Kernan wary of Fermanagh threat
“Not particularly. If you’re from Ulster you get used to the fact that it’s a minefield and you never really know what’s going to pop up. I don’t think too many people would have thought that Down would have beaten Tyrone at the same time, but they did.
“Fermanagh are definitely a team to be reckoned with because, at the start of the championship, most people would have tipped either Derry or Monaghan to win Ulster but now Fermanagh have beaten both of them to get to the provincial final.
“We won’t be silly enough to fall into the trap that maybe this is a Fermanagh team of old, that they will be here for a day out or something like that. They will be coming to Clones with no fear of us and will be coming to win.”
Armagh’s love affair with the Anglo-Celt Cup this last decade was enough to ensure that they would be high up the betting stakes entering the championship but that is not to say that there weren’t some doubts.
Joe Kernan’s departure was always going to take some time to adjust to and, with Kieran McGeeney and Diarmuid Marsden moving on too, the stage was set for what could have been a season of teething troubles under the new management.
The jury was still out after a league campaign that produced three wins, three losses and a draw but the side has looked as efficient as ever in disposing of Cavan and Down so far this summer.
“I think (the criticism) was a wee bit harsh at the start of the year,” said Kernan. “Some people were putting too much criticism on the team and the management and things weren’t plain sailing at the start management-wise.
“Some people maybe felt there should have been a different manager there but, at the end of the day, players play and managers manage and we were just trying to focus on our own game.”
New boss Peter McDonnell has played his cards shrewdly, keeping faith with many of the veterans who had served Joe Kernan so well while infusing some new blood into the system at the same time.
The style of play has been approached in the same nuanced fashion. Work, work and more work are still the three golden rules for Armagh but the team has begun to play with a more direct style when in possession.
“Peter obviously had his own ideas. It was going to take a while to get across and obviously some of us were with Crossmaglen for the first two or three months and missed a lot of it.
“We were trying to fit back in and it took a while for everyone to get used to Peter’s style of play and what exactly he wanted from us. You could say throughout the last few months that we have definitely been improving.
“We definitely seem to be going along the right road but we wouldn’t be silly enough to think that we have cracked it just yet, we know that Fermanagh is going to be a very tough one.”
The recent improvements have even led to whispers of a concerted push for the All-Ireland but Kernan waves away comparisons to the 2002 side by pointing out that the current mob have yet to claim any silverware, let alone Sam Maguire.
One link between now and then that has been prominent has been the McDonnell-Clarke axis which has begun to mirror its effectiveness of four years ago since the latter’s return from injury.
Fermanagh mirror Armagh in many ways but, like most sides in the country, they have nothing to compare with that duo in the attacking department.
“They are hugely important to us in the style of football that we play. We try to get it direct into the full-forward line and the two boys can win any sort of ball as long as you get it into them good and early.
“Steven and Ronan have been feeding off each other well this year.
“They’re a very, very important cog in our wheel in that they are ball winners but they are proven finishers, too. Hopefully, they can keep their form up and maybe produce even some more throughout the rest of the summer.”
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