I'll give you Cluxton, OSullivan, McMahon & Cooper, but that't less than a third of a team - with one a goalie. They won the last two AIs with McAuley a bit part player, so not sure how much they rely on him. Connolly didn't play at all in last year's success, so again, how much is he relied upon? Rock is 29 - younger than Jamie Clarke. McManamon is a sub, would you say we relied on Ethan Rafferty or Charlie Vernon this year?
They've been hurt by both. But it would take some amount of selective blindness to miss the toll age has had on the performance levels of the likes of Higgins, Moran, Harrison, Boyle, etc.
Yes Tyrone have good older players. But they're not waiting on them to develop for another few years to challenge at the top, they're already reaching AI finals with these men.
I make nine of the Kerry team that started at the weekend 25 or under - Ryan, Morley, Foley, O’Sullivan, Crowley, Spillane, White, O’Shea & Clifford. Additional 5 of their 6 subs are also 25 or under. So that's 14 of the 21 men used under 25. I'd go out on a limb and guess that leaves them with a significantly lower average age than the one quoted previously for ourselves (which I think is underestimate - our average age this year was about 26). And they've just taken Mayo to pieces - the same Mayo that beat us.
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I'm sorry to badger on about this topic, but I feel there's a bit of a false narrative out there that needs tackled. This narrative tries to convince that the current Armagh side are younger than most of the top sides about at the minute, and, that with another two or three years of development, it's not unreasonable to believe that we could be up there challenging.
But the reality of the situation is that the current Armagh side has a comparable, if not less favourable, age profile to top teams like Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone & Donegal. So is time actually on our side? It's important for us to be aware of this reality when setting expectations for the team and its management over the next few years. But I'm sure the important people know all this.