Kieran McGeeney: I've a lot of 'fans' that like to throw stuff at me

In his 10th season as manager, after numerous knockbacks and much heavy criticism, Kieran McGeeney has guided Armagh back to the showpiece game in Gaelic football for only the fifth time in their history.

Saturday's victory over Kerry shot in, unchallenged, at No. 2 in their all-time list of wins against the Kingdom.

And the Armagh manager was giddily forthcoming and reflective as he sought to convey what it all meant.

Back in late 2014, McGeeney inherited a side which had just tipped into Division 3 of the Allianz League. The early years were a grind and progress was slow, almost painfully so at times.

In his first four seasons, Armagh failed to win a match in Ulster, though they did reach the quarter-final stage via the backdoor in 2017 before shipping an unsightly beating against Tyrone.

Even as they gradually emerged as viable contenders for silverware in the early 2020s, there was still a narrative that the team and its manager were irredeemably cursed, with the much coveted Anglo-Celt proving elusive and some determined to conclude that McGeeney was part of the problem.

After the quarter-final penalty shootout loss to Monaghan last year, a few clubs were fed up and initiated a move to depose the manager. It was pushed to a vote last autumn and he survived thanks to the support of the county executive and, more critically, the players.

After the attempted putsch and the gleeful criticism, the Armagh boss has achieved something many thought beyond the current crop, reaching an All-Ireland final.

"I remember saying it in here before, when there's 15 or 20 journalists, which of ye has won a prize? Who's number one? Does that mean the rest of yiz are s**t?" McGeeney asked (probably hitting on something).

"We have a spectrum we