Race for Sam a marathon for Armagh's veterans

Reflecting on the journey to Armagh's first All-Ireland final in 21 years, skipper Aidan Forker says that everyone who has helped the Orchard County back to Croke Park has "their own stories" to tell.

Perhaps, it is fair to say, some have been longer than others.

While Kieran McGeeney's squad share the mutual heartbreak of four penalty shootout defeats over the past three seasons, the likes of Forker and Rory Grugan have been soldiering away for the side since the days of regular early championship exits and yo-yoing between Divisions Two and Three.

The pair, with over two decades of senior inter-county football between them, were both present in Croke Park when their current manager lifted Sam Maguire in 2002 but return to face Galway on Sunday having taken differing paths back to Jones' Road for All-Ireland final day.

While Grugan can recall all those visits to Croke Park during formative years that coincided with the county's glory days, Forker's childhood dream was not to be climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand, but those of Wembley Stadium.

As a 14-year-old he would have a week-long trial with Liverpool, travelling to the Premier League giants' Melwood training base and catching a glimpse of the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia up close.

Despite the toil of the early years and the galling losses of recent seasons, the Maghery man, who showed all of his experience when switched on to Sean O'Shea in the second half of the semi-final victory over Kerry, says he has "never regretted" the decision to spurn his first sporting love in favour of Gaelic football.

"I showed a bit of promise when I was younger. Who's to say I would have done anything with it?

"I've never regretted my decision. I'm the type of person who once they make a decision on something, they commit to it fully.

"The people I've met, the journey I've been on, it's given me my best days for sure and given a lot of people their best days...my family, my community. You can be proud of that."

Forker would have further trials at Tranmere Rovers, during a time when Kenny Shiels was in charge of the Merseyside club's youth programmes, and turn out for Dungannon Swifts back home, but it was watching his county in a Croke Park final that convinced him to leave his footballing ambitions behind.

"Armagh won the All-Ireland minor in 2009 and I wasn't part of it," said the 32-year-old, who made his senior debut under Paddy O'Rourke in 2012.

"I saw what a brilliant day they had and I always vowed that if Armagh came knocking again I would never say no to them.

"The [senior] call came quite soon after that and I've never looked back."

The creative hub of that Armagh minor team was none other than Grugan who, along with Andy Murnin, was part of the side that edged a Mayo panel containing Cillian O'Connor by a score of 0-10 to 0-7.

The first time Armagh had their hands on the Tom Markham Cup in 60 years came only 14 months after what remains the county's most recent Ulster title at senior level.

That 2008 Anglo-Celt was their sixth in a glorious eight-year spell that, of course, also included the 2002 All-Ireland.

Growing up during the era he did, and getting his hands on inter-county silverware when still only 18-years-old, perhaps it is natural that Grugan would assume days such as this Sunday would have arrived much earlier in his career.

"As a county we [historically] haven't had that success, at senior or minor level," said the Ballymacnab man.

"It's always a danger when you're 18-years-old that it can go to your head or you think it always happens but that wasn't the case.

"Over the years we've seen how difficult it is to win and to win silverware. You can't take any of it for granted."

Looking back on all that has happened since, Grugan says that minor final "feels like a million years ago", his days watching the Armagh of Oisin McConville, Steven McDonnell and, of course, Kieran McGeeney feels longer ago again.

"That gave you the taste for it, being a young player getting to be on the minor team and hoping to get a run. 

"Winning that day, obviously there isn't as big a crowd, but it was still an All-Ireland final at Croke Park.

"That inspired you to be doing it one day in a senior final."

As did watching the only Armagh panel who ever have.

"That image of Geezer lifting Sam with the orange and white is probably something that inspires a lot of us," Grugan added.

Grugan, now a teacher who missed two championship campaigns when his studies saw him spend time in France and Liverpool, says he "always believed" in the side's direction under McGeeney, crediting the manager with giving him direction at a time he was "just floating through" his inter-county career.

Having also featured from the very beginning of the man they call Geezer's decade in charge, from the relative obscurity early on through the high-profile heartaches of recent years, Forker would not feel more at home among any group of team-mates.

"There isn't any changing room I'd swap it for. A group of winners, a group of brilliant people, all with their own stories, motivations and pride for the jersey," he said.

"We have an opportunity now to go and do something important to a lot of people who have given a lot of their lives to get to what is the pinnacle, an All-Ireland final day.

"That's what it means to everybody."