NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE:IT WAS a little surreal to see Joe Kernan sitting alongside Kieran McGeeney at the Allianz National Football League launch earlier this week; two old Armagh comrades, once as close as brothers, now with entirely different devotions – one with Galway, the other with Kildare. In a way it was evidence the GAA is indeed one large family, all cut from the same cloth.

Only they know the truth behind the separation, and if serving another county will ever feel the same as serving Armagh.

For over a decade, first with Crossmaglen, then with the county team, Kernan was the very essence of Armagh football, and it still seems a little strange to hear him talk about the ambitions of another county. Indeed, when Galway first came knocking he turned them down, believing his loyalty could only rest with Armagh.

“I suppose I always hoped that I would go back to Armagh,” he said. “I think myself, and the family, realised there was no way I could go back with four sons on the panel. Once I put that to bed, all of a sudden the offer from Galway came out of nowhere.

“Originally I said no. Then I spoke with the family, and they said don’t be stupid. Take the job. The final thing that decided it for me was seeing how easy it was to get to Galway, between driving and the flights. There was no hesitation after that.

“Sometimes you don’t realise how much you miss something until you go back into it. I was happy enough away from it, and enjoyed the bit of TV work I did last year. That kept me up to date with everything that was happening.

“As I said, I’d hoped to go back to Armagh. But when you know you’re not going somewhere, you pack it, say that’s it.

“But we all need new challenges, and this is a new challenge. Some of the boys said ‘you’d a good old record when you were in charge of Armagh, why would you want to out yourself through this?’ But the thought of managing another team with the chance of winning an All-Ireland certainly appealed to me.

“But not every team. Galway certainly did. They are great footballers. They have a great panel. And a great age level. And as they’ve said themselves to me, they’re disappointed what they’ve done these past few years.”

There was, however, the small matter of the commute from Crossmaglen to the outskirts of Galway city, a 600km round trip. Kernan describes it as “easy”, and has the choice of driving or flying.

“If I drive it’s under three hours, motorway all the way from Dundalk. I can also drive to Dublin airport in 45 minutes, and take the domestic flight in 30 minutes, and then I’m 10 minutes from the training ground.

“Say I take the 6.30 flight, I arrive at 7.0, and I’m togged out at 7.30. I’m back the following morning on the 6.30 or 7.45 flight, and back in my own office at 9.0, or 9.30. There are four tolls though. The tolls are adding up.”

Part of the challenge includes transplanting some of the skills and mindset he fostered in Armagh on to the Galway players, but he says it’s not about changing things that aren’t broken. Some things need working on more than others, but the talent is there, and that’s the important thing.

“The one thing about Galway football, probably, is that they’ve great footballers, but when they didn’t have the ball, didn’t work hard enough to get it back. That’s what we’re going to try to do.

“Some people might also say they’re too nice. But they have natural ability, and the type of forwards we have in Galway, they’re as good as any other team in the country. If you get two or three of those boys together on song and they’ll cause anybody problems.

“We’ve actually seen a lot of new players, added nine boys to the panel. And as for enthusiasm, work rate, everything we’ve asked of them to do, has been 100 per cent. But any team that won anything, in any sport, always finishes strong. And that’s what we have to get the boys to learn.

“You don’t stop playing until the referee blows the whistle. It will be a big challenge for me and for them to do well in this league, but if we get our fittest team out we should challenge.”

Expectations are high – starting with the good old showdown against Mayo, on Sunday.