Football

Michael McKernan looking forward to Cross' challenge for Coalisland

Coalisland Fianna's Michael McKernan (right) celebrates at the final whistle of this year's Tyrone SFC Final Pic Philip Walsh
Coalisland Fianna's Michael McKernan (right) celebrates at the final whistle of this year's Tyrone SFC Final Pic Philip Walsh Coalisland Fianna's Michael McKernan (right) celebrates at the final whistle of this year's Tyrone SFC Final Pic Philip Walsh

RECEIVING pats on the back is always enjoyable, especially from family and friends, but Michael McKernan knows to keep everything in perspective.

The Coalisland defender broke off from talking about their Tyrone success several times, all for understandable reasons.

The first time there was little he could do anyway, having a kiss planted on his forehead by an enthusiastic team-mate.

Next, he paused in order to commiserate with his county colleague Mark Bradley, who had played on the losing side, Killyclogher.

Then family/ friends (those terms are interchangeable in the country anyway) had to be hugged.

Finally, this reporter learned from years of inadvertently keeping players out of celebration pics to insist that the 20-year-old went off to revel with his team-mates in the club’s first county triumph for eight years.

After all that, he was still happy to talk, albeit more out of breath than he had been at the end of the final.

“It’s good [to win], but that hasn’t changed the disappointment of the All-Ireland Final against Dublin. Football has its high and lows – this, thank God, was a high.”

This Friday night he’ll be back in Dublin as an Allstar football nominee and also one of the three shortlisted for ‘Young Footballer of the Year’, in the esteemed company of Kerry forward David Clifford and Dublin’s versatile Brian Howard.

With his club due to take on former Ulster kingpins Crossmaglen Rangers the following evening in an Ulster Club SFC quarter-final in the Athletic Grounds, McKernan says with a smile about the Allstars function: “I’ll have to be on my best behaviour there - and afterwards.”

Proper preparation is obviously imperative to have any chance of defeating the Armagh champs, but the Fianna are used to tough tests in Tyrone.

It’s often argued that the intensity of the O’Neill county’s championship works against their representatives when they enter provincial combat, with only one Tyrone club (Errigal Ciaran, twice) ever winning the Seamus McFerran Cup – and only Omagh reaching the final since 2000.

Yet McKernan is happy to have come through battles with Dromore, Errigal Ciaran, neighbours Edendork, and Killyclogher: “You can say that, but you’re always pushed to the limit and that’s what you want. We didn’t get it easy in any of our wins, this was the biggest, but it certainly didn’t feel like that big a win.”

Indeed, although the Blues pulled away to win by seven points, 2-11 to 1-7, the defender insisted: “It was a lot tighter than what it finished up – it felt like a one- or two-point win, it was never easy. Whenever those balls were coming in at the end, you were still scared for your life in case something happened.”

High balls led to two quick goals for the Island, scored by Paddy McNeice and Peter McGahan, who could cause problems for the Crossmaglen defence too, reckons McKernan:

“Whenever you’ve Pete McGahan, who’s massive, on the edge of the square, anything can happen when high balls go in.

“First half, I don’t think we scored from play, we found it very hard to break them down, as everyone in the Championship did this year. Second half, thankfully the balls dropped our way for the goals and we came out on the right side of it.”

He knows their focus must be fully on Crossmaglen now: “We know what they’re like, we know their tradition in Armagh, the Ulster Club, and even All-Ireland. They still have a good mix, like us, between young and old, the two O’Neills [Oisin and Rian] and then [Johnny] Hanratty and all those boys.

“In Ulster, as on Tyrone, you don’t look ahead of yourself, you can’t look ahead of yourself, or you could end up getting snipped.”

The Fianna reached the Ulster decider themselves in 1989, long before McKernan was born, although he does remember their last Tyrone success before this season: “That’s eight years, that’s our 10th [title] now…I think there were a few photos going about Facebook of me holding the cup. I was allowed a day off school the next day.”

He also remembers clubmen who passed away this year, notably the vice-chairman and also man who worked alongside manager Damian O’Hagan in that 2010 victory:

“There’s men like Seamie [Hampsey] and Joey [McNeice] who went away this year, they were a massive part of this club. Although they weren’t here on the day, they were definitely here looking down”.