Kernan and Lyons set the ball rolling for new campaign

THE joke doing the rounds in Burlington House as Joe Kernan and Tommy Lyons launched the 2003 Allianz National Football League was that three managers were meeting the media in Dublin yesterday but only one was earning €400,000 a year.

>"And I wish the other two lads all the very best," quipped Lyons on cue.

The response said everything about the laid-back nature of an occasion that was nevertheless overshadowed by Brian Kerr's appointment across the city in the Shelbourne Hotel.