at the game last Sunday in the Athletic Grounds when you count the children.
And when we consider that the players are heading into classrooms, onto building sites or into studies first thing Monday morning, it is a testament to their characters as high-performing individuals they can give us fans such contests as those witnessed last weekend.
From my limited viewing of the so-called ‘melee’ on TV, I didn’t see a fist clenched or thrown, nor did I see anything particularly close to a red card.
Again the referee, David Gough I’m afraid, may have been acting strictly by the letter of the law but he lacks the understanding of ‘real game’ experience of playing through such events.
Most of it was chest beating.
In sending off four Tyrone players, excessive by any standards, it unfortunately took the shine away from a brilliant and dominant display by Armagh.
Tyrone have not yet got up to the lofty heights of last season, nor would you expect the All-Ireland champions to be there just yet.
Perhaps, as a Tyrone fan, you would be worried if they were, given that the Championship remains months away.
With the best will in the world, as an Ulster team who have won the Sam Maguire, there has to be some sort of ‘long hangover’.
While the Red Hands didn’t win it out of no-where, it wasn’t exactly predicted so early in Logan and Dooher’s tenure as managers.
They have also lost a number of wider team players who would offer a starting place to most other teams in the country.
The second XV on any inter-county panel are as important at times as the first XV.
These guys push the ‘starters’ hard and Dublin practically dominated the last decade on the back of a strong bench.
As we can now see, Dublin’s well is drying up in that department and are moving into transition.
If you know there is someone ready to come in, perform in your role and secure the jersey you hold, it motivates you.
Armagh are heading in the right direction but will only get to where Tyrone are when they win a Sam Maguire, via an Anglo-Celt.
National Leagues don’t really count, albeit they are a significant stepping stone to believing they belong at the top table.
Armagh have reached significant milestones in 1953, 1977, 2002 and 2003, some they won, some lost.
For their fans, it’s too early to look much further than the next few games, but why not enjoy it, sitting top of the table, with a group of players who can compete with anyone.
This doesn’t happen that often - so embrace it. It’s okay to get giddy as a supporter, it's okay to expect as a player.
God knows there has been enough criticism of this group of players. And if that’s not there any more, there is always a Down supporter around the corner ready to talk of our history.
