Armagh fans can thank Conor McGregor for the return of Jamie Clarke

Geezer is one tough cookie.

Kieran McGeeney is not a man to be messing with, he's an animal really. The Armagh man was always the big man on the pitch in is playing days and is physically looking as good as ever as he keeps up his intense training through jiu-jitsu. McGeeney is friends with Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh and is well networked with people from Straight Blast Gyms so when the chance came to go over to see Conor McGregor fight Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title it was a no-brainer. It was undoubtedly a great trip for McGeeney, he would have got to see McGregor finish Eddie Alvarez in a second-round stoppage but he also got on a plane back to Ireland knowing that he acquired the playing services of Jamie Clarke for the 2017 season. The Crossmaglen man hit headlines earlier this year after a number of stellar performances for the Orchard County but it was a meeting with McGeeney in New York that caused Clarke to come back. Speaking at the GAA Hour live in the Academy the Armagh manager revealed the details of his meeting with Clarke over in New York:

"I was going over for the fight and I was in contact with Jamie for a good while when he was away," McGeeney said to a packed out crowd. "I’d have no issue with any fella looking to travel or do what they want to do, your heart has to be in it if you want to do it right and he wanted to travel for a year and he was over there and we kept in contact and I was telling him I was going over for Conor’s fight and I went over and we met up and we had a chat he said he was interested in coming home and I said ‘great’."

Clarke previously spoke on the GAA Hour about his decision to return:

"I love my football. I was trying to do it [travelling in the past] so I wasn't missing the bigger games. It got to a stage where I wanted to experience what life was like away from here for a longer period," he told SportsJOE's GAA Hour podcast. "I was only getting a couple of months here and there. I had to bite the bullet at some stage and I just felt that last year was the right time to do it. "I knew I had time on my side with the football. I'm 27 now and I think I'm fresh and hungry. I've done my travelling and stuff so if I stay for the next five or six years now, I think people will forget about it."