Today marks the 20th anniversary of Armagh's finest hour...

September 22, 2022

Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney with the Sam Maguire Cup ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

It's 20 years to the day since Armagh won their first All-Ireland senior football championship title.

Joe Kernan’s men pulled off the remarkable feat by beating Kerry on a 1-12 to 0-14 score-line at Croke Park to bring the Sam Maguire Cup back to the Orchard County for the first time.

It hadn’t looked good at half-time for the Ulster champions, as they trailed the Kingdom by 0-11 to 0-7 at the halfway stage after ace attacker Oisin McConville had missed a penalty.

Armagh received a spirited half-time team talk from Kernan that saw them late out on to the pitch for the second-half and a superbly taken goal from ‘Man of the Match’ McConville in the 55th minute reduced their opponents’ lead to the minimum.

Ronan Clarke and Steven McDonnell supplied the points afterwards that gave the Orchard men their first lead since the opening stages and they’d hold out for a historic victory which saw team captain Kieran McGeeney proudly raising the Sam Maguire Cup in front of a sea of orange at headquarters.


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