“If you’re not going to answer my questions, why should I answer yours?”
Kieran McGeeney may have had the sympathy of Galway manager Pádraic Joyce, after an All-Ireland quarter final thriller at Croke Park, but it was doing nothing to change the result.
Galway march on while Armagh’s latest run at Sam Maguire has fallen a couple of steps short.
The Orchard County trailed by six points in the closing stages of this afternoon’s last eight clash, but staged a dashing comeback that included two goals and a Rian O’Neill equaliser, deep into time added on. Extra time was just as frenetic, with the only way separating both sides being Galway’s composure in a penalty shootout that they won 4-1.
Joyce would later tell reporters that his heart went out to McGeeney in that soccer-style decider. A replay may have been more fitting, but the GAA have opted to zip through the championship so it was left to spot-kicks.
So much of the game was what is best about Gaelic Football but, unfortunately, there will be sanctions handed out after a sideline brawl that saw both sides, benches and non-playing panel members wade in for a piece.
Following the game, in a briefing with Kieran McGeeney, the Armagh boss tried to turn questions on the brawl back on a reporter that called some of the actions witnessed at Croke Park “thuggish”.
“If somebody pushed you, would you push back?”
Asked for his take on the “nasty” brawl, and if it unsettled his Armagh players, Kieran McGeeney attempted to turn some of the questions back on the reporter. He also questioned why both sets of player are not separated from going into the tunnel together, during games.
“It’s not something you want to see,” said McGeeney. “I suppose, this year, that’s two of them we’ve been involved in. It’s unfortunate…
“You don’t want to see it,” he added, “but trial by social media is a very poor way to go… if people had’ve sat down and actually watched the video [of the Armagh vs. Tyrone league game fracas], they might’ve got it right.”
“What happens if somebody pushes you? Do you push back? What would you do? What would YOU do? What would… I’m asking, it’s a very simple question. If somebody pushed you, would you push back?”
Not getting the satisfactory ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer he required, McGeeney declared, “You can’t look for headlines. If you’re not going to answer my questions, why should I answer yours?”
McGeeney was told by the reporter that he was there to ask questions, and not answer them.
Emotions were clearly running high for the Armagh boss after such a pulsating match at Croke Park. The interaction picked up thereafter as McGeeney said he was on the sideline trying to break up the feuding players.
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