Armagh have “loads to work on” after Galway defeat admits McGeeney

ARMAGH suffered their first defeat inside 70 minutes since 2023 when they lost out to Galway by the minimum of margins in Saturday’s enthralling round three encounter and they have “loads to work on” says manager Kieran McGeeney.

The reigning All-Ireland champions had already secured their spot in the quarter-finals with opening round wins over Derry and Dublin and looked like completing the hattrick when they led 15-7 at the interval.

A sterling second half surge from the Tribesmen, led by the talismanic Shane Walsh, saw them still ahead at full time, thanks to a late Walsh free, while second half goals from John Maher and Robert Finnerty were key as well.

“It was a cracking game, unfortunately we just made a couple of silly mistakes but that’s part of the course,” said McGeeney. “It cost us today but we’re not going to be too despondent, we still have a lot to work on.

“We had a couple of good chances but then so did they. Definitely the first penalty, I thought the second one was very soft but Ethan had a very good game, especially in the first half.

“I suppose we’d be disappointed that we gave the ball away so much. They upped the aggression stakes and the frees seemed to fall their way then and we just got caught doing still stuff.

“It’s annoying. We got ourselves back into a good position again and gave it away and it’s probably just a wee bit annoying with the free at the end but loads to work on.

“We gave the ball away in shocking positions but we recovered well, we went five points up again and then we gave it away after winning it really well on the edge of the arc and they got a point out of that and a goal from the kickout so loads to work on.”

The Orchard County did field without All-Star Ben Crealey, Rory Grugan and Oisin O’Neill, which opened opportunities for the likes of Niall Grimley, Cian McConville and Joe McElroy to show their worth.

“The likes of Ben, Rory and Oisin are still big missing and you had a few then that are sitting with a few niggles and that we didn’t want to use,” added the All-Ireland winning captain and manager.

“I think the people who came on today, Grimley hasn’t really played all year just coming back from a few injuries, was very good. So was Joey McElroy, loads of running, Cian McConville was excellent for us as well.

“We have no complaints that way, it was just those few mistakes that cost us dearly. We had a free kick in the middle that bounced over Andrew’s head and those are the things, silly stuff, that give the ball away.”

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