Rory Grugan hailed Armagh’s resilience after their first Sam Maguire Cup win in 22 years.

The long-serving forward, who retired injured in the second half, never lost the faith after a litany of heartbreaking defeats in recent years.

"It's amazing, it's 10 years of work for so many people," the Ballymacnab clubman told RTÉ.

"Just to see everyone here and the elation at the end. Boys coming off the bench again to win it for us. I can't put it into words.

"We kept coming back when it was easy to walk away, easy to throw in the towel but we believed in what we were doing and it's all worth it today.

"You always knew we were there or thereabouts and even though we'd lost a few games we felt like we were at a standard that was close to the top and we just weren't getting the small breaks of the ball.

"We probably rode our luck at times, things have to go for you, a ball coming off the post, a diving block, finally luck shining on us."

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