McGeeney says poor composure cost against Donegal - not 'infatuation' of referees

Kieran McGeeney said he is sick of talking about referees and was blaming a lack of composure for Armagh’s third loss on the bounce in Division 1 of the National Football League.

Donegal were winners on a 1-20 to 0-19 scoreline at the Athletic Grounds to maintain their 100 percent record in the top flight, following on from wins over Dublin, Kerry and Mayo.

Having made headlines in recent weeks for comments about referees, the Armagh boss said certain journalists are “infatuated” by his post-match comments, particularly on officials.

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He said with a grin: “I can’t talk about referee fellas. Ye get more headlines off me about f**king referees. You know something: the readers, just so they know, they think we come out and just start going on about referees.

“‘Gather around everybody here, start talking about referees and give them a hard time’. Youse know: ‘Kieran, do you think the timekeeping was really harsh?’ Suddenly, the headline is ‘McGeeney gives out about referees’. There are idiots out there who love writing about me, they’re infatuated by me. Stop asking me, honestly.”

After a convincing win over Monaghan on the opening weekend, McGeeney’s team have now lost to Galway, Roscommon and Donegal, with Gavin Mulreany saving a penalty from Oisin Conaty two minutes from time and the home team kicking nine second-half wides.

“I would be very happy with the coaches I have in terms of where I rate them in the country, but there has to be a small bit of personal responsibility in that moment in time,” the Armagh manager said of the missed chances.

“There is a mental side to it. Everybody tells me how good they are but we have been working on things and we just have to keep going. The only thing you can do is put somebody on who will score better, but you have Oisin (O’Neill), Turbo (Conor Turbitt) and Conaty there and Cian McConville. They’re all pretty decent forwards and they were all going well. It's not as if they were being kept quiet.

"Composure is a big thing and you can put yourself under a lot of pressure. Conaty is not a bad forward just because he has missed a few and it is the same with Oisin. I don’t know is the answer. There is a mental side to it. Everybody tells me after how good they are but we have been working on things and we just have to keep going. We have bene playing pretty well and we have to finish a wee bit better.”