Whelan: Past pain fuelled Orchard extra-time raid
Armagh's experience of Ulster final dark days provided them with the required ammunition to finally end their 18-year provincial wait against Monaghan, according to RTÉ GAA analyst Ciarán Whelan.
Kieran McGeeney's side lifted the Anglo Celt for the first time since 2008 - 'Geezer’s’ first year in management as he took on the Kildare job – and the last three seasons have resulted in two penalty shootout final defeats, to Derry and Donegal, while the Tír Chonaill County won by a point after extra-time last year in the decider.
Having led by seven in the second half on Sunday, Armagh showed a soft core to be reeled back in as more extra-time drama potentially awaited - but this time it didn’t arrive as they completely blitzed Monaghan to win 2-28 to 0-25.
Speaking on The Sunday Game, Whelan had no doubt what drove that extra-time exhibition.
"A lot of dark days, they’ve been up there the last three years and came so close," he said. "You could see this was high on their agenda, their objectives for the year. They wanted to get over the line, you could see what it meant to Kieran McGeeney and all the lads.
"They’ve been down that road and I think that experience stood to them today; they were in a place where they were able to dig themselves out of a hole.
"They controlled the game for probably 50 minutes and Monaghan stood up and died in their boots as they always do.
Armagh's Oisín Conaty proved too hot for the Monaghan defence to handle
"But Armagh just had the legs in extra-time, the pace they had, how they can attack at pace – they just wiped the floor with Monaghan."
No player did that more across the 90 minutes than Oisín Conaty who delivered another stunning performance that ended with six points in a player of the match display.
In his three and a half seasons on the panel, he has been named Young Footballer of the Year, was short-listed for the same award the following season, won two All-Stars and now has player of the match crystal from Ulster and All-Ireland finals.
For RTÉ GAA analyst Dessie Dolan, the Tír na nÓg player is a forward with the ability to cause huge damage.
"His position is something to note, what he’s doing is he’s playing on the arc all the time – he's not back to the goal, he’s facing the goal all the time," he said.
"What he wants to do is create opportunities to take on his man in a one v one and once he’s created that opportunity in a one v one, in this modern game he's going to back himself."
