Former Armagh footballer Finian Moriarty believes that Kieran McGeeney is the right man to lead the county forward despite Sunday's Ulster championship defeat to Cavan, while also adding that Joe Brolly's criticism of McGeeney is purely down to a "clash of personalities".
The Orchard County were comfortably pushed aside at Beffni Park, and so continuing a poor run of form that saw them relegated to Division 3 of the league in the spring.
They qualifiers now beckon for McGeeney's men, but whatever happens in the weeks and months ahead, the 2002 All-Ireland winner should be given the time to rebuild, according to Moriarty when he spoke on the RTÉ GAA podcast Jones' Road, hosted by Damian Lawlor.
"You have to leave Kieran McGeeney in the job, he is the right man to have at the helm to get the best out of the youth coming through," he said.
"Armagh are currently in a state of flux. We weren't good in the championship last year, but that said, I think there are good players coming through and Kieran has to stay in the job."
RTÉ analyst Joe Brolly, speaking on the Sunday Game, strongly critcised the job McGeeney is doing following the eight-point defeat to Cavan, saying "being a great player isn’t necessarily a qualification for being a great manager".
In a further critique, Brolly added: "In the modern era, when the manager is very important and systems are important, I genuinely think that he hasn’t a clue about these systems and how to play."
In response to those comments, Moriarty put Brolly's assessment down to "a clash of personalities" between the two men.
"Joe has his ideology of pure football and Kieran fits the mould of somebody he can disagree with, both are strong characters. Would Joe have said the same things about Terry Hyland or would he have looked for actual analysis of the game before making his comments?"
Indeed, the former All-Ireland Under-21 winner has definite views on Brolly's worth as a pundit.
"Joe is entertaining and he's articulate," he said. "People are captivated by him. Yet he gets into this tantrum and rant and he doesn't hold back. He's like a child throwing his toys out of the pram."
Back to matters on the playing field, and Moriarty couldn't help but be impressed with Cavan's victory, despite Armagh's shortcomings.
"I was really taken by the manner of the win. Cavan have really developed over the last two or three years in a time when Terry Hyland was under pressure.
"He has changed things around, moved David Givney up front and has seen Michael Argue really blossom when coming from the Under-21s. It has given them a different element to their play.
Against Armagh, I was very impressed with how they transitioned from defence to attack. They really break at speed, Armagh couldn't deal with it and just couldn't match them.
"I think we'll see how far Cavan have pushed on when they play Tyrone."
