Kieran McGeeney’s tenure with Armagh has seen little success

When you’re about to dump a girlfriend it’s always helpful to remember all the psychotic and crazy things they’ve done. Breaking up is hard to do, and the way we poor fallible human creatures are wired is to find someone to blame when things fall apart.

It makes us feel better about the failure of a relationship we embarked on with such high hopes. The reason it makes us feel better is because it absolves us of responsibility for that failure.

While it may ease the pain of a break up, the blame game is usually a stupid, redundant and ultimately self-indulgent exercise.

It is often just the case that two perfectly nice people just aren’t a great match for each other.

Which brings me to Armagh.

Kieran McGeeney was a great Armagh player, actually scratch that, he was one of the greatest players to have played the game. Without his selflessness, drive, determination and raging hunger Armagh would still be dreaming about a first All-Ireland.

He also showed with Kildare that he’s a great manager. With his innovative approach, he turned around the county’s mentality. They didn’t get the silverware they perhaps deserved, but it wasn’t for any lack of application on Kieran McGeeney’s behalf and the reaction from players when he was ousted told its own story.

When he joined forces with Paul Grimley to steer the fortunes of Armagh his approach seemed to form a perfect synthesis. Grimley’s earthy approach with McGeeney’s steely resolve seemed to get the best out of what even the most ardent Armagh fan would admit is a team some way off the heights of the early noughties.

The pair took the county to within a whisker of an All-Ireland semi-final when they almost accounted for Donegal in 2014. The tactical naivety which had marked some games in the Grimley era was gone and Armagh were playing with structure, purpose and confidence.

It was the Orchard version of Bismarck’s blut und eisen, and extraordinarily effective.

Then Grimley departed. Armagh gained promotion from division three in 2015, but anyone who watched them in that league campaign would have had question marks about the team.

The championship saw Donegal comprehensively outclassing Armagh in the Athletic Grounds before the Orchard limped past Wicklow and ultimately came to grief against Galway.

This season has seen relegation to the third tier and exit from the championship after two straight defeats.

There was a telling moment during that fearful drubbing against Cavan when the camera focused on an Armagh player taking their seat on the subs bench after being called ashore in the second half. The expression on their face was almost distressing to behold. You could have sensed the hundreds of hours, the very essence of his heart and soul the man had poured into this game. And to watch Cavan so breezily blowing it all that apart; It must have honestly been heartbreaking.

I think Armagh has a lot of good players. I think Kieran McGeeney is a good manager. But as a combination, it doesn’t seem to be working.

In the past, Armagh teams have responded best to managers who can mix the comradely with the commanding, Joe Kernan being the obvious exemplar.

His work with Kildare shows McGeeney can draw the best out of players, or rather a certain sort of players.

You can’t disguise that it’s not happening with Armagh. The county has suffered a punishing spell with injury, but that notwithstanding, Armagh aren’t where they could be.

From the outside looking in you obviously aren’t privy to all the detail that contributes to the way things pan out. But, right now, no one can pretend this is working.

It’s perfectly possible to limp along in a relationship and put forth a facsimile of happy families. Everyone concerned knows that all parties are trying their level best to put Armagh football in the best possible place that it can be.

But sometimes the brave thing to do is recognise when things aren’t working and acting accordingly. There’s no need for a blame game, just bravery and mutual understanding.

Could things work if Paul Grimley came back on board with McGeeney? Who knows? But something has to happen if Armagh are to turn this tailspin around.

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