By Shaun Casey

A LOT can change inside the short space of 12 months. This time last year, there was a debate surrounding Kieran McGeeney’s tenure as Armagh boss and whether or not he should continue in that capacity. Now, 12 months on, he’s an All-Ireland winning manager and has been signed off for 2025 with the minimum of fuss.

Through thick and then, through all the debates and personal opinions shared inside the Orchard County and outside, the players’ belief in ‘Geezer’ never wavered. They stuck by their boss and got their just rewards in the end.

By the end of the 2024 season, McGeeney joined an illustrious group of people that had guided their county to All-Ireland success as both captain and manager. It’s an exclusive list bearing iconic names such as Kevin Heffernan, Páidí Ó Sé, Billy Morgan and Brian Dooher.

Getting McGeeney up the steps of the Hogan Stand for a second time, this time in the bainisteoir bib, was a huge driving force for the Armagh players. Doing it for ‘Geezer’ inspired the Orchard side to give that little bit extra.

Arguably, no one was forced to give more on the day than Blaine Hughes. The Carrickcruppen goalkeeper tore his MCL in the warm-up following a collision with teammate Joe McElory, but he was determined to see out the historic occasion.

“It was a massive motivating factor,” said Hughes, who has been nominated for an All-Star award alongside Ulster colleagues Shaun Patton (Donegal) and Niall Morgan (Tyrone), on wanting to win the All-Ireland for McGeeney.

“All talk was completely through the papers and people on social media, in terms of what they were saying about ‘Geezer’. They probably wouldn’t know what he is actually like as a person, compared to us.

“We’re with him three or four days a week so we know exactly what he’s like and we’re a very tight-knit group. That was one of the main factors this year – we wanted to push on and do it for him because of the abuse he took.”

Hughes continued: “A lot of people were saying that he should be out but not one person in our team would have said that. Everyone in our panel wanted him to stay.”

It almost didn’t happen for Hughes. Not only with the injury minutes before the biggest game of his life, but the 27-year-old had made the decision to take a year out in 2023 before rushing back to the county team at the start of the 2024 campaign.

Hughes, who made his championship debut against Down in 2017, had lost his number one shirt to Ethan Rafferty in 2022 and Rafferty excelled in the sweeper-keeper role, earning himself an All-Star nomination at the end of the year.

Hughes, who runs a Camlough-based gym with his Armagh teammate Jemar Hall, decided to step away for a season to concentrate on business concerns.

He wasn’t out the door long before the calling of the orange and white shirt began to pull at his heart strings once again.

Rafferty picked up a nasty leg injury in a club league match in the summer of 2023, keeping him out for the foreseeable future and by that time, Hughes had already made up his mind. He was going to pick up the phone and ask to be brought back into the panel.

“I missed it massively,” recalls Hughes. “When I took the year out, I was just very caught up with the business, but when it came to the crunch time with the National League starting, rolling into the championship, I would have just loved to have been there.

“I made the phone call to ‘Geezer’ at the end of the season and he sent me back into trials which is probably the kick up the ass I needed to get myself into gear.

“After that I was back in with the lads in training again and it was just great to be back.

“I had to put everything that I could into it and luckily enough I got to reap the rewards at the end of the year for it.”

It’s been a hectic few weeks for Hughes. Just a number of days after winning the All-Ireland title, the shot stopper had to rush to hospital as he and his girlfriend celebrated the arrival of their second child.

“I was brought back to reality very quickly after winning the All-Ireland,” laughed Hughes.

“It was after Aaron McKay’s stag do when my partner went into pre-labour, so I was straight into hospital an hour after coming home.

“It’s been a busy couple of weeks, especially going back into club football and another child. It’s been absolutely crazy in our household since the All-Ireland win.”

On getting his hands on a Celtic Cross, Hughes continued:

“It hasn’t sunk in. You have to get back to normal life a week or two afterwards, and I was talking to a few boys from the ’02 team and they said it probably doesn’t sink in until a couple of years down the line.”

Pull quote

“I was talking to a few boys from the ’02 team and they said it probably doesn’t sink in until a couple of years down the line.”