Donaghy was just a boy in 2006 but he was all about letting Francie Bellew know who was boss.. that was his introduction to the biggest stage

EX-ARMAGH STAR KERNAN KNEW KERRY ACE WAS DESTINED FOR BIG THINGS AFTER HE GAVE ORCHARD HUGE PROBLEMS IN CROKER SHOWPIECE

- 

Back in 2006 it was Kieran Donaghy who freed Kerry's tortured fans from their confinement at the hands of the upstart hoards from the North.

The same Donaghy will be standing on the line at Croke Park tomorrow afternoon, plotting the downfall of his own for the second year in a row, after Armagh's surprise All-Ireland semi-final victory over Kerry last year.

Nineteen years ago it was Tralee man Donaghy who sparked the fall of Joe Kernan’s All-Ireland empire, with Kernan’s son Aaron on the field of play.

Armagh would lose their Ulster title the following year. But the embers of that magnificent 2002 All-Ireland winning side that scorched to seven Anglo-Celt Cups in 10 years — and made two Sam Maguire deciders — were stamped out as serious national contenders at Croke Park that late July afternoon in 2006.

Armagh didn’t know it at the time, but they were no longer a big player on the big stage. And it was the big kid from the Austin Stacks club with the distinctive skin-tight Championship haircut that struck the fatal blow.

A real Crossmaglen triple whammy, rounding Francie Bellew, that most unlikely Gaelic football icon and slamming to the roof of Paul Hearty’s net as Aaron Kernan arrived on the scene. Three Rangers. Donaghy with the bounty.

Kernan was on red alert that day to the diagonal ball into Donaghy, and what was going on behind him, but just couldn't get there in time, dropping in from right half back.

It looked like a pass by Sean O'Sullivan, but it may have been a shot. It was almost blocked too.

Big games are won and lost on the finest of margins. The goal helped erase a five point half-time deficit in a game Armagh had controlled with the poise of a side well schooled in strangling teams into submission.