Armagh and Monaghan: Planting the seed for more of the same

By Michael McMullan

LAST Sunday in Clones was always going morph into a sea of colour. Orange or blue? Well, that simply depended on the result.

Nothing can suppress such an outpouring of emotion. That’s what famines do. There is no fuel like hunger.

Monaghan’s 2013 Ulster final pitch invasion was one of those moments. I can still see it yet.

For Armagh, 2008 and Paul McGrane hosting aloft the Anglo Celt Cup was generations ago. Add in three Ulster final defeats and that release of both joy and relief is beyond words.

A second visit of Sam Maguire was tucked into the middle of three Ulster final defeats, telling the world Armagh belong in the upper echelons.

Cian McConville: On the inside looking out

While Sam is Everest, the manner of their Ulster finals stoked up what last Sunday brought.

Points from Niall O’Donnell and Odhrán Doherty. Hurt form the past. A Shaun Patton penalty save. Odhrán Lynch’s goalkeeping heroics. Ciaran McFaul’s penalty.

Finnbarr Roarty and Stephan McMemamin keeping their wits – and the ball – in the most combustive of sideline pressure cookers.

Anyone in the Armagh core will remember them all.

When Stephen O’Hanlon thumped over his two pointer, their nerves are bound to have been shuddering inside.

Not again. Surely not again.

It didn’t matter. They had Oisin Conaty.

If his five first half points and the hoovering of loose leather to set Rory Grugan on his way to make Oisin O’Neill’s goal wasn’t enough, Conaty’s sixth point was the final grain of sand.

It came after Armagh won the final throw-in after defending the three phases of play when Monaghan picked up the breaks of the previous three throw-ins.

Aidan Forker’s speech was excellent. Long but excellent. After listening to Conor Glass and Patrick McBrearty (twice), every word was going to be chosen and delivered with precision.

The words he had for Kieran McGeeney were strong, succinct and on the money. ‘Geezer’ made them winners, but he made them “better men” too.

McGeeney’s achievement should be championed. He lost Kieran Donaghy from his management team but kept taking steps forward.

There was a period last season when there seemed to be a different person stepping away from the squad every week, from main men to the workers around the edges that pushed everyone along.

Then came the loss of Ben Crealey and Callum O’Neill, their new midfield duo but Armagh’s three main words echoed again – next man up.

It was then that the panel of over 40 men carried in 2024 came into its own. Darragh McMullen is now their dancing playmaker. Cian McConville now the reliable kicker. They are on the inside now, Main men.

All this from a county with little school or underage success. There hasn’t been the same national club imprint since Crossmaglen faded from being giants too being good.

As words of Aidan Forker’s speech echoed, there was that emptiness across the faces of the Monaghan players.

Inside the railings and the circle of stewards, away from the throngs of Armagh fans, this is the other side of glory days.

Selector Damian Freeman scans around the faces of the Monaghan players, as if looking for someone who needed an arm of comfort. A father figure almost. Killian Lavelle stares straight into space. Rory Beggan is sat on the bench.

Monaghan come to terms with defeat in last Sunday’s Ulster final

Michéal McCarville and Conor McCarthy are within touching distance, men who tasted Ulster glory together in the blue of Scotstown. They are still wing men, only this time it’s all about Monaghan. This time, they are bonded in defeat.

When Gabriel Bannigan faced the media, Northern Sound’s Fergal Monaghan leads the questions. Two broken men, doing two different jobs on the same day, with blue blood flowing through their veins.

As the beats of Freed From Desire kick in from the Clones sound system, Jarly Óg Burns is bopping around on the presentation podium. An arm away from the Anglo Celt Cup.

Below him, unknown to most in Clones, the number 11 jersey of Monaghan skipper Míchéal Bannigan diffuses through the crowd, down the tunnel and into the bowels of the Gerry Arthurs Stand.

He doesn’t make any shape to look up. Maybe he simply can’t bear to look at the silver he can’t hold. It was like the Armagh players filing through the heaving throngs of Donegal 12 months ago. And the year before that. Snaking through red and white masses the year before that.

Sunday was Monaghan’s turn for footballing grief. Two weeks earlier, Dessie Mone literally swept Bannigan off his feet in the dressing room tunnel after their win over Derry.

In those very moments, that’s the small yet seismic differences between winning and losing.

That’s the privilege of working in the media and being neutral, a total appreciation of both sides of the story. Half bouncing in delight, the other half crestfallen. Warriors all. Heroes all.

In a way Monaghan and Armagh are more similar than hugging both sides of a rugged border that was once ‘Bandit Country’ back in the days.

It’s as if McGeeney is doing what Monaghan have always done – squeezing the absolute max of what the county has.

Kieran McGeeney has guided Armagh to a first Ulster title in 18 years

Monaghan have an U20 group that will bring in more than what Bobby McCaul and Max Maguire have hinted at.

Paul O’Connor might have stepped away having left an imprint on virtually every footballer in the county, but Macartan McKenna has come on board to fill his shoes as Head of Games.

Rory Beggan and Donegal native Gary Wilson are Games Development Coordinators. They’ve people like Damien Feeney, Jack Hoey and Ann McKenna all pushing.

The county is digging foundations to build something that will last. With Beggan involved with the county U16s, who isn’t going to eat up any nugget of information tossed in their direction. Imagine being a goalkeeper and that level of advice on tap.

Away from football, the frenzy the county experienced in the weeks since the Derry game is another layer. Armagh have known it too.

It only adds to the absolute fanatism in a county. The fact Michéal McCarville was prepared to sit on the bench as a sub goalkeeper when others wouldn’t, hoping it would open a door that it eventually did, that hints so much about the desire to play for Monaghan.

Armagh have the same men wanted to be the orange wave. In other counties men like Ross McQuillan and Cian McConville would have jacked it all in and gone back in with the club.

In Monaghan, it almost felt like more than buildup to an Ulster final. With heroes like Conor McManus, Karl O’Connell and Darren Hughes having signed off, it’s as if the county are inspiring a whole new generation of Monaghan players who haven’t even left school yet.

Long term planning is what winners do. When Ciaran McKeever was Armagh minor manager, Kieran McGeeney gave him a wish list. He wanted something different. It was a minor team that didn’t get past the first round but it coughed up Oisin Conaty. Result. A gem.

When Gabriel Bannigan was looking for a change of direction in the Derry game, he had faith in gasáns. Lads previously untested. Bobby McCaul’s hang time for his goal chance was one thing.

Oisin McGorman is not an unknown anymore. He’s a find. The Dylan Byrne of 2026, looking for more next season. Robbie Hanratty won two kick-outs against Derry when centimetres separated winning and losing.

In the cold light of day, Sunday’s Ulster final went exactly to plan. Armagh found a way to win.

They’d the quality, they’d a fresher set of legs and they’d the experience of standing in dark corners.

This time they took the right turn at the last one. And they had Oisin Conaty.

Monaghan, while chasing, still had enough light radiating into their tunnel. Even when many felt they’d not come close.

They’ll wonder if a second dose of extra time was a bridge too far. They’ll wonder what if the ball that bounced out of Karl Gallagher’s grasp and into Monaghan arms.

Monaghan were within touching distance because they believed they’d win. They absolutely believed it.

The unspoken outcome of the final is the added belief that they belong with the rest of the top dogs.

The kids in the school will eat up the spirit of last Sunday.

Armagh and Monaghan are the same. Counties who know that they are about, see what they want and turn over every stone in order to get there.

Armagh will believe another All-Ireland isn’t a million miles away. That in itself will fire Monaghan on even more.

And, as Saturday in Killarney and the Donegal machine proved – we’ll have plenty more twists before it’s over.