Armagh captain Aidan Forker said that his side “were due one” as they ended an 18-year wait for an Ulster Championship title with a thrilling 2-28 to 0-25 win over Monaghan after extra time.
Playing in their fourth successive Ulster final, having lost the previous three, Kieran McGeeney’s side led by seven at one stage of the second half at Clones and looked on course for victory before Monaghan fought back to force extra time.
Oisin O’Neill’s goal early in extra time proved crucial as the Orchard County picked up a 15th Ulster title and a first since 2008, with Forker keen to savour the occasion after their recent heartbreak in the competition.
“It’s something I’ve seen in my head for a long time [lifting the Anglo Celt-Cup]. Obviously the last number of years have been tough, but just delighted for the group and the boys who just stuck at it,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“So happy for the management team too, we’ve had some tough days in Ulster. The first six or seven years of my career in Armagh were defeats, four finals in a row, I think we were due one.”
Forker believes that Armagh used their experience of previous final defeats to their advantage and that fitness work done in the lead up to the Clones decider helped them to last the course and pick Monaghan off in extra time.
“We’ve been here before. We were there with Tyrone in the first round [a one-point extra-time victory in April] and we know the work we’ve done in terms of training and it won out in terms of our legs at the end, we started well in extra time and took our simple scores,” he added.
“Delighted it all came together. We were deserved winners in the end.”