Armagh top the group as injury-time free from Rory Grugan secures victory over Galway

All-Ireland SFC, Group 2, Round 3: Armagh 0-16 Galway 1-12

These two don’t do boring. After they could only be separated by penalties in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, this one came down to one last kick and one last miss and finally, Armagh found themselves ahead. Shane Walsh took a pot at the posts in the 78th minute but couldn’t meet the moment, meaning that Armagh top the group and buy themselves a week off before their quarter-final.

That, in itself, is quite a feat. If the three group games have added up to around 230ish minutes of football, Armagh have only been ahead for around 30 of them. Their late goal against Westmeath dug them out a win they scarcely deserved. They were behind from the third minute of the Tyrone game. They had the lead in fits and starts here but never for more than three minutes in one go. And yet they top the group. Remarkable.

The winning score came from a Rory Grugan free. It was a little closer in than his mark opportunity at the end of the Ulster final but he had the weight of that kick to deal with standing over it. He curled it high and true though, wiping the memory of Clones in a stroke.

“I was delighted for him,” McGeeney said afterwards. “I really was. He’s a good lad, he’s been one of our marquee players for the last eight or nine years. He took a lot of hassle for that one he missed in Clones and for him to put over the winning point here today was brilliant.”

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Thoroughly deserved, too. This was surely the signature win of McGeeney’s reign. Trailing 1-5 to 0-6 at half-time, they scratched and clawed their way back into matters with a display of grit and cussedness. Aidan Forker was gloriously defiant all afternoon, while Grugan stood up to ice his frees when they needed him to. In a game where the sides were level 12 times, they found a way to be ahead when the music stopped.

It didn’t look likely at the break. Armagh have spent this All-Ireland series chasing. For the fourth game in a row they answered the door only half-dressed and went in at half-time behind. The last time they led a game at the break was the Ulster semi-final against Down back in April. You can only do it for so long before you give up on the horizon altogether.

They held their own throughout the opening quarter but it was Galway who put on the squeeze as the first half wore on. Without Rian O’Neill to break the line and kick from distance, Armagh found themselves gummed up in the works all too often. Forker bent in a pearler off the outside of his left boot and Conor Turbitt whipped one over his shoulder. But otherwise, it wasn’t particularly fluid stuff from McGeeney’s side.

Galway tended to come by their scores a little easier. Peter Cooke had a rampaging afternoon, steaming on to possession, breaking up play, striking a couple of handsome points on the run. Walsh flitted in and out like background music, Cillian McDaid thundered forward for a score of his own.

The game cracked open inside four minutes just short of the break. Seán Kelly stole in behind the Armagh cover in a very Seán Kelly way to earn a penalty on 24 minutes. Walsh’s kick was low and to the right but Ethan Rafferty was there to meet it, almost catching it on the dive. Armagh made the most of their reprieve, nailing a free through Conor Turbitt soon after.

Kelly wouldn’t be denied though. Armagh didn’t heed the warning from the penalty, waving him through on a run from the 45 before he slotted a lovely finish past Rafferty into the bottom left corner. It added up to a 1-5 to 0-6 lead at the break.

But wherever Armagh’s season ends up, their second half display here will stand to them. In Omagh a fortnight ago, McGeeney opined that they needed a spark to get their season going. Maybe this was it. They came out and scored the opening three points of the half, wiping out the Galway advantage and establishing a foothold.

From there, the two sides went tit-for-that all the way to the line. Matthew Tierney latched on to a Paul Conroy pass to land his first of the day, Walsh nearly poached a goal from a poor Rafferty kick-out. In replay, Turbitt finished off a fine Grugan run, Andrew Murnin got his fist to a dropping ball. Back-and-forth, to-and-fro.

There was never more than a point in it. Kelly pulled on a loose ball with six minutes to go, Tierney followed up soon after. But Forker, immense all day, thumped an equaliser before Grugan iced the winner. Joe McQuillan found an extra three minutes to the three he’d announced and Walsh had one last free to level it.

He missed and Armagh’s cloudburst was complete.

ARMAGH: Ethan Rafferty; Paddy Burns, Ciarán Higgins, Aidan Forker (0-2); Greg McCabe, Aaron McKay, Conor O’Neill; Ciarán Mackin, Ben Crealey; Jason Duffy (0-1), Rory Grugan (0-4, three frees), Callum Cumiskey; Conor Turbitt (0-4, two frees), Andrew Murnin (0-3, one mark), Stefan Campbell (0-2).

Subs: Justin Kiernan for O’Neill (blood, 13-21 mins); Jarly Óg Burns for Cumiskey, Ross McQuillan for McCabe (both 53); Kiernan for Higgins (60); Joe McElroy for Duffy (70).

GALWAY: Connor Gleeson; John McGrath, Seán Kelly (1-1), Jack Glynn; Billy Mannion, John Daly, Cian Heron; Paul Conroy, Cillian McDaid (0-2); Matthew Tierney (0-2), Johnny Heaney, Peter Cooke (0-2); Ian Burke, Cathal Sweeney, Shane Wash (0-5, three frees).

Subs: John Maher for Mannion (53 mins); Rob Finnerty for Heaney (59); Cillian Ó Curraoin for McDaid (blood, 69-72); Ó Curraoin for Kelly (72).

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).