All-Ireland final preview: Let the battle begin

All-Ireland SFC final
Armagh v Galway
Sunday, Croke Park, 3.30pm
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)

By Michael McMullan

THERE will be scenes of ecstasy when the Sam Maguire is thrust skywards this season.

Once both Dublin and Kerry were taken out of the occasion the competition was blown wide open. And Sunday is no different.

Galway will feel they can end a 23-year famine. Armagh will have the same thoughts of repeating the summer of 2002. It’s up for grabs. It really is and that’s what makes Sunday such an attraction.

It was the same for the hurlers of Cork and Clare. And that’s what will make 2025 an even more interesting year.

Belief is the most powerful word sport can offer. For Kieran McGeeney and Pádraic Joyce, they know it all too well.

McGeeney has watched his side rub shoulders with the top teams before slipping into the darkness of defeat.

Joyce will have turned the 2022 loss over and over. Defeat does that. Then there was the injury crisis he faced this year. Both men are competitors and it has rubbed off on their players.

Niall Grimley met injury head on and is now an important cog in their midfield mix. Blaine Hughes threw his lot back in and keeps Ethan Rafferty on the bench.

Deep down, Stefan Campbell has to be disappointed with his role as super sub but he has always delivered. There is the cut of the team always coming first.

Armagh had the rocky middle spell in the first half against Kerry when they were hanging on. But they did. They needed Paddy Burns to chase what looked like a lost cause to make Tom O’Sullivan pull a certain goal chance wide.

They have made a name for hanging tough long enough for the cavalry from the bench to be a factor.

Defensively, they’ve been mean too. Paddy Burns, Aaron McKay and Barry McCambridge have blunted whatever cutting edge has come at them.

For all their hard luck stories, they stayed unbeaten outside of the penalty shootout.

Armagh just looked like a group that needed a big result, a victory to make that belief word come to life. Their hammering of Derry ticked that box.

They needed the luck of Connor Gleeson’s wayward kick-out to give them an avenue back into the group game with Galway and a draw on the way to top of the group.

Again, it was a result they needed. While it was a draw, it will have felt like a win.

Joyce has a team with a toughening underbelly too. Their litany of missing players made Division One survival a steep climb. But they got there and are stronger for it.

Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin, John Maher and Céin D’Arcy got game time and held tight to their jerseys. The fact Kieran Molloy, John Daly and Johnny Heaney can’t get a start now tells a lot. And it’s not through injury. Only Cian Hernon is ruled out of Sunday. Seán Kelly is back in training. Their captain and heartbeat. A look at their team and it’s hard to make a strong case for him getting back in. That alone says a lot of their depth.

Damien Comer and Shane Walsh have had two weeks to help with match sharpness.

Like Armagh are of McGeeney, Galway are a reflection of Joyce. They’ve walked the walk as players. They hold respect and they’ve got their eyes fully locked on winning Sam.

Aside from Kelly’s fitness, Galway’s team otherwise picks itself with the peace of mind that turning to the bench won’t weaken their options.

Armagh’s big question is the one Galway’s first half against Donegal highlighted. Every time Gleeson stepped back for a kick-out, he had long, short and medium options.

Coupled with Conroy’s goal, it had Donegal chasing the game for long periods. That alone can sap the energy. Galway’s size and keeping three forwards – Walsh, Finnerty and Comer – up front at all times lengthened the pitch. It’s the first time Ciaran Mackin’s loss will be felt.

It poses a question over selection. Peter McGrane operates well as the follower after a forward that pulls out. Galway’s shape doesn’t offer that. Ciaran Higgins has size and played in their last two games with Galway. It will be interesting to see if he gets the nod.

If the Armagh management had a seat high up in Croke Park, in the scouting mission 24 hours after booking their final spot, they’d have seen it unravelling below them. An afternoon well spent. Recorded footage doesn’t always tell the full story.

Armagh and Galway will travel in confidence, neither more than the other. Who wins Sam? This is the toughest of calls. Talking out the 2022 penalties, the combined score of the last four meetings have Galway as 4-56 to 5-52 winners. Sunday will be the same. It’s going all the way. If Armagh can find a way of shortening the range of Galway’s kick-out options, Sam is within reach.

THE ROAD TO CROKER

ARMAGH

NFL
Armagh 0-12 Louth 0-11
Armagh 2-16 Meath 0-10
Kildare 0-8 Armagh 2-16
Armagh 1-9 Donegal 0-12
Fermanagh 0-11 Armagh 0-15
Armagh 2-21 Cavan 0-12
Cork 2-16 Armagh 2-16
Armagh 0-15 Donegal 0-16
Ulster SFC
Fermanagh 0-9 Armagh 3-11
Armagh 0-13 Down 2-6
Armagh 0-20 Donegal 0-20 (5-6 on penalties)
All-Ireland SFC
Armagh 0-16 Westmeath 0-11
Derry 0-15 Armagh 3-17
Armagh 1-12 Galway 0-15
Armagh 2-12 Roscommon 0-12
Armagh 1-18 Kerry 1-16 AET

GALWAY

NFL
Galway 0-10 Mayo 2-12
Roscommon 0-9 Galway 0-9
Tyrone 0-12 Galway 1-10
Galway 1-11 Derry 3-10
Monaghan 0-14 Galway 2-12
Galway 0-14 Dublin 0-22
Kerry 0-15 Galway 1-10
Connacht SFC
London 0-9 Galway 5-21
Sligo 0-14 Galway 1-13
Galway 0-16 Mayo 0-15
All-Ireland SFC
Galway 2-14 Derry 0-15
Westmeath 0-11 Galway 1-12
Armagh 1-12 Galway 0-15
Galway 0-14 Monaghan 0-11
Galway 0-17 Dublin 0-16
Galway 1-14 Donegal 0-15

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
2024 Armagh 1-12 Galway 0-15 – SFC
2023 Armagh 0-16 Galway 1-12 – SFC
2022 Armagh 3-18 Galway 2-21 – Galway won on penalties – SFC
2022 Armagh 1-6 Galway 1-8 – NFL
2016 Armagh 1-15 Galway 1-15 – NFL

TOP SCORERS

Galway
Robert Finnerty 1-48 (24f, 4m)
Shane Walsh 1-30 (16f)
Cillian Ó Curraoin 0-25 (15f, 1m)
Paul Conroy 2-16 (1f)
Céin D’Arcy 3-6
Armagh
Conor Turbitt 5-54 (28f, 1-0pen, 2m)
Rory Grugan 2-34 (19f)
Oisin Conaty 0-29
Stefan Campbell 1-21
Rian O’Neill 1-14 (1f, 1m)

THE LAST MEETING

2024 Armagh 1-12 Galway 0-15 – All-Ireland SFC
A FISTED point from Stefan Campbell earned Armagh the draw they needed to top the group. It was a result that looked unlikely with Galway in control for long spells in Markievicz Park.
Galway hit three scores in a row from Paul Conroy, Dylan McHugh and Liam Silke to lead by 0-13 to 0-8 after 54 minutes. A Turbitt free broke the momentum four minutes later before the game changed on a Connor Gleeson kick-out. Turbitt intercepted the ball with Tiernan Kelly hitting the net. Walsh pointed a free for Galway to edge them back ahead before ‘Soupy’ weighed in with the equaliser.

Armagh: B Hughes; B McCambridge, A McKay, P McGrane; C Higgins, T Kelly (1-1), A Forker; N Grimley, B Crealey (0-1); J McElroy, R O’Neill (0-3), O Conaty; R Grugan, A Murnin (0-2), C Turbitt (0-4, 1f)
Subs: S Campbell (0-1) for Higgins, R McQuillan for Conaty, A Nugent for Forker, O O’Neill for McGrane

Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Mulkerrin, J Glynn; Dylan McHugh (0-1), Liam Silke (0-1), S Fitzgerald; P Conroy (0-2), S Kelly; M Tierney (0-1), J Maher (0-1), Céin D’Arcy; R Finnerty (0-3, 2f), S Walsh (0-5, 3f), C McDaid (0-1)
Subs: J Daly for Mulkerrin, C Sweeney for McDaid, J Heaney for Kelly, D O’Flaherty for D’Arcy, T Culhane for Finnerty

Check out the neutral view of Sunday’s All-Ireland final with columnists Gerard O’Kane and Kevin Cassidy