Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney paid tribute to his "special bunch" of players as a rollercoaster year ended in the ultimate glory.
Last August McGeeney survived a vote over his future at a meeting of club delegates. The vote was 46-16 in his favour, a result that allowed the 52-year-old to lead the team for a tenth consecutive season.
He has spectacularly justified that decision by guiding the Orchard County to their second All-Ireland SFC title after Sunday's 1-11 to 0-13 victory over Galway.
Afterwards, McGeeney was reflective and measured as he soaked up a success that will be wildly celebrated over the next few days.
"The fellahs have been amazing, I couldn't say enough about them," he told RTÉ Sport.
"When you keep getting knocked back and knocked back, and people tell you can't do something and you can't do something, it takes a special bunch to keep coming back and looking for it. Today all that came to fruition.
"At times we weren't playing at our best but you have to hand it to them, they never stopped, they never quit.
"It takes time in a small county. In the modern world, people don't like time. It's a commodity that we say we don't have enough of, but as I say it makes it sweet. It makes it very, very sweet.
"There's been a lot of knockbacks and negative things, but to me today the boys were digging deep, they stuck to the plan, we knew it was going to be hard to break down Galway but even when things weren't working they stuck to the plan."
When asked if last year's vote over his future had ultimately brought the squad closer together, McGeeney replied: "I suppose when you're around football long football long enough you find out it's the people who know very little that make a lot of noise.
"I see fellahs, not see it so much but you're sent it, writing nonsense. 'The manager is telling fellahs not to go forward with the ball, not to score, aw if he keeps playing like this he's going to lose by a point'.
"You'd be going, 'what planet are they living on?'. It's obvious they haven't even been involved. But it's not my job to knock or bang back. You just have to keep going."
McGeeney also praised Galway boss Padraic Joyce, who suffered his second All-Ieland final defeat in three years.
This was a painful one for Joyce and the Tribesmen, and McGeeney admitted it was a contest that could have gone either way.
"It's fine margins," he added. "I feel for Joycer. He's no different than me. It's a thin line, sliding doors as they say. He's put his life and soul into this, the same way I have, the same way those Galway players have.
"It's funny, you're seen as one thing, you're one point ahead and (then you're) seen as another. But I suppose we'll take this one. I've been seen as a gobs***e long enough, I suppose I'll take one day you know?"
Kieran McGeeney, now an All-Ireland winner as captain and manager, speaks to RTÉ Sport after Armagh's victory over Galway.
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