By James McMahon and Eoin Ryan
Three years on from winning football's ultimate prize, Kieran McGeeney was again on the steps of the Hogan Stand in 2005. Armagh had just beaten Wexford to claim the Division 1 league title.
And while the Orchard support rightly celebrated more silverware, McGeeney was at pains to point out that spring success was only a step on the road to even greater things - an Ulster title and an All-Ireland semi-final would eventually follow.
He urged to fans to "calm down" and let the team "get on with their business". Typical remarks from a player who was central to the Orchard County’s rise from the late 1990s.
The Irish News, in assessing the best Armagh players since 2000, described 'Geezer’ as "a physical powerhouse and a demonic tackler, ideally built for protecting the centre of the Orchard defence".
When his time as a player ended, McGeeney was quick to take on a coaching role. Kildare came calling. In six years at the helm, the Lilies were competitive and came so close to reaching an All-Ireland final in 2010.
And then he went home, first working alongside Paul Grimley (who was part of the McGeeney ticket for two years in Kildare), before stepping up as Armagh manager in the autumn of 2014.
The report card on McGeeney’s tenure so far contains, if truth be told, a mixed bag of results. That said, Armagh’s performances in the 2019 championship was a strong indication that things are starting to look brighter. As a consequence, McGeeney was given a two-year extension.
Counting the numbers, it’s now 33 years unbroken service as a player/coach/motivator.
On this Saturday evening, the journey continues for the Mullaghbawn native as Armagh host Kildare in Division 2 of the Allianz League – a chance to kick-start their promotion push after last week’s loss to Laois.
Compiling a caricature of McGeeney is something that can easily be pieced together. As well as being driven, a dour, if somewhat intimidating persona, is what comes to mind.
He’s very much his own man. That point was backed up by former Kildare star Johnny Doyle when he spoke to RTÉ Sport.
"He’s not the politician, he doesn’t try to be everything to everybody," he said.
"If he wants to do an interview, he’ll do an interview, if he doesn’t, he just doesn’t and that’s fair enough. He doesn’t wave to the crowds or any of that but that’s just the way he is.
"That wouldn’t be the true reflection of who he is. He would be very loyal, very fair with lads. Even if you mightn’t like what he would tell you, you would know you’re going to get honesty and he would expect you to be honest with him. Even if that was to be critical he would want to know about it.
"He would give it back to you with both barrels but I think that’s what a lot of players liked about him. Everybody didn’t get on with him but my experience was that he was very fair.
"He drove lads hard but when you’re in that environment you’re looking to be challenged and be the best you can be. He certainly demanded that.
"He would have the craic. When you’re managing a team there has to be a distance. You can’t be one of the lads and the boss. But he would always demand that what we did, we did together. So if that was going for drinks after a match we would have socialised together.
"The physio, the stats man, were all part of the team and win, lose or draw we would do it together. We had plenty of good craic and plenty of nights out."
Paul Grimley, who soldiered on the sideline with McGeeney during spells with Armagh and Kildare, said of the latter: "He is absolutely driven. In fact, he is one of the most driven people I have come across, both in football and in normal life.
"His attention to detail is one of his strongest points."
Grimley, who also spoke to RTÉ Sport, feels the "dour" label is a little harsh on the 2002 All-Ireland winner.
"I think that’s unfair of a person who behaves the way he does," he added.
"He is good company. He can have a laugh and can be humorous. He enjoys a bit of craic, although he doesn’t overdo it socially. He does keep himself to himself.
"Kieran McGeeney is a great motivator. Can dour people be great motivators?
"He’s an intelligent, innovative guy and can turn his hand to most things. His advice would be sought from a lot of quarters."
An example of McGeeney the motivator during his time with Kildare was certainly a key moment for Johnny Doyle.
The Allenwood clubman explained: "The first meeting we had, with himself and Paul Grimley, he gave us an indication of what the outside world thought of Kildare, with the nice fancy white jersey: Lovely footballers but probably a little bit of a soft touch.
"That didn’t rest easy with me and you didn’t like hearing it.
"His philosophy would have been that you have leaders and followers and the leaders will drive the followers"
"I remember him asking why things hadn’t worked out. Slowly but surely a list of excuses came up on the board, including that we didn’t have our own gym. ‘One by one’, he said, ‘we’re going to get rid of all these excuses’, and in fairness to him he did that.
"We organised a fundraiser fight night and raised enough to buy our own gym equipment and kitted out the old media centre from the Ryder Cup in the K club that was left idle. We trained there for six years.
"Things like that you knew he was serious about it and going to get rid of excuses. That for me was the big difference in Kieran. He was just a driven individual and he expected people to bring their standards up no matter who they were.
"He was probably harder on the lads that were there the longest or seen to be the key players. His philosophy would have been that you have leaders and followers and the leaders will drive the followers.
"He just thought about the game differently and took us out of our comfort zone for a number of years."
Doyle also reflected on the summer of 2010 when the Lilies lost narrowly to Down in the All-Ireland semi.
"The romantic around Kildare will say we should have beaten Down in 2010, and maybe Benny Coulter was in the square and all that.
"But we didn’t beat them and people saying ‘You would have won the All-Ireland’, I’m sure Cork would have had something to say about that.
"We competed, which was something we hadn’t been doing before, but there was potential to go a bit further. You don’t have too many regrets.
"There were games that were in the melting pot we could have won but that’s sport. All you can do is your best."
And so to the present. Both Armagh and Kildare are fancied to make real strides this spring.
"I’d be very optimistic that Armagh can get promotion," is Grimley’s prediction.
"Kieran is building something. The county board gave him an extension last summer. Despite what some were saying on social media and elsewhere, I don’t think Kieran’s job was under threat, nobody on the board wanted him to step down.
"If ever we are to make that push to Division 1, we would have to have a team that could stay there. I think this current team can stay there.
"I think we’re as good as Galway and Meath are at the moment. Obviously, there are the top teams in the country – Dublin. Kerry. Tyrone, Donegal and Mayo, but I think Mayo wouldn’t be out of Armagh’s reach either.
"In my mind, we’re in the top eight teams in the country, despite losing to a good Laois side last week. Tier 2 will have a big impact on the team going forward. Teams will start getting panicky, more defensive later on in the league. It should make for an interesting finish."
With Jack O’Connor now in charge of Kildare, hopes have been raised that the county can go well on all fronts in 2020.
However, Johnny Doyle is sounding a more cautious note when saying: "Other years you would see promotion as the number one. Number one at the moment is make sure you remain in the division or before you know where you are you’re playing Tier Two football in the summer.
He continued: "There’s excitement that someone of Jack O’Connor’s calibre is in Kildare. He certainly comes with a very impressive CV.
"There’s definitely an air of anticipation around the county but there is also an air of realism.
"While we have had reasonable success underage, there’s no guarantee these players are going to step up and it’s going to take a little bit of time.
"Winning the first game (against Westmeath) was great. We would have probably looked at going last week (against Clare) to put another two points on the board but it didn’t work out that way.
"Now you’re going to Armagh, and they are coming off a poor enough defeat so you would be expecting a reaction.
"It’s a tough game and it’s going to be a real battle. Kildare will look to at least get a point but it’s going to be a difficult challenge."
