Aaron Kernan accepts that his former colleagues in Armagh will be at a starting disadvantage to opponents Kildare in Saturday’s final round All-Ireland football qualifier.
Croke Park is the venue and Cian O’Neill’s team played there just a fortnight previously when giving a generally well received account of themselves against Dublin in the Leinster final. Armagh haven’t trod the grass on Jones’s Road since the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat against Donegal in 2014, which was Kernan’s last match for his county.
He was speaking at Tuesday’s media conference, held by the Club Players Association for whom he is Grassroots Co-ordinator in Abbotstown and agreed that the venue suited Kildare.
“Yeah and probably the difficulty for Armagh – I knew they were going away for a weekend last weekend and I said ‘ah sure you should go stay in Dublin and head to Croke Park,’ but Bono was in Croke Park. So if they were going to Croke Park it was to watch a concert.
“You’ll find a lot of them won’t have played there before. I’d say the only thing that might help them is there’s no bigger pitch than Semple Stadium and having a game in it where they played well. They found plenty of open space, but it will take them a while to get used to the surroundings.
“Kildare will only have had two weeks since their last game in it, but it’ll not be the losing of the game for them anyway. But definitely it does take adjusting to. I wouldn’t have thought there’ll be more than 30,000 at it so it can be eerie enough. You get into your stride and every one of these Armagh players will be excited about getting a game at Croke Park. It’s a rare enough opportunity for us these days, so they’ll be looking to make the best of it.”
After the disappointment of being beaten in the Ulster championship by neighbours Down, Armagh have recovered through the qualifiers winning away matches in Fermanagh, Westmeath and Tipperary. Kernan believes that the win in Thurles demonstrated a useful ability to switch tactics on the hoof.
“I thought changing from letting Tipperary get uncontested kick-outs to the pressure we then put on them from the kick-outs in the second half, I thought that really turned that game. We were turning Tipperary over in their own half, which then led to scoring opportunities straight away. It showed that the boys were able to adapt midway through a game.”
It has been a satisfying campaign for Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney, who began the championship under suspension after getting a sideline ban for verbally abusing linesman Joe McQuillan in a league match. He has steered clear of publicity in the meantime, which Kernan says has been a benefit.
“The fact that Kieran has literally said nothing; even in interviews or whatever – he’s kept himself out of the way. It means there’s no distractions, no sideshows and he’s letting the boys get at it. Thankfully so far it’s working.”
McGeeney will be the centre of attention at the weekend as he takes his team into competition with the county he managed for six years – leading them to the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time and to a semi-final in 2010. His term with his own county has been more diffiuclt as he has attempted to bring something of the success he enjoyed as a player, culminating in captaining them to a first All-Ireland title in 2002.
Getting back to Croke Park represents a landmark of sorts and Kernan is no doubt about one significant difference.
“I think the big one for me is – I spoke to Kieran actually one day and he said a lot hasn’t changed from last year to this. Maybe it took a year for his philosophies to sink in, but to me to play a kicking game you need to have your outlet in the half forward line, and that seems to be there all the time – obviously a huge plus that they were overlooking.
“Andrew Murnin was injured for all last year. He’s got great hands and more importantly he’s very unselfish; so that allows them to get long ball to the inside line who are then in simple scoring positions.
“You are only 25 yards out and I think that’s why they are putting more scores on the board. They are moving it more directly, they have a half-forward presence with a really good ball-winning forward inside and obviously Gavin McParland, Ruairi Grugan and Jamie are feeding off them I think we are getting our scores a wee bit easier than we have done in the last few years.”
Armagh’s recovery from a disappointing league campaign – at the end of which an injury-time goal by Michael Quinlivan saw Tipperary promoted instead – and the Down defeat to deliver their best championship in a while has taken the pressure off McGeeney and the team.
“Yeah, you would hope so,” says Kernan. “For me sometimes what I found with ourselves was we really went into our shell after we lost games and it just always led to an inevitable conclusion where we were going to fall out of the championship.
“This year you can slowly see the confidence coming back, and why would they not try and be better again than what they were against Tipperary? Keep try and improve on what’s been going well for them. As I said foot-passing has been going well for them, the forward movement, the scoretaking. Croke Park suits that type of football perfectly.
“In defence they have a lot of pace, they have a couple of good manmarkers. They have a new midfield pairing who are young and athletic. Of course they lack experience all over the field, but there’s only one way to get experience and that’s to go out and win games and prolong seasons. I’d love to see them have a cut at it this weekend and I don’t see any reason why they won’t.”
