CONOR CLARKE OF the Pearse Óg club in Armagh has lost count of the number of man-marking encounters he’s had with Aaron Kernan, but he can trace their meetings all the way back to U16 level.
And whenever he saw Kernan was coming his way, he endeavored to give the best of himself to the fight. He had to be at his sharpest to be Kernan’s equal. And that was the way it was as the pair clocked up the battles through the U18 and eventually the senior grades.
Kernan’s Crossmaglen were one of the most powerful football clubs in the country during the 2000s, sweeping up All-Ireland titles in 2007, 2011 and 2012. Pearse Óg were a rival club at home who had comparatively less success but who were no less a difficult enemy to shake off.
In an Irish News article entitled ‘Best of Enemies,’ Kernan listed Clarke as one of his toughest opponents. And Clarke shares the same sentiment towards the 2005 Young Footballer of the Year who finished up playing with Crossmaglen after 23 years in November.
“I knew if I was playing against him that I would have to raise my game tenfold,” Clarke — who is a brother of 2002 All-Ireland winner Ronan — says. He found out about that article through his father, who is an avid reader of the paper.
“The best compliment I could give him is that he made me step it up. He probably should have played for Armagh a wee bit longer because you don’t really get half-backs like him anymore.
“I think his biggest attribute was that he was a very smart footballer on and off the ball. He knew how to get across, knew where to be, how to create space and get a few scores from play. I had to know how to defend when I was marking him because I knew he was going to come up with three or four scores.”
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The 2005 season was the highpoint of the rivalry between Tyrone and Armagh. Two Ulster finals [draw and replay], along with an absorbing All-Ireland semi-final were the ultimate showcase of their frosty relationship, and the quality performances they drew from each other.
In the Ulster finals, Tyrone’s Brian McGuigan was picked up by Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney. But in the All-Ireland semi-final, McGuigan saw Kernan coming his way to give him an entirely different afternoon on the pitch. McGuigan had just returned home from living in Australia that year, and believed that he was in top form prior to that third championship run-in between the counties.
But the contrasting playing styles between McGeeney and Kernan left its mark on McGuigan.
“Kieran loved to hold the centre whereas I was trying to find pockets of space out on the wings. He generally didn’t follow me so I seemed to be free all the time,” he remembers. “But in the semi-final, I could see Aaron coming to me and I can tell you now that I barely touched the ball that day due to the close attention I was getting from Aaron. He completely nullified me.
“Not only was he marking me but the torture was that when Armagh had the ball, I had to run back after him because he was just bombing forward.
“He was concentrating a lot on me that day and he was doing a marking job. If you’re out on the wing, you don’t have to mark as much because there’s a lot of cover but when you’re marking a central man, you’ve a lot of watching and covering to do. But any time Armagh got the ball, his first instinct was to bomb forward.”
Kernan was a versatile defender who could protect the house and attack whenever he was called. He was equally strong performing both tasks.
Clarke received similar treatment when their clubs collided. He needed to reinvent himself as a defender whenever Kernan would go on the march up the field. His imminent threat to Pearse Óg was something they prioritised in their planning.
“It wasn’t as such that we needed to stop Oisín McConville or John McEntee, it was more that we had to stop Aaron Kernan,” Clarke says.
“I found that when I was given that task, I brought out the best in him and he brought out the best in me.”
Aside from what he knew of Kernan through their games as opponents, Clarke also gained an insight into the depths of Kernan’s application when they became teammates on the Armagh U21 team.
“He was always ahead of his time”, says Clarke. “I remember back when we were U21, it would have been 2003. There was me, him and Ciarán McKeever and the Armagh training pitch was very close to my Mam and Dad’s.
“Myself and Ciarán were having the craic with my Dad. And Aaron was in the living room writing down his goals, his nutrition. I was 18 and I didn’t get into that until I was about 23. In that respect, he was ahead of the game and knew what he wanted to be. And fair play to him, he got there in terms of his ability and the footballer he turned out to be.
“He was a good leader and led by example. He didn’t just talk, he walked the walk as well. He led the line and backed it up the whole time.”
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Brian McGuigan was in Kingspan stadium attending an Ulster rugby match in October, when he encountered some young footballers from the Crossmaglen. The topic of Aaron Kernan popped up during their conversation, and his enduring impact on their club. His retirement from football would follow in November, bringing the curtain down on a decorated career.
With Crossmaglen, he won 18 senior county titles, eight Ulster crowns and three All-Irelands. His final club game, just ahead of his 40th birthday, was an Ulster quarter-final against Trilick,
According to the Crossmaglen representatives that McGuigan met at the rugby game, Kernan set a benchmark for them to chase and uphold. The boys told McGuigan of Kernan’s admirable conduct around the club, something which McGuigan also encountered when his club Ardboe played Crossmaglen in an underage challenge game.
“When I went down to the pitch that morning, Aaron and his brother Stephen were already in the gym going through their paces.
“Ach, you wonder how he does it with children and work but he’ll definitely go down as one of the greats in Crossmaglen and Armagh.”
Kernan always had the respect of those he played against. The beef between Tyrone and Armagh was considered toxic at its height, but that didn’t take away from the high regard that the players held each other in.
Kernan always fought cleanly and never indulged in low punches or dark art tactics. He played with such honour that Clarke could never be jealous of his successes with Crossmaglen. And when Pearse Óg did beat Crossmaglen in the 2009 quarter-final, the overwhelming feeling was relief rather than revenge or spite.
“Definitely not jealousy. I played in three county finals that they beat us in and you had to admire them. They always knew how to dig it out, how to win and they just had that experience. They were so hard to break down and to beat.
“One time we were playing them and with around seven or eight minutes to go, we were five points and they came back to beat us by one point.”
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The only major disappointment from Kernan’s career is the absence of an All-Ireland senior medal with Armagh. He tasted U21 glory in 2004, but his breakthrough at the top grade came just a touch too late. It’s widely accepted that he would certainly have been on the 2002 team that did lift the Sam Maguire although he did pick up some silverware with the county, including four Ulster championships.
He built a legacy without the ultimate prize and hasn’t stepped off the stage empty handed.
“Aaron was really unlucky,” says McGuigan, “but the flip side of that is I have three All-Irelands but if you were to offer me what Aaron has with his club, you’d have to give it serious consideration. Winning an All-Ireland with your club in Croke Park is bound to be one of the best experiences you can ever have.
“You listen to those lads I was chatting to at the Ulster game, those teams that won All-Irelands is all they’re ever compared to.
“There’s not a person in Ireland who played against Aaron that would have a bad word to say about him because when he went out to play football, he just played football.”
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