History has little bearing as sides look to a new beginning

All-Ireland SFC Qualifier Round Three:The sides met eight years ago in what was a seminal game for both - it launched the Ulster county to greater things, writes John O'Sullivan

THE MAJORITY of the cast has changed since the last time that Dublin and Armagh commanded centre stage at Croke Park in 2002. This afternoon’s teams at GAA headquarters carry a faint reminder, personnel-wise, of that All-Ireland semi-final clash, almost eight years ago.

Steven McDonnell and Enda McNulty are in the Armagh panel this weekend, while Dublin’s survivors are goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton, Alan Brogan and Darren Magee.

That statistical fluff carries little import in divining a winner in this evening’s All-Ireland qualifier as there are so few parallels. The current incarnations of Dublin and Armagh are in the midst of a rebuilding process.

In 2002 there were completely different parameters in terms of development as Joe Kernan’s Armagh beat Tommy Lyons’s Dublin team by a solitary point, 1-14 to 1-13. The metropolitans came up agonisingly short when Ray Cosgrove’s (he was the top scorer in the championship that season and went on to claim an All Star) injury-time free struck a post and rebounded into play. Armagh went on to beat Kerry and claim the Sam Maguire.

Aidan O’Rourke, who now assists his former Armagh team-mate Kieran McGeeney in guiding the fortunes of Kildare, recalls the context of that victory over the Dubs.

“It was a big day for that particular Armagh team not only because it was a semi-final but the fact it was our first big victory in Croke Park. We overcame a mental hurdle.

“In the quarter-final we had let Sligo back into a game we should have won before taking care of them in a replay at Navan. It was more a sense of relief at the final whistle in Croke Park. We weren’t thinking about what the win meant, more a certain satisfaction that we had finished on the right side of a tight contest.

“On a personal level I should have got a block on Ciarán Whelan’s shot for their goal. It’s on YouTube: not getting that block haunted me for the rest of the game.”

Dublin’s centre half back that day, Johnny Magee, harbours more painful memories. “It was heartbreaking. I thought we were the better team on the day or it’s probably fairer to say I thought we did enough to win it. Small margins decided the result, like Paddy McKeever bundling the ball over the line for their goal and Cossie (Ray Cosgrove) hitting a post. We had enough chances even before that to win the match.

“That season we won the Leinster title for the first time in seven years and beat Meath in the process, something we hadn’t done in that period. We got past Donegal after a replay and I remember we did a bit of a lap of honour. Back in the dressingroom a couple of the senior players like Paul Curran and Declan Darcy got stuck into us about getting carried away.

“There was a good mix of youth and experience and I genuinely believe that if we had won against Armagh we would have kicked on and beaten Kerry.”

The previous 70 minutes were distilled into Cosgrove’s 35-metre free in injury-time: score and he had penned an escape clause for his team. O’Rourke and Magee offered differing views of the particular moment.

The Armagh man explained: “I felt that he wasn’t going to get it. He didn’t look confident. When the ball hit the post it broke towards the Cusack Stand side of the pitch and Francie (Bellew) and I chased it. He got there first and the final whistle went.

“In fairness (to Cosgrove) he was a real handful for us that day. We knew before the game that he was their danger man (Cosgrove scored six points, four from play) as he had been in brilliant form and scored some great goals.”

Magee mused: “Cossie was on fire that year. He is one of my best mates. We had played Minor, under-21 and senior football together for Dublin as well as for (Kilmacud) Crokes and had I every confidence in him kicking that free. He judged the breeze, stuck it sweetly but miscalculated by a millimetre. It shouldn’t have come down to it, in the sense we had enough chances in those final minutes to win the match.”

Loyalty demands that O’Rourke and Magee side with their respective counties, although neither is oblivious to the improvements required to win at Croke Park. O’Rourke pointed out: “I don’t think that Dublin know their best team and that can make it difficult to find a rhythm.

“Armagh have serious issues with regard to winning possession in the middle third of the field, that’s eight players I am talking about. If they can resolve that then I’d like to think they can win. It’ll be instructive to see whether the performance against a superb Monaghan display was an aberration for a young team.”

Magee is disappointed with what he considers “over the top criticism” of the current Dublin regime. “It’s a new system in terms of what they were doing in the league. It worked then and it’s been less effective since but in fairness to Pat Gilroy he’s been trying to find new talent after the disappointments of recent years against Kerry and Tyrone.

“That had to be done. The Meath match was a harsh lesson for the younger players but an important one. The players know they need to work harder, cover for each other, attack and defend as a team. That means 15 players looking to close down the opposition when not in possession and also being willing to make runs time and again going forward to support the ball carrier.

“The Dubs need to compress the space between the full-back and half-back lines, cut down on the time and space that the Armagh players have and also mustn’t dive in recklessly. If they have learnt the lessons of the campaign so far then there is no reason why their can’t be a different outcome from 2002 at Croke Park today.”

2002 SEMI-FINAL HOW THEY LINED OUT

ARMAGH:B Tierney; F Bellew, J McNulty, E McNulty; A O'Rourke, K McGeeney (capt), A McCann; J Toal, P McGrane; P McKeever, J McEntee, O McConville; S McDonnell, D Marsden, R Clarke. Subs:K Hughes for McCann (45 mins), P Loughran for Toal (60 mins), B O'Hagan for Marsden (67 mins), C O'Rourke for McKeever (71 mins).

DUBLIN:S Cluxton; B Cahill, P Christie, C Goggins (capt); P Casey, J Magee, P Andrews; C Whelan, D Magee; S Connell, D Farrell, S Ryan; A Brogan, J McNally, R Cosgrove. Subs:C Moran for Ryan (half-time), D Homan for D Magee (46 mins), J Sherlock for McNally (62 mins), D Darcy for Moran (71 mins).

Referee:M Collins (Cork).