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The Irish Sun
20 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Rory Grugan urges Armagh to push for more despite All-Ireland Championship quarter-final berth already secured
RORY GRUGAN reckons it is 'a bit bizarre' that Armagh are already into the All-Ireland last eight after just two group games. And the veteran captain conceded that 2 Armagh ace Rory Grugan urged his team-mates to kick on in the All-Ireland Championship 2 Armagh beat Dublin on Sunday in the All-Ireland Senior Championship Group 4 clash Grugan was man of the match in But the 34-year-old insists his side cannot relax against He said 'pride' would prevent them taking a backstep and pointed to the fact that they need to push for improvement. Grugan said: 'It's a bit bizarre. We are there with a game to go. It just means we have two weeks to get ready for Galway and see where that takes us. READ MORE ON GAA 'You know you are going to be back in Croke Park in four weeks for a quarter-final, which is where you want to be. 'But we need to improve. Did we hit our targets against Dublin? Not many of them. 'There's things you'd be pleased with, like fighting for break ball and winning scraps and stuff like that. 'But so much of what we did we wouldn't be happy with in terms of both our own possessions and the amount of chances we gave up. There were a lot of chances they missed. Most read in GAA Football 'Dublin could easily have been gone from us in the first half. There's so much we can improve on. That's not the worst way to be going into the next game.' Error-prone Dublin blasted 17 wides in Sunday's five-point loss to the Orchard. Tipperary GAA star 'had to do live apology on RTE' the day after cursing during All-Ireland interview - They also hit the post twice and dropped several attempts short. And Dessie Farrell's men gifted five points to Armagh from technical fouls. Throw in Armagh's own shortcomings and Grugan is glad just to have won without hitting enough of their 'key performance indicators'. He said: 'It was our highest turnover count all season. It's strange in a way to win a game knowing you didn't hit a lot of your KPIs, yet you are still coming out of Croke Park after beating Dublin. 'It's a good thing. It's a bit of a weird feeling but it's obviously a good one.' Grugan said that far from being a dead rubber for Armagh, the Galway game is a chance to chase those improvements. And he pointed to the value of momentum ahead of the quarter-finals. The Ballymacnab man said: 'I don't think at this level that taking a step back or having some sort of mindset of not being bothered about winning a game is a good thing. Momentum is a big thing. 'You have two weeks to Galway and two weeks then to an All-Ireland quarter-final. So we are going to be really going after the Galway game.' Grugan's strong form is a big boost to Armagh ahead of the business end of the campaign. On their All-Ireland win, he said: 'I was 33 at the time. There might be a perception on the outside that you'd walk away. It was honestly the opposite for me — you just wanted to go again."
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Rory Grugan felt like Armagh had 'something special' and wanted to go again
Rory Grugan was 33 when he helped Armagh land the All-Ireland title - but walking away never entered his head. It was a long and painful climb to the top with plenty of heartache along the way, including back to back Ulster Final penalty shoot out defeats and All-Ireland exits (2022/23). But the idea of 'One and Done' wasn't something the Ballymacnab playmaker entertained for a second. 10 months on from that famous All-Ireland Final win over Galway, Armagh are back in the last eight again and looking formidable. Their five point victory over Dublin at Croke Park at the weekend meant Kieran McGeeney's men not only topped the table for the third successive year, but they also made another piece of history. Armagh became the only side across the three years of the round robin series to qualify for an All-Ireland quarter-final with a game to spare. 'I think when you reach that pinnacle there might be a perception on the outside like, oh you'd walk away or whatever,' says Grugan, who hit eight points against Dublin. 'I was 33 at the time. It was honestly the opposite - where you wanted to go again. 'You felt like you had something special and that was Geezer's thing straight away. It's just the way he is. It's about driving it again and seeing where it can take us. 'No team in Armagh has certainly done it (back to back All-Ireland titles). It's obviously a very long way away to be talking about that type of thing. 'I suppose it's something that drives you, and we are at a stage where we are at an All-Ireland quarter-final and we'll just see where it takes us from there.' Grugan says Armagh can use all the experience they had from the good days and the bad ones. 'I think we are in a position where we probably were frustrated,' he says. 'You were in danger of being given a tag of not getting over the line in a close game, or nearly men, or whatever you want to call it. 'Then when you get there and you win that thing, there's definitely a sense of it taking a certain element of pressure off and it liberating you a bit. 'You know that you have that reliance on your experience to get over the line and to win that. 'That when it comes to it, you think that you've been here before. That doesn't mean that it's easy. 'If anything it's actually harder because you have teams that are coming for you now, but I suppose that experience stands to you. You'd like to think that it helps as the year goes on.' Grugan had an easy sell for his team mates in the huddle at Croke Park last Sunday as Armagh geared up for a first Championship encounter with Dublin since 2010. 'You are talking about being one of the older players,' he continued. 'I think when you know you are closer to the end in your career, you relish these things. 'I said after the game last week (win over Derry) I've never played against Dublin in a Championship game in Croke Park. 'I know it wasn't a sellout but I suppose playing into the Hill, the sun shining in Croke Park. I said it to the boys in the huddle before the game. 'This is why you play football. If you can't enjoy that, there's something wrong with you. It's obviously easier when you win. Those are the days you relish, so we'll be looking forward to being back here.' Grugan is playing as well as he ever has, conducting the Armagh attack and weighing in with scores and big defensive plays. 'I think you always have to try and improve,' he says. 'The minute you feel like you are the finished product you are in the wrong game. 'Even the new rules have rejuvenated it for me. You are looking for new things all the time. How you can get better and whether that's defensively or with your shooting and different things. 'There is so much of my game I would like to be better at. You'll come away after the thing (Dublin game) and it's all great, but there's so much I know from both the team perspective and even my own that you could do better. 'That's what high performance is. You are always striving for perfection. You will never get there.' The 34 year old French teacher says Armagh won't be treating the Galway game lightly, even though it's a dead rubber for them. 'I don't think at this level taking a step back or having some sort of mindset of not wanting to win a game is a good thing,' he continued. 'Momentum is a big thing. You have two weeks to Galway and two weeks after that to an All-Ireland quarter-final. 'So I think we are going to be really going after it. We just have to take it as a normal game. I know it's not do or die in the sense of we have already topped the group. 'There is talk about the boys that want their spot. Everyone is going to be pushing on, so I think everyone has enough pride in the thing to be saying they want to go on and win that game. 'It means you are going into a quarter-final with momentum rather than coming off a loss.'
The Irish Sun
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Rian O'Neill returns as Armagh survive late Derry blitz in nervy All-Ireland opener
RIAN O'NEILL'S confirmed return before throw-in drew as many cheers from Armagh fans as the hooter at the end did as their All-Ireland defence kicked off with a nervous win. But Orchard captain for the night Rory Grugan insisted that the victory was all that mattered — as his side stumbled over the line to take two points in the group of death from a game they should have cruised home in. 2 Rian O'Neill returned for All-Ireland champions Armagh on Saturday at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds 2 Armagh's defence kicked off with a nervous win against a tough Derry outfit Second-half goals from Barry McCambridge and Conor Turbitt saw Kieran McGeeney's men take a commanding 13-point lead with just over ten minutes left. But Derry rallied, scoring two late goals from Conor Glass and Tommy Rogers to make the hosts sweat at the Athletic Grounds. Armagh hung on to banish the memories of another drama-filled Ulster final defeat to Donegal. Grugan said: 'The first few days are tough, getting the corner turned in terms of mentally and that, but we managed to do that and we put in a good ten days of training. read more on gaa 'We treated this like a final, basically, because if you lose this first game, you're scrambling away to Dublin, neutral to Galway, you don't know where it'll take you and suddenly you're fighting for your life. 'We want to push on now, see where this week takes us and I look forward to Croke Park.' Grugan admitted he was glad to hear the final whistle. He added: 'I went off just after we'd conceded the first goal and it went back to a ten-point deficit, and you're hoping that's still enough of a buffer. Most read in GAA Football 'But in the modern game we've seen those disappear really quickly. There was a significant wind there, Derry took advantage of it. Antrim GAA captain Dermot McAleese insists Ulster SFC clash against Armagh will be at Corrigan Park 'You could tell they were really going for goal and they never stopped fighting. They came at us hard, kicked a couple of two-pointers and it was more nervy than it needed to be there. 'It would have been a travesty if we threw it away.' Armagh came flying out of the blocks in the second half having only led by three points at the break despite dominating the opening period. The return of talisman O'Neill for his first game of the year came in the No 6 jersey after he had initially not been named in the matchday squad. That all changed on the day and he was among the scorers as his side led 0-9 to 0-2 after 19 minutes. Grugan, Andrew Murnin, Oisín Conaty with a two-pointer, Ross McQuillan and Turbitt all contributed. But Derry hit back with Conor Glass, Paul Cassidy, Ruairí Forbes and Shane McGuigan on target to cut Armagh's half-time lead to 0-12 to 0-9. Murnin, Jarly Óg Burns, Jason Duffy and McQuillan all helped extend the Orchard lead again before McCambridge steered Murnin's optimistic delivery into the net and then Turbitt displayed class to slip his shot past keeper Ben McKinless. However, Derry chipped away with a big two-pointer from McGuigan and then with ten minutes to play, Glass' low effort gave Armagh keeper Ethan Rafferty no chance. And Paddy Tally's men really started to believe when substitute Rogers rattled in another goal. Indeed, they came close to turning it around with Rafferty required to make saves from Rogers and his namesake Brendan. But Joe McElroy stemmed the tide with a vital insurance point as Armagh hung on and they now head to Croke Park to face Dublin next weekend with both sides having won their group openers. Derry will welcome Galway to Celtic Park as both teams look to get off the mark. Ahead of facing the Dubs, Grugan warned: 'The amount of goal chances Derry created and scored would be concerning.' ARMAGH: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge 1-0, P McGrane; R McQuillan 0-4, R O'Neill 0-1, J Óg Burns 0-1; J Duffy 0-1, B Crealy; D McMullan 0-1, R Grugan 0-3, 2f, O Conaty 0-4, 1tp; T Kelly, A Murnin 0-3, O O'Neill. Subs: C Turbitt 1-2, 1tp for O O'Neill 12mins; S Campbell for Duffy 51; N Grimley for R O'Neill 55; J McElroy 0-1 for Grugan 60; G McCabe for McQuillan 62. DERRY: B McKinless; P McGurk, E McEvoy, D Baker; R Forbes 0-1, B Rogers, P McGrogan 0-1'45; C Glass 1-3, C Doherty; C McFaul, P Cassidy 0-5, 1tp, E Doherty 0-1; A Tohill, S McGuigan 0-5, 1tp, 1tpf, N Toner 0-1f. Subs: D Higgins 1-0 for Tohill 38mins; R Mulholland for McGurk 54; C Devlin for McFaul 59; T Rogers for Toner 62; D McDermott for McGrogan 65. REFEREE: S Hurson (Tyrone).
