Kieran McGeeney is nothing if not resilient.
In late 2014, he was handed a five-year deal in charge of Armagh and set about consolidating the team's league status in the top two tiers and then progressing in the championship.
Since then, however, results have been a mixed bag. Very much up and down.
In his first year, 2015, Armagh lost narrowly to Galway in the qualifiers. Last year they were defeated by Laois having already been relegated to Division 3 and eliminated from the Ulster championship after an eight-point loss to Cavan.
For two years of the manager's tenure the only team Armagh had beaten in the championship was Wicklow. And after losing to Laois the knives came out. They had been sharpened since a 17-point Division 2 defeat to Cavan last March.
Maybe that was the nadir; a loss that came at a time when McGeeney was without seven of his best players.
The post-mortems didn't spare him but McGeeney has heard all the flak at this stage and appreciated that management is a lonely place. His substantial six-year term in Kildare, for instance, ended with accusations that he didn't achieve anything significant even if, under his guidance, they established themselves as a top six team and reached an All-Ireland semi-final.
Sometimes, progress has to be measured in relative terms. McGeeney himself came from a small club, played with the Mullaghban senior team when he was 15, and played for Armagh when he was 17. That in itself is a measure of success.
He moved to Dublin, joined Na Fianna, won three county titles on the spin, and brought a culture of excellence into the team to such an extent that players like Jason Sherlock subsequently tried to replicate his way of doing things - both in training and in competitive games. Again, he left a mark.
Everywhere McGeeney has gone expectation has followed and not least in his native county where hopes are always high. Finally, however, Armagh have a team that looks like it is going places again.
With three wins on the spin, they put in perhaps their best display of McGeeney's tenure against NFL Division 3 table-toppers Louth last weekend and if they beat Antrim at home this weekend they will have one leg back in Division Two.
McGeeney, though, is refusing to get carried away. He has seen too much over the years to know better.
"There was always a fear that the residual of our first two games (when they dropped points against Sligo and Laois when they should have won) could be part of a psychological problem against Louth but the lads worked very hard, especially after we lost players to injury on the Thursday night before the game," he says.
"We are not like Dublin - we can't afford to play a second-string team."
"But, look, it had been a difficult few days for Louth and for Colin (Kelly), especially, after his mother passed away a couple of days beforehand. In such situations games can go two ways and we have no control over that. Just from a personal basis, I think the most important thing is to pass on our sympathies to Colin and his family. You could see what Louth meant to him by him being there on the line."
McGeeney, Armagh's 2002 All-Ireland-winning captain, is in philosophical mood when we speak. Rather than bask in the warm afterglow of that third win on the bounce, he is thinking of Kelly and other managers. Pat Flanagan of Offaly, for instance. Three weeks ago, Armagh hammered Flanagan's men by 30 points, 6-22 - 0-10. McGeeney spent much of the following week thinking of his opposite number on that day.
"I felt bad for Pat Flanagan," he says. "Like, he is involved with the Offaly U21 team that has made a Leinster final and last weekend the seniors pushed Tipp all the way. Yet, he had people looking for his head. Offaly are like ourselves, building, trying hard.
"But after a defeat like that it's a lonely place and I haven't yet met a manager who has not been there or who makes a bad decision on purpose.
"In Armagh, we're told we should be doing better because of our big pick - but the facts are that half our population are not that interested in Gaelic football.
"We are very passionate and I always have to remember that the supporters have strong opinions and respect that. They give you abuse at times but they slap you on back when you deserve it too and it's all because they are so enthusiastic about our games.
"But the truth is we need our key players available to be able to give the supporters what they want. We are not like Dublin - we can't afford to play a second-string team. Now, we have competition and the fight for places in the team has definitely risen - but we still cannot afford to be losing our best players.
"At the moment, Jamie Clarke, James Morgan, Ethan Rafferty and Ciaran O'Hanlon are back with us and make a huge difference. We lost four guys before the Louth game and still won so that's what we're looking for."
They also played most of that Louth game without Aidan Forker. The Maghery clubman was dismissed after only 40 seconds after clashing with Louth wing-back Derek Maguire.
Already without Stefan 'Soupy' Campbell, Andrew Murnin and Mark Shields, the loss of Forker
looked like it might be a hammer blow. Instead, Armagh blew Louth away with their attacking clout and their work-rate. McGeeney reckons the Forker decision was harsh in the first place.
"This is only an opinion," he says. "My opinion. I'm not looking for a suspension myself! But I thought it was a harsh decision. Reputations precede a lot of players."
Forker was also sent off in the defeat to Laois but McGeeney says that perceptions of such a playing style come down to an interpretation of the playing rules.
"If you look at other games over the weekend they were 'manly' and 'robust'. But then you see what happens Aidan and he gets sent off. It's disappointing for him. He was stupid with the red card against Laois but I felt for him on this one."
Still, there's a clear sense that the tide is now turning in Armagh, with just two games left to secure promotion - both at home to Antrim and Tipperary. The snapshot of a promising future is a welcome vista compared to the dark times they have endured.
It's hardly coincidental that the team is keeping things simple, making more turnovers than the opposition, and getting key figures back. They have mostly been disciplined in the tackle as well.
"Ah well, at times those balls you are turning over bounce out to you and more times they bounce against you," McGeeney smiles.
"If a few of them bounce against you, they can leave you in trouble but enough of our fellas are getting back to help out and that does put the percentages in our favour.
"But we have to push on from here. We are ultimately trying to get up to a level that Donegal and Tyrone are at and we're trying to get up to that level for the summer.
"In Armagh, there are great football people but I think before Brian McAlinden came in we won seven Ulster titles in 125 years. Then in our golden era we won seven in 19 years and everyone thinks that's the way it should be for Armagh.
"It's possible, no doubt we have talented players but it will take time."
