Grugan and Morgan will be missed says Crealey

By Shaun Casey

RORY Grugan and James Morgan will be two big misses in the Armagh changing room next season according to their now-former county teammate Ben Crealey.

The pair, who won the All-Ireland Minor title together back in 2009, announced their retirements from inter-county action earlier this week.

Grugan helped Armagh win both the All-Ireland and the Ulster Championship in recent years, while injury has really hampered Morgan’s involved at club and county level over the past few campaigns.

“I knew that news was coming for a while, but when you see it and the boys leave the group chat, it becomes real,” Crealey, who is working his way back from injury himself, said of the recent retirements.

“I haven’t even got chatting to either of them since they announced it but they were two big personalities.

“What they did on the pitch, obviously everyone could see but it’s the stuff off the pitch that not many people had the pleasure to see. They are two great lads and they’ll be missed.”

Morgan and Grugan were two of the commanding presences in Kieran McGeeney’s changing room when the Maghery midfielder was first called into the squad back in 2019.

“There was always that core group of James, Rory, Aidan, Stephen Sheridan. I was in when Charlie Vernon and Brendy Donaghy and all those boys were still there,” Crealey added.

“That 2009 minor team has been the oldest group there for a while now and once they start to drop off, you soon realise that there’s not too many people older than you now but they’re going to have to be filled by other boys coming in.”

They are the latest players to have stepped away from the Armagh panel in recent times, with a crop having left at the start of this season.

The likes of Stephen Campbell, Jemar Hall, Niall Rowland, Ciaron O’Hanlon and Mark Shields all retired following the 2025 campaign.

Ciaran Higgins, Niall Grimley, Shane McPartlan and Rian O’Neill were all unavailable throughout the year as well, so the squad had already been shaken up, but Crealey doesn’t expect as much change once they head back for preseason.

“Last year was probably more significant because there was a lot more people that moved on at the start of last season,” the 2024 All-Ireland winner added.

“It felt like we were a new team in a lot of ways. You were in the huddle at training looking around you and half the boys there, it was only their first or second year involved.

“Last year was quite a big transition in that sense and this year we’re losing another few but the lads that have stepped in have a year under their belt, so I don’t think it’ll feel that dramatic to the team.”

“But when you look back over the last few years, the whole panel has changed quite a lot but when you’re training and playing, you just get on with it.”