Joe Kernan pictured after being announced as a 2018 inductee into the GAA Museum Hall of Fame at the GAA Museum in Croke Park.
By Michael Devlin
The story goes that it was Joe Kernan’s old wooden losers’ plaque from 1977 that inspired his Armagh team to their historic All-Ireland victory 25 years later.
Behind by three points to favourites Kerry at half time in the 2002 final, Kernan produced the memento at halftime in the dressing room, alongside another player’s winner’s medal.
He asked the players which one they’d rather be taking home, before graphically answering the question for them. The plaque ended up dismantled into pieces on the dressing room floor, and Armagh went out for the second half and won by 1-12 to 0-14.
“I see the tiles are now definitely broken down in the showers down in the Croke Park changing rooms,” joked Armagh legend Kernan at Croke Park yesterday, where he was being inducted into Hall of Fame for 2018 at a special ceremony at the GAA Museum. “I think whoever’s telling the stories are adding a wee bit onto it!”
The Crossmaglen Rangers man was a star player for his county in a stunning career that lasted from 1971 to 1987, and yielded All-Stars in 1977 and 1982 and Ulster Championships in 1977, 1980 and 1982.
A winner of five county senior titles in his career, more success would come when he moved to management and was responsible for ushering in a phenomenal long period of success for his club with Crossmaglen starting with the 1997 All-Ireland Club Championship.
As well as guiding Armagh to their first ever All-Ireland senior crown, he later managed Ireland to International Rules success over Australia in 2015.
That 2002 success for the Orchard County still conjures up strong emotions for Kernan 16 years on, even when watching teams of today taste glory in Croke Park. The triumph is bittersweet however, as Kernan is adamant that the talent of that squad should have yielded more than their solitary Sam Maguire win.
“It seems a long time ago now but when you think about it every bit comes back, especially last weekend watching Limerick, I felt a bit emotional. It was the first time I seen a match in Croke Park that was close to what we were like, hanging on at the end but playing well too to get there so it was great.
“We know we should have won one more and that’s something we have to live with now. But as John McEntee said to me one night, people should be grateful to have one, to have none you’d feel an awful lot worse. To say we should have got more that’s a definite, and that will be with us for all time. But the fact that we got one was one of the greatest memories of all our lives.”
Joe Kernan reacts after the final whistle blows in the 2002 All-Ireland SFC Final.
Armagh’s bid for a second successive All-Ireland in 2003 was scuppered by neighbouring rivals Tyrone, with Mickey Harte replicating Kernan in delivering the ultimate prize to the his county for the first time. Kernan believes the current Tyrone team, who do battle this Sunday with Dublin, are very different to the side he faced 15 years ago.
“I think the 2000s team had better forwards, their scores came more easily from more places. They will be on a par with Dublin as far as fitness is concerned and they are all mobile and athletic but scores win matches and that’s what it’s down to.
“And not giving away silly scores like they did last year when the game was over after 15 minutes. I talked about us winning 2002, and the hurt after it, Tyrone will certainly have plenty of hurt this last few years.
“If they can frustrate Dublin they’ll make mistakes but they won’t be able to play with the same calmness that they normally do which is one thing that has stood to Dublin. It will be interesting, are they able to put Dublin under that pressure will they stick to it and if they do break up a Dublin attack will they have men in there that will able to take scores?”
In his playing days, Kernan’s Armagh came up against the might of the great Kerry and Dublin sides of the late 70’s and early 80’s on a few occassions. His two goals in the 1977 final were not enough to stop Kevin Heffernan’s side running out comfortable 12 point winners, and he was on the losing side against Kerry in the 1982 semi-final, despite kicking 1-3.
Jonny Cooper and his Dublin team-mates pictured before this year's All-Ireland SFC semi-final against Galway.
He believes though the current four-in-a-row chasing Dublin team are an altogether more complete and more clinical side than those great teams from yesteryear.
“Kerry at that time had about 16, 17 players. They lost the Bomber one day and they nearly lost an All-Ireland. And that was only one player. That Kerry team was exceptional but this Dublin team have ticked every box, done everything right. They’ve been managed superbly by Jim Gavin, he’s left no stone unturned.
“But any team on any given day can be beaten. Who performs on the day, who takes their chances? You’ve seen a soccer game the other night where a team played very well the first half; the second half the other team got three chances, the game was over. That’s what Dublin are good at.”
And what of his old Ulster adversary Mickey Harte, who returns to Croke Park on All-Ireland final day 15 years after his first appearance, and ten years since his last?
“It’s phenomenal what he’s done, and kept changing his backroom team, kept freshening it up, which is what you have to do. But Mickey will be there as long as he wants to be, he seems to have that drive.
“I know myself there’s comes the stage where if you haven’t the drive, the players know it, but the players obviously feel he still has it in him.
“They were beat in four semi-finals, and to get to four semi-finals takes a lot of work, but I think this year they’ve learnt from their mistakes, certainly of last year. It will all be put on the line this Sunday.”
