​By John Harrington

The Down footballers endured a miserable League campaign in the spring, but team captain Kevin McKernan still radiates good vibrations.

That’s got a lot to do with the fact that his life is now in a very good place off the pitch.

The former electrician made the bold decision three years ago to return to education by taking a degree in teaching in St. Mary’s Belfast, and he couldn’t be happier with how things have gone for him since then.

“Yeah, it's been a refreshing time in my life because it's always something that I wanted to do,” he told GAA.ie. “It's given me an opportunity to concentrate on my football a bit more and the studies have been really enjoyable. I'm coming towards finishing the degree now and it's going to change my life big time and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting a job somewhere. But, you know, the Down football is the major thing now come summer time and to get the studies out for the year will be good in the next couple of weeks so I can focus on the game.”

It’s ironic that his third-level studies have given him the opportunity to focus more on being the best footballer he can be, because it was football that prevented him from going down the teacher-training route earlier in his life.

“Yeah, it was probably off the back of a couple of years in school where I won a MacRory Cup and a Hogan Cup and studies sort of fell to one side unfortunately,” he admits. "I look back on it now probably with a few regrets that I didn't get that. And I suppose it's something that the GAA is addressing at the minute. In the grand scheme of things, yes, football is brilliant with the opportunities it creates, but I can see parallels with young lads coming out and maybe the pressures of football are leading them to neglect what is important for some young lads. 

“I'll never regret what I did, I've got my trade behind me, and I'm going back to do teaching now which is something I've always wanted to do. It probably took me a couple of years and I suppose the All-Ireland Final in 2010 and that success masked what I really wanted to do. To go out and do teaching was always something I've wanted to do, and I'm edging close now towards finishing that degree.”

Until he gains that qualification, he’ll make good use of his trade to make a few bob this summer working for his father Brendan’s electrical contracting company. But he knows that will mean answering 101 questions on the site from his co-workers about Down’s prospects this summer.

“Come the summer I'll be glad of a few week’s work,” says McKernan. “Yeah, it's always something I like to do and I'm always grateful for that. You know, again, it's the building site GAA talk, it always seems to generate around, and I suppose come Championship it's a place maybe where you'd be getting grilled as much as you guys would grill me. But, yeah, I'm looking forward to a summer of earning a few pound as well and hopefully it coincides with success for the season ahead.”

He might find it hard to persuade his co-workers that Down are capable of beating Monaghan in Sunday’s Ulster SFC Quarter-Final and enjoying a long summer on the back of their desperately disappointing Division 1 League campaign that saw them lose all seven of their matches with a scoring difference of -60. 
But what Down teams have always had going for them is a healthy regard for their own ability, and McKernan is confident they can bounce back from a disappointing spring and cause a shock against Monaghan.

“Yeah, I would think the League for us is done and dusted now,” he says. “You know, there's been a lot of learning in that for us. And if we can carry that towards the Ulster Championship it will leave us in better stead. We always have that confidence in Down.

"I would like to think most counties have confidence that they can pull off a scalp. In the years gone by I haven't played a home game for Down in the Championship yet. We've went to a lot of so-called big teams in Ulster. Donegal, Derry, Tyrone twice, and got results to get to draws and wins. It got us to Ulster Championship semi-finals and finals, so Championship days are special days. And we'd be hoping that we're very capable of an upset in Clones.

“The fact they are champions gives us an edge to create an upset. It's trying to take anything heading towards the game that these young lads can grasp on to. There's been a lot of chopping and changing in personnel this year but as the games have gone on the lads have grown.”