'It's heartbreaking. What can you do?' - Armagh's wait goes on

Losing one penalty shootout can haunt a player for years. Armagh have now lost four in the past two years.

Since June 2022, two Ulster finals and two big knockout All-Ireland games at Croke Park have all delivered shootout heartache for the Orchard men.

But this Ulster final defeat, having led Donegal by four points with 17 minutes left and by two with six minutes of extra-time remaining, will perhaps cut deepest.

Indeed, the devastation was etched across the faces of the Armagh players as soon as Shaun Patton smothered Shane McPartlan's penalty and sent the Donegal fans into delirium.

And on a day when Armagh's Ulster-winning team of 1999 were honoured at half-time, their supporters - throngs of whom populated the streets of Clones as early as midday - truly believed that a first Anglo-Celt Cup in 16 years was on its way.

Even when the rain cascaded from the sky, they could be heard roaring, doing their bit to push their team over the line.

When Stefan Campbell scored to put Armagh 0-15 to 0-11 up halfway through the second half, they looked energised, focused and ready to finally break through the barrier.

But as soon as Patton denied McPartlan and the St Tiernach's Park pitch became awash with green and gold, most of the Armagh players made their way straight down the tunnel.

Inconsolable. Sickened. Grappling, once again, with the cruellest way to lose a game. Last year, Derry goalkeeper Odhran Lynch saved three of Armagh's penalties. Here, Armagh scored five and still lost.

"There's not much you can say," said Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney, his voice low and strained from barking instructions from the sideline all afternoon.

"Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you. It seems to be going against us more than for us.

"It's heartbreaking. What can you do? There's not much I can do. I can't change it. Can't turn it around like.

"I can't ask more of the players, they give us everything. It's just one of those days and you wish one of these days it'll bounce for you instead of against you."

Armagh have been edged out in several big games in recent years, with the four shootout defeats (Galway, Derry, Monaghan and Donegal) and the one-point Division Two final loss to Donegal prime examples of their crushing close calls.

Here, they let slip a four-point advantage before Tiernan Kelly watched a last-minute free drift wide. In the second period of extra-time, Aidan Nugent landed a mighty score to give them a two-point cushion. Still it wasn't enough as Odhran Doherty's leveller sent a second successive Ulster final to penalties.

"The turning point was Oisin Conaty going through and they got half a block on it," added McGeeney.

"It dropped into the keeper's hands, that would've put us five up but Donegal are a good team as everyone's pointing out. You have to give them a credit. That's it."

Armagh may reflect on the Conaty score that never was. They may also reflect on a 27-minute period between Campbell's point and Andrew Murnin's score six minutes into extra-time when they failed to raise a white flag. Donegal scored five during that period.

When asked what Armagh must do to win a shootout, McGeeney replied: "I suppose the only thing to do would be to win it ordinary time.

"It's tough like. It's hard work and I suppose when it happens four or five times, maybe it's not luck, maybe it's something else that I'm missing. What can you do?"

This Armagh story does not end here, of course. They must pick themselves back up for an All-Ireland round-robin series which sees them grouped with Galway, Derry and Westmeath.

Last year, McGeeney's side bounced back to top their group, but it will take a monumental collective effort to bury the sight of Donegal captain Patrick McBrearty lifting the Anglo-Celt Cup and reignite their season.

The Donegal tale is remarkable in a different way, of course. In turmoil last year, Jim McGuinness' return has revitalised the county to the point where they are now serious contenders for the Sam Maguire.

McGuinness has been the catalyst. He has driven belief back into a group of players who had lost their way last year and has delivered stunning championship wins over Derry, Tyrone and Armagh, enhancing his already deific status within Donegal.

"They arrived at the door the day after they got beat by Tyrone and they never really stopped after that," said McGuinness, recalling Donegal's rescue plea to him last year.

"Two days after that there was a letter in the post-box and they just never left me alone. It pulls at you emotionally because you're sitting in the house going 'could you help them could you make a difference' so you had that scenario in your head and eventually Paddy McBrearty broke me."

Donegal's transformation has been astonishing and this felt like a significant signpost in another potentially epic story for the county.

It's harder to envisage a similar trajectory for Armagh when their big-game demons show no signs of disappearing.

Maybe their luck will turn, but on a spellbinding afternoon in Clones, they were left with that all-too-familiar sinking feeling.