From the outside it was one of the most unlikely All-Ireland triumphs in the history of the game.
Generally, there’s a massive victory over a top side - or a trophy of significance to frank the arrival of a side at the top table.
Armagh had neither going in to face Kerry in this year’s All-Ireland semi-final. It was the first time they’d got past the quarter-finals in Kieran McGeeney’s 10 years in charge. They’d lost back-to-back Ulster finals in penalty shootouts.
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They were dogged by accusations of not being able to get over the line in big games - sitting back rather than pressing on.
Neither did they have a settled team. Rarely has a side changed so many players between a provincial championship and an All-Ireland series - and been so successful in doing it.
The Armagh side that won the All-Ireland had a different midfielder and entire half back line to the team that lost the Ulster Final. That’s serious structural change at such a late juncture in the season.
Two things jump out here. The first is the amount of players Armagh were able to grow that could compete hard at this level from very little underage success.
The second is that while they didn’t have a huge win over a big gun, or a major trophy, they had gone agonisingly close in back to back Ulster finals.
Performances were there, if results weren’t, but that can become a hard sell after a while. That they bounced back and didn’t let it unduly affect them was perhaps their greatest achievement.
This year the walls they had to surmount were clearly psychological more than physical, tactical or a case of any skills deficit.
In 2022, Armagh trailed Galway by six points late on in the All-Ireland quarter-final, and only a couple of late goals from high balls forced extra-time.
They got a goal in overtime. Very few sides lose from there. Armagh, almost immediately, conceded one at the other end.
Two signs they weren’t ready. They lost in a penalty shoot out.
In the 2023 Ulster Final Derry had a black card for most of the first period of extra-time, but Armagh were cagey and didn’t press on.
Rian O’Neill slotted a late equaliser, but they lost again on penalties.
A few weeks later it was nip and tuck with Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
It looked there for Armagh after a huge one point victory over Galway in the final round of their qualifying group secured top spot, a two weeks break and an automatic last eight spot.
Fellow group toppers, Dublin and Kerry, off a fortnight’s prep compared to one week for Mayo and Tyrone respectively, demolished their opponents in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Derry had the fortnight too, and beat Cork, coming in off a one week break.
Armagh had the extra time to rest up and prepare for a Monaghan side on their third big championship game in 14 days, who also wound up a man down late on with a black card.
They stalled again. This time the penalty shoot out defeat was 9-8.
On to this year’s Ulster final. Armagh had Donegal’s measure at 0-15 to 0-11 on 53 minutes. Jim McGuinness looked exasperated on the line and his team looked out of ideas on the pitch.
On a day when 40 points were fired over by 21 different players, Armagh didn’t score for the final 20 minutes of normal time and lost a fourth big game penalty shootout.
They had three marks - two turned down and one kicked wide - to win the game in normal time. Right there, but nowhere again - and with nothing to show for it.
They would reshape after that, partially forced by a season ending knee injury to centre half back, Ciaran Mackin.
At that point, the loss of Mackin looked a bridge too far, but with Tiernan Kelly and Barry McCambridge coming into the half back line and Niall Grimley to midfield, they hammered Derry in their first qualifier and were up and running again.
A thrilling draw with Galway, where they trailed by five points but kept playing to the final seconds, with Stefan Campbell - the nearest thing we've seen to the Kevin McManamon super sub role - fisting a crucial equaliser, secured an automatic All-Ireland quarter-final spot - and was a portent of things to come.
A third All-Ireland quarter-final on the bounce since covid wiped the round away.
Their win against Roscommon was underwhelming, with their opponents kicking a series of wides and having a man red carded before half time.
But it would turn out that crashing through the psychological barrier to win an All-Ireland quarter-final was all that mattered.
From there they went on to win the lot, surging from five behind against Kerry in the semi-final with a vital McCambridge goal - just like the Roscommon game - and massive points from Aidan Forker and Rian O'Neill key to that huge big game win they’d craved and needed.
Galway were most people’s favourites going into the final, but it was clear from early on that there was little between the sides.
A huge defensive display - and a goal from defender Aaron McKay - saw Armagh land just a second All-Ireland title in their entire history.
It was a win marked by resilience, innovation through the use of attacking set-plays and clever rotation of a carefully cultivated squad - highlighted by Connaire Mackin starting the final to mark Matthew Tierney.
A real team win and one in the eye from the little guy.
The two outlier All-Ireland wins since the Armagh and Tyrone breakthrough years (2002/03) were Cork in 2010 and Tyrone in 2021.
But they were flagged to a far greater extent than Armagh’s victory, with Cork turning Kerry over in the 2009 Munster Championship and winning a Division 1 League title in 2010 - the first of three-in-a-row.
Tyrone had the experience of competing in an All-Ireland final in 2018, as well as semi-finals in 2017 and 2019. They were hardly novices at this level.
Armagh had no such experience, but to their credit took full advantage of the opportunity the new format presents to build and evolve.
Many assumed though the psychological baggage of losing so many big games would prove too big a weight for their players.
Sure, they could or would be ultra-competitive, but very few, if any, saw this triumph coming, making it all the more remarkable.
“When I was 21 and 22, starting off your Armagh senior career, obviously we were up and down in Division 2, Division 3,” said Niall Grimley.
“You always at the back of the head thought, ‘Some day that will be us,’ and you believed it, but when it happens you are in disbelief, ‘nah, I don’t believe it.’
“The whole time in the back of your mind you are thinking this is really something I want so bad.
“You are seeing the likes of Tyrone winning and the likes of Dublin and Kerry, and you are thinking ‘Oh my God, will our day come?’ Then I suppose when we beat Kerry in the semi-final, finals are there for winning.
“They are not there for looking around you and soaking in the atmosphere. Ultimately, you are there to do a job and that was the key message leading into the two week period to put in a performance and have no regrets.
“That was obviously amazing, that feeling at the final whistle, walking up the Hogan Steps with (Aidan) Forker and you visualise it all year and the week leading up to it and then it happens and you are in disbelief.
“It has been unbelievable, unbelievable moments that I will never forget for the rest of my life.”
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