GAELIC GAMES ALLIANZ NFL DIVISION TWO FINAL: GAVIN CUMMISKEYtalks to the former Down All-Ireland winning captain who will be on the sideline for Armagh against his old county

PADDY O’ROURKE remains an icon in Down GAA. Leading the Mournemen out of a 23-year famine to lift the Sam Maguire in 1991 cemented that. The county football manager’s job eventually came his way, before Ross Carr and now James McCartan received their turns.

Like Carr’s, it was a period that will be remembered more for small steps – in both directions. Then Armagh came calling and he leaped across the border.

“I enjoyed my break. I got to watch different teams playing and enjoyed going to matches as a spectator. I enjoyed that. I was still doing things with different clubs and bits and pieces here and there. I enjoyed it. It probably left me with a freshness to get back. I probably always was going to go back into county management. It’s probably what I’m attracted to. It’s like a disease, it’s difficult to stay away from it.”

Sure enough the opportunity has presented itself to plot the downfall of his own people. Sport has a habit of working out like this. That O’Rourke’s Burren club-mate McCartan is sharing the sideline this Sunday in Croke Park makes for more attractive viewing. But he comes across as an eminently practical man when all this is suggested.

“I am not too concerned about who I am playing against. It’s about how we perform. I spend much more time on our own performance than on how the opposition is going to play.

“I find that reasonably easy (to distance myself). I concentrate on the job I have to do and probably I’m fairly placid about the whole thing. It is only football. It is only sport. Probably some people make it out to be more than that but it’s not.

“I think James and me will both approach the match in that way. We are both looking for big performances from our teams. We want those performances to continue right throughout the summer. This is great preparation for what’s going to happen in the summer.”

That begins with a trip over to Celtic Park on May 15th when Derry will roll out the red carpet.

Ulster championship affairs are usually highly charged, making the Division Two league final against the neighbours ideal preparation.

O’Rourke is adamant that despite the keen rivalry a healthy respect remains a fundamental part of the Down/Armagh relationship.

“I know from being from Down that when Armagh went on and got to their All-Ireland final they had a hell of a lot of support from Down.

“An awful lot of Down people, including myself, wanted to see them go on and win that title. And we got a lot of satisfaction out of it. At that stage maybe we wanted to get out and beat them the next year round but that’s the way sport is.

“But, there is a good rivalry but it is healthy and I think that will continue on Sunday.”

Despite the welcome return of Enda McNulty and Martin O’Rourke last week, O’Rourke has put his own stamp on the Armagh team, most evident from Aaron Kernan’s transfer from wing back to half forward.

“I think if you don’t gamble with things you will never find out. He is a very talented lad. There is no reason why he can’t play in any position on the field. He has a good left foot. He has good vision.

“He is comfortable on the ball. He is a good passer of the ball.

“He is also a very good wing half back, as we all know.

“I felt that this Armagh team needed a bit more punch in the half-forward line and that’s why we are playing him there.”

O’Rourke almost guffaws at the suggestion he is following the lead of Tyrone manager Mickey Harte in encouraging players to be flexible enough to function anywhere.

“We can learn from Mickey but we don’t need him to tell us there are players that can play full back and full forward and any position in between.

“Players now are probably more comfortable on the ball than they were 20 years ago. I think you could use that to your advantage.

“As I’ve said to Aaron and I’ve probably said to quite a few other people, he won’t have been the first very good footballer to have done well in other positions.

“There’s no reason why he can’t do it. I wouldn’t ask him to do it if I didn’t think he could.”