Galway v Armagh: Kieran McGeeney’s team chases All-Ireland glory at Croke Park

Nine-time All-Ireland winner James McCarthy is among the faces in the Croke Park crowd today, having lifted the Sam Maguire as winning captain last year.

Cein D’Arcy will start in place of Sean Kelly in the only change from the teams named during the week. Armagh line out as selected.

Starting teams

Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn; D McHugh, L Silke, S Mulkerrin; P Conroy, C D’Arcy; M Tierney, J Maher, C McDaid; R Finnerty, D Comer, S Walsh.

Subs: C Flaherty, J Daly, E Kelly, D O’Flaherty, K Molloy, C Sweeney, S Kelly, J Heaney, L Ó Conghaile, T Culhane, N Daly.

Armagh: B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, B McCambridge; C Mackin, T Kelly, A Forker; N Grimley, B Crealey; J McElroy, R O’Neill, O Conaty; R Gurgan, A Murnin, C Turbitt.

Subs: E Rafferty, G McCabe, P McGrane, C Higgins, R McQuillan, S McPartlan, J Duffy, O O’Neill, S Campbell, A Nugent, J Og Burns.

Kerry legend Pat Spillane has a ‘suspicion Sam is heading west’ to Galway. You can see his reasons for that take here.

Over on RTÉ, Peter Canavan, Lee Keegan and Tomás Ó Sé discuss the moments leading up to a big game, and how players deal with the nerves.

Wonderful moment involving Meath’s jubilee team

The Meath jubilee team were introduced to the crowd, 25 years on from their All-Ireland triumph in 1999.  Sean Boylan’s side defeated Cork in the final by 1-11 to 1-8, with their legendary manager alongside the team today. 

There was a wonderful moment out on the pitch with the Meath players paying tribute to the 80-year-old, forming a guard of honour around him and applauding him in front of the crowd.

In the zone – Shane Walsh.

Joe Brolly says more heart, less head can swing it for Armagh.

‘Systems do not win All-Irelands. Human beings do,’ writes Brolly.

Players from the two sides are out strolling around the pitch, sampling the atmosphere with over an hour to go until throw-in. 

GAAGO are also running an analysis show before the match with Marc Ó Sé, Paddy Andrews, Michael Meehan and Aaron Kernan among those taking part.

Padraic Joyce and Kieran McGeeney are out there having a chat, all smiles and sharing a joke. It’s the calm before the storm at this stage.

The scene on Jones’ Road.

Jones’ Road is full of orange and maroon with supporters from both sides congregating outside the Hogan Stand. Former Footballer of the Year and Leitrim manager Andy Moran is among those arriving for the big game.

‘Keeper of the Dunmore flame’

The Dunmore MacHales club in Galway is synonymous with All-Ireland glory mainly through the Donnellans, Michael in 1998 and 2001, his father John in 1963, ‘64 and ‘65 and his grand-father Mick in 1925. Galway keeper Connor Gleeson hopes to bring another Celtic Cross to the club today. Interestingly, as Dermot Crowe writes in today’s Irish Independent, no Galway side has ever won Sam Maguire without a Dunmore man on the team.

The game will be shown live on RTÉ 2 with the coverage beginning at 2.15. It’s also BBC Two NI and the BBC iPlayer.

Galway have gone 23 years without bringing Sam Maguire out to the west having last won the final in 2001 beating Meath. 

Padraic Joyce was the star of the show kicking 0-10 that day. Can he join the illustrious club of All-Ireland winning players and managers today? 

His opposite number Kieran McGeeney is hoping to achieve the same piece of history, having captained Armagh to their only ever title in 2002.

The teams have met in each of the last three years in the championship and the spoils are shared from those encounters. Galway won the first one, an All-Ireland quarter final after a classic that went all the way to a penalty shoot-out before Armagh struck back last year, beating Galway by a point in Carrick-on-Shannon. Then it was honours even when the sides met in Sligo earlier this year in the group stages.

2022 Galway 2-21 Armagh 3-18 (Galway 4-1 on penalties)

2023 Armagh 0-16 Galway 1-12

2024 Galway 0-15 Armagh 1-12

Hello and welcome! 

It’s All-Ireland senior football final day and we’ll be taking you through every moment of the action right here from the pre-match build-up, the team news, right through the game and into the fall-out that follows. It’s Armagh vs Galway for the first time ever in an All-Ireland final. It’s throwing in at 3.30 live from Croke Park.