Vow of silence cloaks Armagh displeasure

Must be something about the low dressingroom in St Tiernach’s Park. For the second time in three weekends we stood waiting outside the back entrance for a manager to come out and tell us he didn’t want to talk to us.

For Mickey Harte after the quarter-final, read Paul Grimley after the semi. Even the polite chap from Sky Sports who hung about long after they had gone off air got a thanks-but-no-thanks.

Nobody was entirely sure what the nature of Armagh’s displeasure was and they were not of a mind to fill us in.

Selector Peter McDonnell told the BBC before the game that they felt they had not got fair play with regard to the three players suspended after the pre-match parade brawl against Cavan but if they had a beef on that score you would imagine it would have been with the authorities rather with than the press.

Even entreaties to a few of the usually helpful players were rebuffed as they made it clear it was more than their life was worth to go outside the circle.

Last-minute free Ah well. Off we trotted to check in with Monaghan to see how well

disposed towards the world at large they were feeling. It turned out they were not exactly brimming with joy either. Even as normally placid a soul as Malachy O’Rourke had a spot in his craw where Joe McQuillan’s awarding of the last-minute free was sticking.

“If you are going to give them in the last minute you have to give them during the game,” he said.

“There had been other challenges like that which went unpunished and that is why it was a wee bit harsh. The referee said it was for a jersey pull, and maybe that was right. But it wasn’t the only jersey that was pulled during the match.

“The referees don’t have an easy job and he made the decision as he saw fit, but it was very disappointing for us just to be defending there as if our lives depended on it. We thought we had stopped the attack and we didn’t feel we did much wrong.

“But look, maybe the cameras prove otherwise. Fair play to Armagh, though, for coming back so well. We have to do it all again.”

Favourites Whatever about the last free, O’Rourke admitted that his side hadn’t turned up in their usual lung-busting, helter- skelter form. Possibly it had something to do with not going into the game as underdogs, as unusual situation in the modern history between Monaghan and Armagh.

“We went in as favourites and all week it was whether Armagh would have the missing players back and so on. We prepared really well but we didn’t get to grips with the game as we would have liked at times.

“We probably weren’t as dynamic as we were in previous games. Every day you go out you don’t play the way you want.

“In one way we’re glad to get another chance, we know it’s going to be a massive battle again and Armagh will probably have the three players back but it’s all to play for.”