And the Armagh boss laughed off any ‘get out of jail’ narratives after his charges fought back from five points down after 57 minutes to draw in Markievicz Park.

“No matter what I do! I can’t beat top teams or, if I do catch them and we’ve given away five points, we’re sh** and they’re brilliant,” McGeeney deadpanned.

“You’re going to have to make up your mind - it can’t be both! The boys had a purple patch and made the most of it. Every team has them, whether it’s in the first five minutes or the last five.”

The result ensures they will have two weeks to prepare for an All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park.

“It’s great to finish top. That’s the big thing. That was what we were looking for. How you do it is irrelevant to me. It’s just a fact. Full stop, Delighted with it,” McGeeney beamed.

“We were very poor in the first half, very static and no energy. Galway kept the ball well and made us work. We did better in the second half and finishing top of the group was a big thing for us – for both teams – and gives us two weeks to get things together.”

McGeeney, now in his tenth year as manager, expressed disappointment at the fact that only one highlighted flashpoint in the recent Armagh/Derry game – involving his player, Connaire Mackin – was pursued by GAA disciplinary chiefs.

Mackin missed today’s clash, having failed to overturn a retrospective one-match ban at a Central Hearings Committee meeting on Thursday night.

The Central Competition Controls Committee had proposed the suspension, having examined the contact between Mackin’s boot and Conor Glass' head as the Derry midfielder lay on the ground. However, there was no action taken against a Derry player following another incident in the same game.

“I was probably disappointed that there was only one thing seen. You take it on the chin, two things highlighted (on TV) and one thing seen. That sort of thing is hard to take,” McGeeney remarked.

“But to me, the CCCC, in fairness, over the last number of years has been extremely fair. I found that they’ve got their act together.

“They are extremely fair in the way they do things so we would have no complaints that way, it’s just I suppose to see two things highlighted and one thing followed through on.”