Keith Duggan talks to Crossmaglen Rangers coach Oliver Shortt who continues to bring success to the club after Joe Kernan's glory days

Nobody was that surprised when the McEntee boys and Oisín McConville, Francie Bellew and John Donaldson turned up for training that Tuesday evening. True, they had won their first All-Ireland senior medals with Armagh on an historic day for the county just 48 hours before. But still, this was Crossmaglen.

"We are just so lucky," says Oliver Shortt. "Normally you have county players who happen to play for their club. Here, it's as if the Cross players happen to play for the county. I can't speak highly enough about these lads. McConville, for instance, simply never misses training. Never. And he has all the time in the world for the kids around here. A few days before the All-Ireland, he was up watching an under-10 game."

Of all the GAA people in Crossmaglen, Shortt faced the most thankless job. When Castleblaney reaped a heavy defeat on the Rangers in the Ulster championship of 2000, Joe Kernan stepped aside. After five Armagh, three Ulster and three All-Ireland club titles, he had taken his local team as far as was possible.

As it transpired, even greater things awaited big Joe. But back then, he left a void that many were reluctant to fill.

"And I can understand why," says Shortt, who played in the great years under Joe. "If you won, it was going to be Joe's team anyhow. And if you lost, it was going to be yours."

The players got together and prevailed upon Shortt to supervise training, just for a while, just until they got sorted . . . it's an old story. Seasons on and Shortt is up to his neck in it, roping in his old pal Joey Cunningham to give him a hand. So they train Cross, they organise transport, they wash the jerseys, whatever it takes.

Just a few weeks after Armagh's unforgettable deliverance, football sights within the county were localised again. Cross won their seventh Armagh title in as many years, narrowly beating a young Dromintee side by five points. Given the magnitude of the All-Ireland and the close involvement of so many of the Cross team, it was a considerable achievement.

"We were probably favourites to win Armagh because of our past record. But the thing about this team is it never gets complacent."

Maybe that comes from the manner of so many of Cross's previous campaigns. Far from sweeping sumptuously through the icy phases of Ulster, many of their All-Ireland successes show narrow one-point escapes that could have left them on the scrapheap before the club scene had even warmed up.

On Sunday, they face a storied side with a similar mindset; Errigal Ciarán, home club of Peter Canavan.

"What do you do with a player like that?," wonders Shortt amicably. "Sure he virtually won the Tyrone county final on his own. I've seen teams try to double and triple team him and he makes monkeys out of them. And you wouldn't mind if they were just a one-man show. But they have fine ball players all over the park and then Mickey Harte on the sideline. Like, they say Joe Kernan has the midas touch but Mickey Harte has been winning All-Irelands with Tyrone minors and under-21s and here he is again now. I think it makes for a fascinating game. It's just a pity it clashes with Ballinderry's match."

Crossmaglen will meet this evening for a light run around and a team meeting. Last Sunday, their corner forward John Murtagh - a nephew of full back and captain Donal Murtagh - was involved in a car crash on his way home that left him with a broken jaw. That setback has been tempered by the return to eminence of Jim McConville, the original of the McConville sharp shooters who came on as a substitute in the county final and showed his vintage form.

"He tried to retire a few years back but I wouldn't let him," laughs Shortt. "But he is genuinely contending for a place with the form he is showing, which is terrific for us."

For once, Joe Kernan can get to watch a game close to his heart from the relative comfort of the stands.

The town team is in good hands. And it can be taken for granted: they aren't tired of football around Cross just yet.