NFL DIVISION TWO Armagh 1-12 Kildare 1-10IF, AS Tolstoy said, we can never cease knowing what we know, only Kieran McGeeney can know the true bearing of this result. Losing to the team you spent your life helping to build but wanted desperately to beat and how to deal with that is the sort of zen experience that would naturally inflict McGeaney.
“I know everyone will have different agendas in a game like today,” he said in the late afternoon sunshine of St Conleth’s Park. “But there are no prizes given out here today. It’s important for the players to realise that.
“Sometimes the greatest lessons learnt are the ones you find out yourselves. In defeats like this, if you don’t learn from them, they will come back to haunt you. Today we learnt another hard lesson. You have to take scoring chances. Because we easily had enough chances to win the game.”
For McGeeney, the former Armagh captain now turned Kildare manager, the lesson was a little more subtle: Kildare were cheered onto the field yesterday more like All-Ireland champions than Division Two leaders, yet this defeat leaves them unsure of even promotion – and that at least releases some of the hype off his team.
In terms of missing scoring chances none were more critical than Michael Conway’s penalty. The classy wing back, enjoying a fine game overall, stepped up on 68 minutes after Eamonn Callaghan was fairly softly grounded inside the area.
Trailing by two points, a goal would almost certainly have sent victory Kildare’s way, but when Philip McEvoy saved, and then Conway sent the rebound off the right upright, it was Armagh who secured the win and thus rebooted their Division Two campaign. And, just as it would have been for McGeeney, made for a hugely satisfying result for their manager Peter McDonnell.
Armagh, though, were deserving winners. Ronan Clarke gave a timely reminder of why he was once regarded as the most exciting forward in the game with four superb points from play, while Steven McDonnell, Aidan O’Rourke and young Kevin O’Rourke had their best games of the season.
At midfield Armagh totally outplayed Kildare. In the end Kevin Toner and Charlie Vernon were winning ball for fun, and while Killian Brennan was replaced after 18 minutes, Dermot Earley ended up a picture of frustration. The term “cleaned out” has rarely been more applicable.
Yet it was still highly competitive throughout, particularly as Armagh raised their level of intent in the second half. After being level three times in the opening quarter, Kildare held the advantage at halftime – 1-7 to 0-8 – after James Kavanagh’s slightly fortuitous goal on 25 minutes (Did he actually mean to hit it under bar, or over it?). But from there it went more or less downhill for the home side.
When Martin O’Rourke was held up inside the area on 40 minutes, and Aidan O’Rourke buried the resultant penalty with no indecision, the momentum had swung decisively. Armagh outscored Kildare 0-4 to 0-1 over the next 15 minutes, while at the same time Kildare played into their hands – carrying the ball in possession, losing it in contact, and trying the physical game that of course Armagh have perfected.
“I’d be hoarse saying that,” admitted McGeeney. “It was very disheartening to think what your game plan was, and to see the complete opposite. We just made a lot of silly decisions on the ball. You’re going to walk into tackles if you’re going to carry the ball at Armagh. That’s a known a thing. If you want physical contact, they are the team that will stand their ground. Because they’re good at it. They’re strong, good tacklers.
“When you come across seasoned campaigners, the likes of Ciarán McKeever, Aidan O’Rourke, they’re not going to stand off. I mean we had loads of scoring chances in the second half but gave the ball away needlessly. Even the first half we missed very simple scores.”
Armagh, in fact, missed far more scoring chances – with a final wide count of 11, to Kildare’s five. The return of the Crossmaglen players proved telling, as Aaron Kernan produced a fairly commanding performance although operating mostly in the half-forward line.
Still, it wouldn’t have taken much for Kildare to sneak the win. Callaghan found himself with a decent goal chance seven minutes from time, but again McEvoy saved. John Doyle will also be disappointed with his return of 0-5, although with Fermanagh and Meath to come Kildare’s hopes of promotion are far from shot.
ARMAGH:P McEvoy;A Mallon, A O'Rourke (1-0, pen), F Morriarty; T McClelland, C McKeever, B Shannon; K Toner, C Vernon; A Kernan (0-3, all frees), M O'Rourke, R Clarke (0-4); S McDonnell (0-2, both frees), B Mallon (0-1), K O'Rourke (0-2). Subs:S Kernan for K O'Rourke (61 mins); T Kernan for Clarke (67 mins), P Courtney for Moriarty (72 mins). Yellow cards: A O'Rourke (70 mins, replaced by B Donoghue).
KILDARE:S McCormack; A McLoughlin, K O'Neill, H McGrillen; M Scanlon, B Flanagan, M Conway (0-2); K Brennan, D Earley; E Callaghan, P O'Neill (0-1), R Sweeney; J Kavanagh (1-2), K Donnelly, J Doyle (0-5, four frees). Subs:R Kelly for Brennan (18 mins), K Ennis for Sweeney (half time), M O'Flaherty for Scanlon (42 mins), A Smith for Donnelly (49 mins). Yellow cards: None.
Referee:M Duffy (Sligo).
