McGeeney: 'The less said about the rub of the green in our sport, the better'

Kieran McGeeney said Armagh will just have to press the reset button for the All-Ireland series, having lost their third Ulster SFC on the trot by inches.

The Orchard County were beaten in penalties by Derry in 2023 and then again from the spot by Donegal last year, before going down 2-23 to 0-28 after extra-time against the side managed by Jim McGuinness on Saturday in Clones.

“You just have to start again,” he said afterwards on Saturday. Some things are harder to take than others. We'll just sit down over the next 24 hours and look at the game and see what we can control and what we can't, and sort of try and push on. It's always tough when you get beaten, so what do you do? That's part and parcel of sport, you just have to keep going.”

The Armagh manager says his team will have to press the reset button ahead of the most problematic of round-robin groups, where they will face Derry, Dublin and Galway.

“As far as I know, we've been in the Group of Death for the last three years, so what's new?” McGeeney added. “It's a tough one. Derry are playing well by all accounts in the challenge games, and Dublin are Dublin, and Galway are probably one of the best teams in the country at the minute, but there's no easy ones left.”

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McGeeney believed some of the calls from referee Brendan Cawley on the day didn’t go the way of his team, referring to what he believed was a foul following Ciaran Moore scoring Donegal’s second goal in extra-time.

“The less said about the rub of the green in our sport, the better,” McGeeney added. “Unless it comes from me, nobody ever does say it. When Ross McQuillan won the kick-out, how he didn't get a free kick is beyond comprehension. It's hard to fathom, it really is.”

Armagh, like Donegal, will now assess their walking wounded, although the All-Ireland champions will reintroduce Rian O’Neill following his recent lay-off.

McGeeney said: “It's hard to know until the next 24 hours, because between cramps and tears, it's quite hard to tell the difference, you know? Rian joined us today, so we'll see how the next couple of weeks go.”