Niall Grimley will be somewhere high above the Atlantic with his Armagh team-mates when his parents, Brian and Frances, accept an award from the Gaelic Writers’ Association on his behalf in Dublin on Friday night.
It’s been a year of atypical occasions. On Tuesday, they were all together at the anniversary mass for his brother Patrick, killed a year ago in a traffic accident on the way back from his own surprise 40th birthday party.
Patrick’s wife Ciera also died, as did Ciara McElvanna, wife of Armagh 2002 All-Ireland winner, Kevin.
So when he uses the phrase “unusual year” to describe the last 12 months, Grimley is only referencing the half of it.
“It’s been a tough week,” said Grimley, speaking as the Gaelic Writers’ Association Football Personality Of The Year.
“But only for my wife, my family, my friends, work, Armagh management, Geezer (Kieran McGeeney), the impact they have had on me in the past year and stuff, I am very thankful.
“For me, it’s been a rollercoaster year, the lows have been so low and the highs have been so high.”
These extremes are the altitudes and depths at which Grimley has been living for a while now.
“We are meeting all these anniversaries and stuff for the first time,” he notes. “Obviously, for my family this past year has been challenging.”
There are some enduring images of Grimley from the All-Ireland Final. The first is that brilliant point he scored just past the hour mark, from a swift and direct break, to put Armagh two up.
The second, with Armagh one ahead in the second minute of injury-time and all of Croke Park in frenzy of anticipation, Shane Walsh took possession and attempted to wave something down in the corner between the Hogan Stand and the old Nally Stand. So tight, so disciplined was the Armagh defensive shape and those in it, Walsh couldn’t get a sniff. He doubled back and attempted to kick a pass to someone. Grimley dived and blocked it out of play.
“It’s brought joy to people when there was sad days and there was dark, dark days,” he says. “Proud and privileged to be able to bring the cup back.”
The other abiding image is Grimley after the final whistle; eyes to heaven, arms raised.
Odd to think, then, that he spent most of the year out of the team.
It took injuries to Ciarán Mackin and Andrew Murnin to give him a start for that sweep of Derry in the All-Ireland qualifier round-robin. Five games later, Grimley had his All-Ireland medal.
“Geezer gave me the nod that day and I am very thankful. Going in against Derry, that was my All-Ireland Final and thankfully he gave me the chance.”
Grimley’s football career almost came to an abrupt end in May 2022 when he suffered an horrendous injury that for all its damage might easily have been far worse.
He sustained a three-column fracture of the C6 vertebrae in his neck. The C7 vertebrae was also fractured. The discs, ligaments and tendons in the area were all destroyed but, crucially, the spinal cord was unharmed.
“It took me seven or eight months to come back from the neck and two weeks before the Ulster Final against Derry in 2023, I ruptured my MCL and then I missed the Ulster Final and the rest of the season,” he recalls.
When you put it all together, it seems far too glib to observe that all is well that ends well. But the past couple of months have had healing effects.
“You be meeting people now and they’d be in tears, even at the thought of seeing Sam Maguire,” Grimley says.
“The cup and even at the thought of being able to hold it and stand beside you and get a photo, people, the joy that it brings, I didn’t realise it. I honestly didn’t realise the joy this cup would bring. It’s been anything I ever imagined.
“I never imagined it being this huge. It’s honestly brilliant, unbelievable. I don’t even have a word in my vocabulary, it’s that good.”