One of the great half-time speeches and Joe didn’t say a word

JOE KERNAN stands in yet another successful Croke Park dressing-room. This one means more than any other.

It will only be with the perspective given by time that people will understand the amazing contribution Kernan has made to Armagh football. His groundwork in Crossmaglen was the foundations for Armagh’s first Ulster title in 17 years. After falling at the closing hurdles in each of the last three years, Armagh people got their wish. They got Big Joe last Autumn.

And now, here he is. The man who has led them to their promised land. The manager who can’t lose at Croke Park. The master psychologist with a genius for motivation.

Take the half-time story, certain to be lodged in folklore before the year is out. Armagh come in, dishevelled and disgruntled with a poor first-half performance. Kernan produces the wooden plaque he received for playing in the 1977 final. He asked his players to take a long, hard look at it. They were taking a long, hard look at themselves. It was one of the great half-time speeches and Joe didn’t have to say a word.

When Kieran McGeeney accepted the cup, he asked what could you say about Joe Kernan and it is a valid question. He got on his hands and knees and lifted Crossmaglen from the doldrums, to bring home three All-Ireland titles in four years. Now, he has provided the missing link in an Armagh side who always lacked for that one ingredient in the past three summers: Joe Kernan.

In a stunned Armagh dressing-room, where players can’t get their thoughts together enough to shower, Kernan is holding forth. Breathless and emotional, the big man is still reeling from the shock of bringing Sam to Armagh.

“This is about a lot of hard work since November 1 last year. This is about the dedication these lads have put in since then.This is about the work they have done and the work Paul Grimley and John McCluskey have put in, they took an awful lot of weight off my shoulders. From day one, they have been there with me.”

Kernan’s natural modesty has always seen him praising the contribution of others far above his own. Even when Crossmaglen were untouchable as the best club in the country, Kernan talked about the ‘unseen’ people who worked with the team.

So, it is left for others to talk about him. Like Paul McGrane, who has flourished under Kernan’s watchful eye, who has matured, over the course of a season, into one of the finest midfielders in the game. It is another trait of Kernan’s that he ensures the work-horses of the team are acknowledged. After each game, including yesterday, Kernan talked about the outstanding performance of McGrane. The respect is reciprocated.

“It has all been very positive since the start of the year. The biggest thing Joe brought has brought into this team is belief,” McGrane says. “He has brought the experience of winning an All-Ireland and turned our experiences over the past few years into a positive thing, but mainly it has been belief.”

Kernan is deflecting all praise, though. Despite having wrought a success out of this team, instilling them with the most belief of any team in the country, it was the players who made it happen.

“Things don’t just happen. These boys made it happen,” Big Joe remarks. “I have drilled into these boys since day one, that they had what it takes to succeed. I can’t say that I would be back here again with these lads, we might be but we had to take this chance.”

On this, his most memorable day, Kernan is asked for his greatest memory, the one image he will take from the tense finale. He scans the room, his eyes resting on Kieran McGeeney, his on-field general, the man who transports his desire from the dressing-room onto the field: “What will be my greatest memory of this day, Kieran McGeeney running through a crowd of players and running 50 yards with the ball. When the final whistle went, the ball was in his hands and there was no one more fitting to have it. I know Kieran’s desire, I get the phone calls every night, he could talk all night on the phone about this team, I have never seen an individual more focused.”

Across the stunned dressing-room, his footballing chief is waxing lyrical about how Kernan has transformed Armagh this year: “When things like what happened over the past three years, the games we lost over the past three years, doubts start to creep in and you might ask yourself maybe we are not good enough, but we looked at those games, Kerry beat us in a replay, Galway beat us by a point.

“We were never that far away, and Joe came in and told us that, I mean that man,” he says, his voice trailing off as he looks over at Joe Kernan.

In their moment of triumph, it is difficult to explain what Joe Kernan has done for Armagh football. This story began five years ago with Crossmaglen’s first All-Ireland title. It ends with Sam Maguire heading into Armagh for the first time.

Joe Kernan is the common denominator. In the history of Armagh football, the longest chapter will already be devoted to him.