Five challenges facing Kieran McGeeney as he returns for 11th season with All-Ireland champions Armagh
All-Ireland champions Armagh will be bidding to do what only two Ulster counties, Cavan in 1948 and Down in 1961, have done before by retaining the Sam Maguire Cup in 2025.
Unlike last year, there wasn’t a single dissenter as Kieran McGeeney was ratified as Armagh manager for another season last night.
In truth, McGeeney was never in mortal danger of being deposed in July 2023 as the Armagh county board called a vote on whether he should be granted a 10th season at the helm but, still, 16 out of the 62 delegates were not supportive. On the back of delivering just the county’s second ever All-Ireland, a fanciful thought 15 months ago, he was unanimously handed an 11th year this time, solidifying his position as the longest-serving manager in the game.
Indeed, 2025 will be McGeeney’s 36th consecutive season of involvement at senior inter-county level, encompassing his playing career with Armagh, managing Kildare and then returning to Armagh as coach and subsequently manager. Having clearly already summoned the personal motivation for another campaign, here are some of the challenges awaiting the 52-year-old.
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Hype
After beating Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final this year, McGeeney quickly acknowledged that the hype machine would go into overdrive in the county.
“Will Armagh go nuts? Yeah,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. But they are entitled to do it. That’s supporters, the whole point of sport and spectacle and the occasion. I want them to do that, I suppose I just want them to leave the players alone and let them do their bit.
“That’s what we want. We want our county to enjoy the build-up and the next two weeks to the All-Ireland final. That bit’s going to be hard to handle, the bit inside won’t.”
And clearly McGeeney handled “the bit inside” well as Armagh went on to beat Galway in the final. The thing is, the players haven’t been inside the camp and under his spell since the final and will present themselves to him in a rather different headspace this winter than would have been the case 12 months earlier.
Winning an All-Ireland is a life-altering experience for many and the players will have been pulled in all sorts of directions by the time they officially reconvene for county training in early December, especially in a county like Armagh that isn’t fattened by All-Ireland wins. Even at that, the Christmas period is likely to bring further demands for Sam Maguire around the county.
History tells us that all of this is a drain, particularly for a group after winning its first title. Minimising it to such a degree that it doesn’t impact on team performance will be McGeeney’s biggest test.
Retaining All-Ireland
Given that Armagh have only won two All-Irelands in their history, it would be outlandish to demand that they retain the title in 2025. But that’s not to say that it isn’t a realistic aspiration.
First-time champions retaining the title is rare, however. Even the great Dublin side of recent times couldn’t do it. Neither could Mick O’Dwyer’s Kerry machine. Meath managed it in 1987-88 and Cork immediately after them, albeit the Rebels were well seasoned by having played in three All-Ireland finals before winning the fourth. Previous to that, it was Offaly in 1971-72.
The last Ulster county to successfully defend the All-Ireland was Down in 1960-61. The closest any team from the province has come since was the team that McGeeney captained, as Armagh returned to the final in 2003 as champions, albeit via the qualifiers, only to lose to Tyrone. It’s an experience that should stand to him now.
Armagh have lost just once in normal time in their last 20 Championship games, so McGeeney has clearly assembled a side that is extremely difficult to beat.
With Dublin having regressed and Kerry lacking the depth to push on after their 2022 success, there are a number of evenly-matched contenders and Armagh should be right in the mix again.
But if winning the All-Ireland this year was McGeeney’s greatest managerial feat, retaining it would tower above it.
Winning Ulster
Putting All-Irelands back-to-back may be a big ask, but winning an Ulster title is far more achievable and an itch that this Armagh team must be desperate to scratch.
They’ve lost the last two provincial finals on penalties to Derry and Donegal but, to their credit, they haven’t allowed those bitter experiences to break them.
“We have 14 Ulster titles, half of which were won by one team and the other seven were won by two teams,” said McGeeney after Armagh beat Kerry this year.
He was being somewhat disingenuous there, as Armagh’s first seven Ulster titles were split across four distinct eras before their dominant spell from 1999-2008, but his fundamental point about Armagh having windows of opportunity that only open for certain generations is sound.
Having won an All-Ireland already, this group will want to put provincial honours with it while they still can, though Donegal, Derry and a Malachy O’Rourke-led Tyrone will be significant obstacles.
As ever, the draw for the Ulster SFC later this month will be eagerly awaited and will likely go a long way towards determining where the Anglo-Celt Cup resides next year.
League
For the second year in succession, the All-Ireland champions came from Division Two, with Armagh winning promotion from the second tier along with Donegal last March.
Their relegation 12 months earlier came after a three-year stint in Division One and, with all eyes on them now as All-Ireland champions, the last thing Armagh need ahead of their title defence is to come out the wrong side of another scrap at the bottom of the table.
The last time that All-Ireland champions were relegated from Division One was in 2013, when Donegal made the drop. Their season never recovered as they surrendered their Ulster and All-Ireland titles meekly.
New rules
While it’s still very much up in the air as to what motions from Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee will get through Special Congress next month, it’s reasonable to conclude that significant rule changes are in the offing for 2025.
That will be a challenge for every management team in the country but adaptability will be key and counties with the sharpest coaching minds look set to prosper.
To be fair, McGeeney couldn’t be described as a tactical slouch so if he can interpret the new rules in a manner which plays to his squad’s strengths, then he will have stolen a very useful march in a season where Armagh could really do with setting off on the right foot.
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