Final came down to ‘who wanted it more’ says Man of the Match Darragh McMullen
Madden’s Darragh McMullen was the star of the show on Sunday, as he dictated the game from half forward for his victorious side.
After the game, he caught up with Armagh TV and said that the game came down to ‘who wanted it more’.
“I’m buzzing. You’ve caught me at the wrong time, I’m in tears here, I don’t know how to put it into words,” said the Man of the Match.
“Similar to the semi-final, we knew that it had to be a 10 out of 10 performance. Cullyhanna have pulled off comebacks all year, and they started to comeback at the start of the second half, but on a night like that with the wet ball, it came down to breaking balls and who wanted it more.
“I thought we definitely fought hard there in the last 15 minutes and thankfully got over the line.”
Aged just 22, McMullen has already established himself as a leader in the Madden dressing room, and he says that two years on the Armagh panel – with his breakout year this year – allow him to be a vocal presence.
“Me and Niall [Grimley] are probably the two talkers," he said.
“We’re bringing in tactical things from our experience with Armagh. I suppose it was just about getting the boys to settle their heads.
“We had a couple of weeks in training there, where we had sessions where boys were getting a rush of blood to the head and forcing things.
“You just have to take the responsibility of slowing things down, and that’s what we did in the second half there