There was so little between Armagh and Donegal on Saturday that even as you were watching it play out, you just knew it would be decided by who controlled possession in the last two or three minutes.
Sure enough, Donegal had the ultimate one-point lead and held on to it, but they had tried to do the same at the end of normal time only for a loose pass from Michael Langan to Peadar Mogan, which Armagh turned over and worked brilliantly well to Oisín Conaty for the equalising score.
Such fine margins between teams as good as these – two of the best three or four in the country – mean that one missed pass makes the difference. There are obviously other mistakes and things that go wrong during the course of a match, but when everything is on the line in the dying moments, one single error can affect the outcome.
Jim McGuinness’s team didn’t make the same mistake in extra-time. Niall O’Donnell kicked the winning score on 87:14 and the kick-out resulted in a throw-in, from which Donegal regained the ball and managed to keep possession for the just over two minutes remaining.
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Extra-time with two excellent, brilliantly coached and closely matched teams: you’re really drilling down into fine details to come up with a reason why one wins and the other loses.
If there was a difference, maybe it came in the ambition of Donegal. They took the game to Armagh for the whole match and managed to play it more on their terms. There was seven points in it on two occasions and it was testimony to Armagh’s ability to stay in the game that they clawed it back on each occasion.
Donegal were also possibly that bit bolder in how they took on the contest. Take their long kicking into Michael Murphy. We hadn’t seen much of that this year and in general conversation beforehand, it was said that it would be good to see Murphy stationed on the edge of the square a bit more.
Donegal did that. Over the years he’s shown that he’s virtually impossible to mark in there with that type of possession and he was able to feed it out to the likes of Oisín Gallen and Patrick McBrearty to create scoring chances.
So, Donegal were more direct and Armagh more deliberate, at times too deliberate. A quick injection of pace might have caused a bit more trouble.
Armagh have a slight tendency to tune out of games. We saw it in the first half against Antrim and the second half against Tyrone, when they were clearly the better team. Maybe that’s something they need to address. Is this nit-picking? Possibly, because they have developed such resilience in coming back against teams that they are really hard to beat.
They also have a number of injuries to first-team players. There was only seven of the team that started last year’s Ulster final starting this year. Players are coming back and it looks like Rian O’Neill will be on board later in the summer after his reappearance with the team. That suggests room for improvement and they’ve obviously strengthened their panel significantly, which will stand to them.
It was a great occasion and provided further evidence that the new rules have improved football and brought back the excitement.
For me, the pace of the game was fantastic. There were times when teams slowed down the attack, maybe against the wind, and tried to organise or micromanage things, but by and large the speed of the game over the 90-plus minutes was incredible.
There was also space for forwards to manoeuvre and take on defenders, one v one. You could see it numerous times. Conaty for Armagh, Oisín O’Neill for Armagh, Soupy Campbell for Armagh and then Donegal‘s Gallen were all looking for those one v ones.
So, you had individual battles and duels, which is something we haven’t been accustomed to in recent years.
The well-drilled efforts to run down the clock are something we’re seeing more of this year previously. Obviously, this is because of the hooter and the clarity and definition it gives as to when the game is over. There’s no arguing with it.
Donegal in the last play down the sideline with Stephen McMenamin and Finbarr Roarty had Armagh hunting them down really well and it was just a very composed piece of play to keep the ball under pressure and keep it moving.
The key is just ensuring support for the man on the ball and two or three men providing options. Once they got it switched across to the far side and Odhrán McFadden-Ferry kicked it clear to Daire Ó Baoill, this great roar went up because everybody knew that the danger had passed with four seconds left. It does add bit of drama and excitement at the end.
We saw the same in Croke Park when Louth successfully kept the ball at the end of the Leinster final against Meath. It was high-risk strategy. Ger Brennan was saying after the game that if they were going to do that, he’d prefer they had done it down towards the Canal End rather than in front of Hill 16, where they were actually defending their own goal.
It takes a fair bit of confidence in each other and a lot of composure to pull that off and in fairness they managed it.
Louth’s first Leinster title in 68 years is great but it also validates their progression this last number of years. It’s not just a flash in the pan. They’ve been knocking on the door with promotions and three provincial finals, ending in their first All-Ireland quarter-final last year.
That’s steady, sustainable progress, vindicating the development work that has seen Louth win this year’s Leinster under-20 and now senior titles. They’ve also beaten Dublin to reach the minor final. It’s an incredible achievement for the county and they’ll feel their season isn’t over yet.
