Ciaran McKeever gives Armagh managerial update
The Armagh coach talks about what lies ahead for Kieran McGeeney's coaching ticket, with Kieran Donaghy being linked with Kerry.
Ciaran McKeever says the Armagh management are set to sit down and talk about their future next week - but he believes the entire ticket are keen to go again.
The Armagh coach, who had a baby boy in the hours after the All-Ireland final triumph over Galway - since named ‘Daithi Sam’ - says the management have remained in touch since the decider.
Manager Kieran McGeeney has since headed off for a break, and in the meantime a vacancy has arisen in the Kerry managerial set-up this week.
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Mike Quirke has decided to move on after three years with Jack O’Connor, with Donaghy inevitably linked to the role.
O’Connor was the man who moved Donaghy to full forward during the 2006 season, when he ended up helping Kerry to the All-Ireland and landing the Footballer of the Year award.
Donaghy, who has spent four seasons with Armagh, would be a popular choice in the Kingdom for a coaching role with the Kerry seniors.
“We have constantly been chatting together,” said McKeever, speaking to TG4. “Geezer (McGeeney) himself has been away on holidays.
“Geezer being Geezer, he doesn’t switch off. He has been in contact with us all. We will all sit together next week I’d imagine and we’ll see what fits. I think we are all keen to go again and hopefully we can all make it work.”
The other members of the All-Ireland winning management team are Derry man Conleith Gilligan, added to the ticket last year and long-serving goalkeeping coach Ciaran McKinney.
McGeeney landed the Sam Maguire in his 10th season as boss, and 11th in total, having coached alongside Paul Grimley in 2014, before taking the reins the following year.
He stopped playing with Armagh at the end of the 2007 season, and went in as Kildare manager, where he stayed for six seasons, guiding them to one All-Ireland semi-final and four quarter-finals.
After being voted out by the clubs in Kildare in late 2013 - a decision which was questionable at the time and doesn’t appear any wiser 11 years later - he moved back to his native Armagh.
McGeeney started out as a player with Armagh in 1992 and has been involved at inter-county level as a player and a manager for 33 consecutive seasons.
That is almost certain to run into a 34th year in 2025 as Armagh look to defend the All-Ireland title for only the second time in their history - and a first time since the 2003 campaign.
This didn’t look likely when a vote was taken on McGeeney’s future last year, and again after they’d lost the Ulster final to Donegal in a penalty shootout back in early May.
“Look, obviously there was a club vote last winter,” said McKeever. “We knew that was coming down the tracks.
“Within the group and within the management, we always had this belief that we could win an All-Ireland and we probably didn’t get the credit we deserved as a group over the last couple of years.
“Ultimately we were beaten in two penalty shootouts in back to back Ulster finals (by Derry and Donegal) and we were beaten in two penalty shoot outs in back to back All-Ireland quarter-finals (by Galway and Monaghan).
“So, we knew as a group and a management, we weren’t that far away. It was about getting back, trying to get better and trying to get these wee one percenters to add to our game.
“We got back to another Ulster final and beat on penalty shoot out. You were sort of wondering at that point. We sat in Clones and we chatted about it.
“We knew going into the ‘Super 16s,’ it was a new competition. Everybody was starting off from scratch again, and that’s the way we approached it. That was the message Geezer was driving home to us all. We reset, set new targets, set new goals and thankfully we got across the line.”
Meanwhile, McKeever joked that he had come under duress when it came to naming the new addition to his family. “I was under pressure all week to call him Sam, so we went with Daithi Sam,” he said.
“In the hours after all the mayhem, herself, Ciara went in and we had a wee boy, another addition to the house, but the house is busy now.”
Some key Armagh All-Ireland winners were back in club championship action this weekend, three weeks after their Sam Maguire triumph. But McKeever has no issue with the scheduling of the season.
“It’s the way the condensed season has it, regardless of when the All-Ireland final is,” he said. “In September, you are always back out two weeks later to get the club championship.
“It’s just part and course for the games. I think the boys would like the structure (of club games) again because you could get lost in all the chaos after what has happened.
“I think the boys would be thankful of the structure and they’ll enjoy getting back to their clubs and playing with friends that they just grew up with through school years.
“It just gives them stability again and back to playing football, what they love doing, and that’s the most important thing.”
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