It is not meant to play out this way in real life. The ending cannot be so polished, so fanciful, so perfect. And yet the wildest of boyhood Silverbridge dreams came to reality in a sea of orange at Croke Park on Sunday.
It went something like this. It’s deep in injury-time. Armagh turn Galway over and set off on a counterattack, the stadium is held in a state of suspended chaos, more than 80,000 anxious souls, some praying for the final whistle, others begging for more time. Tick, tock. The ball eventually winds up with Jarly Óg Burns, out near the Hogan Stand sideline, just inside the Galway 45-metre line.
Immediately, the shrill of the whistle cuts through the bedlam of noise tumbling down from the stands. The place shakes. As if all of this was scripted in the stars, the man left clasping the ball on the day Armagh collect their second Sam Maguire title is the son of the GAA president. He squeezes the size five so tightly you wonder momentarily if it is going to burst.
Nobody really knows what to do. The Armagh players had planned this day to within an inch of their lives, they had visualised winning the All-Ireland, they just hadn’t decided what to do when it actually happened. So, they lose themselves in the moment, jumping, yelping, bouncing, hugging.
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Burns clasps the ball, he’s not letting it go. He scans the Hogan Stand, catches a glimpse of the GAA president, his dad, clenching his fists in delight. Jarly Óg knows what he needs to do now, something no player before him has ever done – so he takes off up the steps for the embrace, father and son, player and president.
“You couldn’t write it, no,” smiles Jarly Óg in the tunnel about an hour later. “It was said to me inside in the dressingroom, that if somebody sat down and wrote that story, you would say it’s just not realistic. For it to actually to happen, it’s just unbelievable.”
By the time he had hopped up the steps to meet his dad, the camera operators had detected what was unfolding, and so the moment was captured on the big screen. Croke Park reacted with a guttural roar. Today, this was Armagh’s house. Completely.
“I wasn’t letting go of the ball, no, and then I just caught sight of Dad up in the stand, so I said I better go up to him and thank him for all he has done for me. Just to have that wee moment,” explains Jarly Óg.
Jarlath only assumed office as GAA president in February. Timing is everything. And if the script wasn’t already like something from a kids’ fictional storybook, Jarly Óg had actually quit the Armagh panel last October – only to be coaxed back before the season got up and running.
An All Star nominee in 2022, he has had to be content with an impact role off the bench this summer.
Indeed, it is not too much of a stretch to surmise it was a sliding-doors moment that had him on the pitch as a participant on Sunday rather than watching from the stand as a punter. A few short months ago, that’s how close it came. Jarly Óg came off the bench on the hour mark against Galway, replacing Connaire Mackin.
“Everything happens for a reason,” he says of his brief sabbatical from the squad. “And I’m just glad that I was part of it today.
“As we have done all year, the bench has really drove home the team towards the end of matches. Thank God we were able to do that again today, Galway came back at the end but thankfully we were able to hold on.”
The emotions shooting through his body at the final whistle were like nothing he has ever experienced, better than he ever dreamt.
“You could have all the money in the world and you can’t buy that feeling,” says Jarly Óg. “What we’ve been through as a team throughout the years and the heartbreak we have had, but for it all to come to this day – to see Sam Maguire there, it’s just incredible.”
Jarly Óg still lives in the home place, but there was no talk of Galway or tactics or kick-out strategies around the kitchen table over the last fortnight.
“There is never football talk in my house, it’s not allowed.”
Before presenting the cup to Armagh captain Aidan Forker, Jarlath delivered a passionate speech from the podium – as powerful speeches fast become a trademark of his presidency.
“If you are a parent who has put a set of GAA posts in your back garden, this belongs to you. If you are a coach from under-eight to senior, this belongs to you,” he said.
“If you are a member of a committee at any level that organises our games voluntarily, this belongs to you.
“If you are a linesman or umpire at our club matches or underage games in cold winters, this belongs to you. If you line the pitch, cut the grass, or put out flags, this belongs to you.
“If you make the tea after the game or you are a teacher who gives up their time to prepare pupils and develop our games, this belongs to you.”
As he spoke, down below, among the army of elated Armagh players clad in bright orange, his son watched on. Both had delivered at Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.
As for that moment when they embraced, it didn’t require words, but Jarlath had a few.
“He just said, ‘I’m so proud of you,’” recalls Jarly Óg.
Chances are that sentiment flows both ways.
You couldn’t write it. Armagh just did.
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