John Toal: Warrior spirit

“BE quiet and just listen.”

Whether you’re a club chasing a Division Four crown or a county with All-Ireland ambitions, some experiences will always remain shared.

One of those is the famed ‘shite session.’ Those nights at training when the voices are quiet and the energy is almost non-existent. Everyone can feel it.

In 2006 Armagh still had Sam Maguire in the eye-line. They remained a top team but, like every side in the history of the GAA, some nights the training just didn’t click.

Paul Grimley, their coach, had watched enough as the Orchard players trained out in Sheelagh just over the border in Louth.

It was dark as he blew his whistle and called the team into a huddle. “Be quiet and just listen,” he said.

The silence was broken by one noise – a panting John Toal who was pulling a sled behind him up and down the sideline as he continued his recovery from a horrific leg injury that nearly ended in amputation.

When the Armagh players returned to their positions, the training levels increased dramatically. The warrior John Toal had been the inspiration that night.

Around Keady, Toal stood out as a youngster for two reasons. Firstly, it was quite clear that there was a special footballing talent there just waiting to be harnessed. Secondly, unlike nearly every youngster in the area, he decided after a couple of sessions that hurling was not for him.

His early years were the same as most young GAA fans in the county. He represented – and usually captained – the Michael Dwyer’s with pride and when he wasn’t doing that he’d be in the back of the car touring the country with his father Paddy to watch their beloved Armagh.

“My first game I think was the Ulster final in 1980 (Armagh 4-10 Tyrone 4-7) and I’d say I’ve hardly missed an Armagh match since. My parents were such good influences on me growing up and my dad is a lifelong Armagh fan, he goes all the time.

“He followed me through everything, county, club, minors right the whole way up. He was always there. He never missed anything, Sigerson, Freshers, no matter where I played he was there. He got his money’s worth every now and then.”

Toal’s leadership qualities were evident from an early age. He captained his club at all age grades and was also captain of Keady High School.

It was no surprise then when he was handed the armband for the 1997 MacRory season when he transferred to St Patrick’s, Armagh to complete his A-Levels.

A good run of form saw them enter the St Patrick’s Day decider against Dungannon as favourites as they tried to end the school’s 44-year wait for the title.

Toal didn’t get to climb the steps of Casement Park though. Shane Kelly missed a penalty early on and was later sent off while Paul McCormack was also controversially dismissed as the Tyrone school secured a 2-9 to 1-10 win thanks to goals from Martin Early and Richard Thornton.

“We’d a very good team, we maybe won the league and then we got to the MacRory final.

“We missed the penalty and Paul was sent off, but he was wronged and he had his red card rescinded.

“Looking back, I think about 10 players from the two teams went on to win All-Ireland medals. Dungannon were very strong too. Ciaran Gourley, Richie Thornton, they were strong all over.”

The heartbreak was evident, but there was a welcome distraction. The day after the final, Toal was called in to the Armagh u-21 panel and actually lined out at midfield alongside Alan O’Neill in their Ulster Championship clash with Tyrone five days later.

“The MacRory final was a big kick in the teeth because we had such a good team and we were going so well,” he said.

“It was hard to take but the thing that moved me on quickly was that the u-21s were playing the following week and I got called into the panel and started against Tyrone the following weekend.

“Seamie (Heffron) and Liam McCorry were over the side. The MacRory final was on whatever day it was and there was u-21 training the following night. I didn’t have to time to dwell on the loss.

“I hadn’t been on the panel before that. It was last-minute and I came in and played. Tyrone beat us at the Athletic Grounds.”

That result meant that the county’s wait for a first-ever Ulster u-21 title would continue, but only for a year as Toal and his teammates claimed Armagh’s first major honour since the 1994 Ulster Minor winning side.

They defeated Tyrone in Coalisland and Down at the Athletic Grounds to set up a final clash with Derry. Barry Duffy’s goal proved decisive and a success-starved fanbase celebrated wildly and dreamt of going toe-to-toe with heavyweights Kerry at Parnell Park in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The side, however, were completely caught in the headlights and for 30 minutes they let the men from the Kingdom run over them.

Kerry had 1-8 on the board by the interval with Philip Oldham’s point the only response from the tepid Ulster champions. Whatever was said at half-time worked a treat though as Armagh came at their opponents in waves and although they never looked like winning the match, they certainly restored some pride.

“Kerry had a star-studded team, Mike Frank (Russell), Eamonn Fitzmaurice, (Noel) Kennelly and players like that. They were very strong but likewise so were we.

“One of the biggest things was that you were standing back a bit and looking at them in awe. You weren’t used to playing against them.

“At half-time we got our finger out and we destroyed them for a lot of the second half. I moved to centre half-forward and we made a few good changes and we got right back into the game.

“A lot of us were on the senior squad, or going into, around that time so that second half gave us a lot of belief as well.

“It showed the physical side of where we needed to go. They were bigger and stronger even though we were the same age. Football wise we were as good as them, but they were stronger physically.

“They also had that awe about them because it was Kerry and we were such underdogs.

“At that time in Armagh it wasn’t bred into you that once you put this jersey on it means whatever. I’m assuming in Kerry it’s viewed as a right of passage to success whereas in Armagh it wasn’t like that. There was a whole lot to learn and a lot of belief to discover before you got to that stage.

“By the end of it we got that. There were plenty of days with the seniors when we went out and we knew were going to win. We maybe didn’t play well but we knew we were still going to win.”

Toal had also been added to Brian Canavan and Brian McAlinden’s senior squad by that stage after receiving a call from Paddy Og Nugent to take himself to training.

His debut came in a 0-10 to 0-9 loss to Donegal in a National League match on Halloween 1999. He spent the next 19 months trying to get his hand up before finally earning his Championship debut in a 2001 Qualifier win over Down at Casement Park.

“I was 17 or 18 going into the county seniors so everything was moving the right way but I found stepping up, the physical end of it, tough. Although I was tall, I was light and you really had to develop physically to go for the positions that I was going for. You’re meeting the biggest men on the field.

“We were training in Lurgan the first time I went and at that stage there was nobody really from mid Armagh on the team. Whatever league Keady was in at the time, you weren’t coming across county players so although I knew them all because I grew up idolising them, I didn’t really know anybody properly.

“The first man to come over and put his hand out to welcome me was Paul McGrane and as the night progressed the boys came around and said hello. I always felt at home and I loved it.

“It was a big, physical side and coming out of minor I was going from being the biggest to being the smallest. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good you are, it’s the physical gap you have to bridge.

“When you fill out yourself and you get onto the strength and conditioning stuff, it takes care of itself.”

Armagh trainings during the Joe Kernan eras were legendary for their intensity and physicality, even if there was the odd bum night like the one mentioned previously in Sheelagh.

Toal said that it wasn’t much different under the two Brians, with McAlinden in particular having the knowhow to light a fuse.

“It was very aggressive and training was very hard. The two Brians didn’t step back or shy away from anything.

“They were the ones who put the wheels in motion and said that this is the level of attitude and commitment that you need to get to if Armagh are going to achieve anything.

“They put it in originally and then Joe and Grimbo were able to add the finishing touches.

“Brian (McAlinden) was very good and he was very honest. Whether you liked it or not, he told you what he thought – something he did with me on a few occasions.

“That could have been good or bad but you took it whatever way you wanted. He’d tell me that my physique wasn’t what it needed to be or maybe I needed to work on this angle of my game. But he’d tell me when I’m doing something well.

“They were very honest as a management, they were straight with you and you respected that.”

A few months prior to that championship debut in 2001 against the Mourne county, Toal was a key player as Jordanstown claimed Sigerson honours at the expense of UCD. It was the Keady man who scored the side’s goal in the 1-14 to 1-9 win in Scotstown.

He had previously captained the university’s Fresher side to All-Ireland glory, and he would captain the Sigerson side in 2002, so it understandably is a special period in his sporting career.

The campaign further enhanced Toal’s belief that Armagh were developing a special group of players. The O’Rourke brothers, Aidan and Martin, and Enda McNulty were all key men for manager Adrian McGuckin.

“I think that was the year of the Foot and Mouth outbreak.

“That meant that it wasn’t done over the weekend and some would say it’s better to win over the weekend, but we were rightfully there and we played some excellent football. We had great forwards, Paddy Bradley was super that year.

“Liam Doyle was there and he was such a brilliant fella and player and sadly injuries curtailed his involvement with Down. ‘Hub’ (Kevin) Hughes and Liam would have been midfield. I was centre half-forward and Aidan was centre-half back so we probably had a strong enough diamond.

“You had Enda at full-back and you had a good contingent of Armagh men there. We would have felt that the Armagh boys were driving the thing on. Paul McCormack was there as well, Marty was wing half-forward. Philly Loughran was in the subs.

“There was plenty of craic with that team too. There were characters throughout and there were a few adventurous nights out after wins. Maybe that was the advantage of not playing it over one weekend, we got to know each other better as it was a bit more drawn out.”

Two months later, Toal found himself in direct competition with UUJ teammates like Doyle and Mickey Walsh as he was handed his championship debut as Armagh attempted to respond to their timid Ulster performance against Tyrone.

Having long sat in the shadows of the Mournemen, Armagh had tipped the balance with Ulster wins in 1998 and ’99 and were expected to continue that winning streak in the county’s first-ever Qualifier match.

It was a stroll in the evening sun for Toal on his first outing as Armagh led by 11 points with 20 minutes remaining before a late 2-1 tally put a little bit of respect on the scoreboard for Down.

“Myself and Marty (O’Rourke) made our debuts on the same day, I think,” said Toal. “He was on one wing and I was on the other.

“It was a good day. It’s always extra nice when you’re winning against Down or Tyrone, your two big rivals.

“From memory, we started really well and went into a big lead and then they got a goal from Benny Coulter and Mickey Linden came on and got a goal.

“That brought them back into it but the game should have been over at that stage, although we did get the win.

“We should have had them dead and buried much earlier but the Tyrone loss was still on our minds. The management did make changes between those two games and we needed to find our feet too.”

An eight-point win over Monaghan followed – Toal and Stevie McDonnell with the goals – and that set up a round three clash with Galway that proved to be one of the lowlights of that era for Orchard fans.

Everything felt off even before Brian White threw the ball in. The team bus got caught in traffic and was late arriving to a Croke Park.

Out of sync, Armagh fell 0-12 to 0-5 behind and were en-route to a meek exit before something clicked and they reeled off seven points without reply.

There appeared to be only one winner, but Justin McNulty saw his forward pass blocked down by Michael Donnellan and Paul Clancy punished him with a fine point into the Canal End.

It would be a defeat that would spell the end for the two Brians, who had faced discontent from within the dressing room the previous year as Armagh lost their All-Ireland semi-final replay to Kerry. Toal, a fresh face on the scene, said he took a backseat to those particular off-field matters.

“That was my first day in Croke Park. You dream of playing there but I felt that day I just couldn’t get into it,” said Toal.

“I was marking Declan Meehan. He didn’t do too much but I wasn’t doing too much either.

“We started to get back into the game but they got that point and that’s the end of the year.

“I wouldn’t have been involved with any discussions around the management. The Brians had given me my chance and that’s something I will always be thankful for. They gave me plenty of encouragement when I was there. I would have good time for the two boys.

“Joe came in and did what he had to do but there was also such a strong leadership group within the team that was driving it on too.

“For the likes of us young boys we were competing to get on the team and hold our place whereas the leadership was looking at the potential to go on and actually win something.”

Toal’s first meeting with Kernan was a casual one at the Canal Court in Newry where the Crossmaglen man outlined his plans. Toal had just elbowed his way into the starting 15 the year previous, so one of his main concerns was knowing that he was going to have to prove himself all over again.

Kernan will always be remembered as the man who took Armagh to the Promised Land, but he had to deal with some snickering early doors as he took his panel to another destination.

After a league campaign made up of games they’d have been expected to win, and a promising one-point loss against Kerry in Tralee when Enda McNulty was lined, it was revealed that Kernan was taking the squad on a pre-championship training camp to La Manga in Spain.

Nothing noteworthy now but it was new for a GAA team to do something like that and they were accused of Illusions of grandeur. However, for Toal it was one of the main reasons why All-Ireland success would follow a few months later.

“Different people were saying that we would have great craic with the drink but there was none, it was complete focus on the rest of the year.

“It was a superb time. The amount of training that went into us was brilliant but even in terms of camaraderie, it was so important.

“I was sharing with Paul McGrane. There were three rooms and then a wee living room off it. Paul and myself were in one room, then it was ‘Hughesy’ (Kieran Hughes) and Cathal (O’Rourke) in another and I’m not sure who was in the other room.

“There wasn’t a mouthful of drink taken but there was nobody interested in it anyway.

“Everyone knew that we were going places and things were being done right, the management were doing everything right.

“We all had one common goal and we all believed that we could achieve it.

“We had a meeting one time in La Manga and I remember John McEntee got up and spoke and the hairs were standing on the back of my neck.

“I remember getting off the bus when we landed home and I was going back to Belfast with Aidan O’Rourke. I said ‘we are in some shape here, we’re going to beat these Tyrone boys.’ Aidan looked at me and said ‘what are you talking about?’ I said ‘I think we’ll beat them’ and he said ‘we’re not going to just beat these boys, we’re going to win the All-Ireland.’

“It was the first time it had been mentioned. I probably didn’t respond but I remember just thinking that he was right.”

They did beat Tyrone too, but they needed a replay to get the job done with Barry Duffy grabbing the winning goal in the second clash. Toal and McGrane received plenty of plaudits for their domination over the two games as their partnership continued to flourish. Team captain Kieran McGeeney praised the duo after they eased past Fermanagh in the semi-final and although Toal had a quieter Ulster final, John McEntee’s goal steered them to a 1-14 to 1-10 win over Donegal.

Armagh had been here before, but it was the All-Ireland series where they had come unstuck in the years previous. Toal was ready though.

The Keady man had gained the trust of his teammates with his combative nature adding another degree of steel and, crucially, safety too. With the half-back line of Aidan O’Rourke, McGeeney and Andrew McCann all possessing attacking instincts, he would be the man left to mind the house.

That positional awareness was always evident when he first joined the panel, but he showed a willingness to learn and had fine-tuned it by the time the 2002 season had rolled around.

Kernan also liked to pitch him against the opposition’s creative midfielder and as one of his former teammates remarked, “he’d often put a hole in them.”

“It wasn’t something that was ever spoken about,” Toal responded when asked was he ever asked to be an enforcer.

“Part of your job was to be in hitting hard and winning the ball. I enjoyed that element of the game. It was never dirty but if someone was there to be hit, I was happy to do it.

“That’s what we were getting in training. There were no quarters asked by anyone and that’s what we brought into the match.”

Everything nearly came crashing down against Sligo in the All-Ireland quarter-final. With an extra man, Armagh had lost a five-point lead in the run in and only for Dara McGarty opting for the safe option of a fisted equaliser, their season could have been over. As Armagh trooped off with plenty of questions, Kerry sprung onto the Croke Park pitch and put 2-17 on Galway.

The replay was expected to be in Clones but Páirc Tailteann got the nod and another roller-coaster afternoon followed. Referee Seamus McCormack had to be escorted from the field by the Gardai after failing to award the Yeatsmen a late penalty. Armagh just edged it, but the ovation the Sligo players got leaving the field in Navan spoke volumes of their display.

It was the reverse at Croke Park two weeks later. The outpouring of joy as Kernan’s men fended off Dublin was astonishing. The blue and orange created a beautiful contrast, none more so than at full-time when the blue waves snaked for the exits while those in orange, including 2,000 who had braved the Hill, went berserk.

The story of the final against Kerry has been told enough times by now, but one more outing won’t hurt.

Toal and McGrane lined up against Darragh Ó Sé and Donal Daly in one of the most attritional midfield battles you’re ever likely to see. The Munster men no doubt had the upper hand as Kerry ran the first half, but the turning of the game owed a lot to Armagh getting a foothold around the centre in the second period.

“They dominated in the first half. I had been dropping back maybe covering Geezer’s man to give him a bit more license to either push on or drop back.

“At half-time Joe said that we were going man-to-man here, he told us we had a job to do and either we were up to it or we weren’t. It meant that I could push a bit harder onto my own man and then Geezer stepped up further into the diamond in the middle of the field. When we did that we started dominating a bit more.”

One of the strangest things of the day for Toal was the reaction at the full-time whistle. Every angle had been covered by the management in the lead-up to the final bar one – what to do if they won.

“My brother was one of the first ones I met on the field and as the crowd gathered in I met my Da, which was nice. I met my girlfriend too, who is now my wife. They were the people who you wanted to see.

“The crowd pushed up and I got so far and I said to myself ‘I’m okay here, I can see Geezer lifting the cup.’ Somebody pushed me then and told me I had to go up there.

“I thought I was going to miss out on that chance of getting up there but eventually I got there.

“I had, at some point standing on the pitch, decided I was fine there and that’s probably because we had prepared for everything apart from what to do when the final whistle went.

“We were in the players’ lounge after it and all the wives and girlfriends from Armagh were over at one side and Elizabeth asked what was wrong with us. The Kerry boys were having great craic and we were just standing about looking at each other. I think we were just in shock.

“We couldn’t take it in. We were quiet, but we just couldn’t believe it. Now, it soon kicked in and there was plenty of craic at the banquet.”

The celebrations extended long past the night and Toal was one of the first men on the squad to get the Sam Maguire home with him.

Hundreds came through the house that day and Toal’s dad told him that he was the first man to be alive at his own wake. To this day, people still come up and tell him they were at his house that night. It was a truly special period for the club, especially as Paul McCormack had also played his part as he started at corner-back in the Ulster drawn encounter with Tyrone.

The 2003 championship season began with a shock 0-13 to 0-9 loss to Monaghan and Toal was replaced by Philip Loughran with 14 minutes remaining. Injuries would play a big part in the reasoning, but it would be his last start of the season.

He had late cameos in the wins over Waterford, Antrim, Limerick and Donegal but he didn’t feature against Dublin or in the All-Ireland final loss to Tyrone,

“I had hurt the back at the start of the year and I missed most of the league,” he said.

“We then played a silly charity game, half rugby, half Gaelic, in Belfast. I done my knee in it, I hurt ligaments. I had just been back a few sessions and then that kept me out another six to eight weeks. For something so simple and stupid really…

“I felt I was moving well enough in training but I was probably getting very frustrated and I wasn’t playing as well as I could. Maybe that was because of the frustration and getting so mad that I wasn’t starting. I was overdoing it, trying to do too much, and then you look worse than ever.

“Philly had been playing well and then we changed the shape slightly as well and Tony McEntee came in too. He was starting corner-forward and coming back and that allowed Philly to get forward.

“I’ve never watched the 2003 final back and I’ve only watched bits of the ’02 final. I have four wee girls and they watched some of the games during lockdown. I’ll probably sit down and watch them some day but I just never have.”

After a shock loss to Fermanagh in 2004, Armagh looked at their peak the following season. With the likes of Aaron Kernan, Andy Mallon and Ciaran McKeever supplementing the 2002 core, the team looked ready to make their move.

Toal was back in favour too. He excelled in the Ulster opener against Fermanagh and was beside McGrane in the drawn match with Donegal. Loughran replaced him for the replay and the semi-final with Derry, but a goal from the bench in the latter secured a starting spot for the Ulster final against Tyrone.

September 22, 2002 was the greatest day in Toal’s sporting career. July 10, 2005 was undoubtedly the worst.

A huge crowd was in Croke Park to see the hottest rivalry in Irish sport at that time and no quarter was given or taken.

Minutes before half-time, Toal delivered a ball towards the Canal End and was tackled by Stevie O’Neill as he did so. The collision caused catastrophic injuries and to literally add insult to injury, the fact that Armagh didn’t get a free from where the ball landed still annoys the Keady man.

“I had kicked the ball it was arm’s length away from me by the time I was hit and I didn’t even get a free. It should have been a free from where the ball landed.

“It happens. Nobody means to hurt anyone and if he had caught me a bit higher or a bit lower the chances are that you would have bounced up and ran on. Just where I was caught, the damage was done.

“I knew once I was hit that I was in trouble. I had plenty of injuries before and I was able to get through them. I broke my pelvis once and I played on for the rest of the game but I knew I wasn’t getting up this time.

“Elizabeth is a physio in the Royal and she would have worked with Enda McGinley.

“The Tyrone boys must have been chatting to Enda at training and when they found out how bad it was, Stevie rang me. He was going to come and visit me but there was no need for that, what was done was done and you just forget about it.

“I just remember waking up. It was an operation that was supposed to take two or three hours but it ended up being seven or eight hours.

“It was only when they went in that they realised that there was a lot more damage than they originally thought.

“There was a nerve and something else, and if they had been damaged I could have lost my leg or lost the power in my front.

“I’m still sore every day but there’s nothing I can’t do bar running. If I could run I still would be playing for Keady. I miss it every day.”

Toal’s rehab work became legendary inside the Armagh dressing room. After three months in a cast, the player threw himself into a routine that saw him visit the gym six times a week and also receive hours of phsyio treatment most days. Then there was the work at the side of the pitch as the main session continued nearby.

At times during the Kernan era, training would take place in grounds all around the county and locals would come and watch, and most would leave with the same opinion – that rehab work was a lot more gruelling than they ever imagined. Toal would take it to new levels.

“You just wanted to play,” he said. “That was at any level. If that meant playing B football for Keady, then I wanted to be able to do that. My ultimate goal was to play for Armagh though.

“I said that the worst case scenario of this effort was that I was going to have a very strong leg that would help me in my everyday life but my goal was to play again for Armagh.

“I trained, but it was just too much because the two bits of bone were rubbing against each other. I played a bit for the club but I remember coming out after training one day and I had to hold onto the car and feel along for a rail until I got to the backdoor. I said to myself ‘there’s a point here when I’ll do more harm.’”

Toal didn’t play a minute in his final season with the county in 2006, but he still was in the headlines in their All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry. He was on water-carrier duty at Croke Park that day and with 10 minutes remaining, he got into a spat with Paul Galvin.

A bit of jostling soon became serious and Toal landed a stiff right to Galvin before a jab with his left came up just short. Galvin, for his part, made clever use of Toal’s bib to haul him to the ground. Both were sent off with the Kingdom man picking up his second yellow.

“Stevie was going for a ball and Darragh Ó Sé came in and caught him high. The referee gave the free and the yellow but as I walked past I said ‘referee, elbow up, red card.’

“Galvin walked past and said a mouthful but I didn’t take much notice. Then he put his hand on my chest and nipped me, and I banged his hand down.

“Next thing he fell onto the ground as if I had hit him. That wasn’t a big deal because it didn’t matter if I did because I wasn’t a player.

“I don’t know why he rolled around to have me sent off. I think he realised that and that’s when he got up and grabbed me and pulled me to the line. I went so far and I said I’m going no further.

“These things happen. I’ve never set sights on him ever since.

“I was annoyed after the game. I thought maybe my actions had a negative effect on the boys. But after they said that when they saw me fighting when I couldn’t play then it gave them a lift to push on. I think we did get the next score after the incident but then Kerry got the sucker-punch goal.”

It was the last day that Toal pulled on the jersey but contrary to reports at the time, he didn’t find out that he was being released from the panel via a newspaper, with Kernan instead giving him a phonecall.

“He didn’t use the phrase ‘dropping off the panel’. He just told me to go back to the club, get games and we’ll keep an eye on you.”

That’s exactly what he did but it soon became apparent that any dreams of lining out for Keady on a regular basis, never mind Armagh, were finished.

He played in the full-forward line and players he regularly made mince-meat of were now getting out in front and his frustration grew, so did his card count. Keady played St Peter’s on a wet night and when he felt a twinge when nobody was around him, Toal knew it was time to say goodbye.

Coaching was an obvious path and in 2009 he took his home club to an Intermediate final where they lost to Newtown having swept all before them in Division Three.

A spell of coaching in Carrickmacross followed before returning to Keady for a second time. After that McGrane asked him to help the Armagh u-16s and that ultimately led to Toal joining Kieran McGeeney’s backroom team.

In 2017, when McGeeney was suspended for an alleged verbal altercation with linesman Joe McQuillan, Toal served as manager for the Ulster loss to Down and the Qualifier victory against Fermanagh.

“There were two games and Kieran asked me to step up. It was a nice honour for me.”

McGeeney’s trust was no surprise. When selecting his management team, the former Orchard county purposefully picks people who will tell him when he is wrong. Toal believes he falls under that particular category.

“We have plenty of discussions and as a group we will argue all the time,” he said. “It’s a good thing because there is so much competition there.

“If you want a player on you have to be able to argue your case, you have to justify how it’s going to work.

“We have meetings that last hours and hours when it comes to just picking the team.

“When I came into the Armagh set-up Geezer was captain and he was a leader along with Paul and Diarmaid (Marsden). He has continued that throughout his playing and management career.

“Not only is he the football manager but he does so much for the boys outside it. And the players appreciate it. His level of commitment is phenomenal.”

For Toal, McGeeney has always been an inspiration but he is not going to make any grand speculation about his own managerial ambitions. He loves being involved with the Orchard county, and he is happy just to see where that journey takes him.

“I do enjoy it. I enjoy the management team that we have in place. I enjoy the players we have because I find them very open and willing to learn.

“I’m currently also helping underage teams in Keady. If anyone wants me to take a session I’ll take it. I took the u-17s a few weeks ago and I came out buzzing because everything you asked them to do they did it to the best of their ability.

“When you get a team like that you enjoy the session as much as they do. That’s when coaching is really great.”

By Niall McCoy

n.mccoy@gaeliclife.com