How do you define success?
By the medals gathering dust in your cupboard somewhere? By the records you broke probably already broken by someone else? By the amount of times you avoided failure and that sick feeling that it brings with it every single time?
Or do you define success in years, in moments, in memories?
Aaron Kernan has almost won it all. Almost. At club level, his record with Crossmaglen is untouchable. At Armagh, he has enough provincial titles that would’ve suggested they had gone on at some point and won the big one. Sam, the only sod who evades the wing back.
He isn’t encapsulated by one failure though. His list of successes in a 10-year inter-county career are not defined by that feat and his club triumphs certainly aren’t marred by the fact that Aaron came along a couple of years too late after his dad had guided the Orchard county to a maiden All-Ireland title.
If Kernan can’t look back over a career that boasts four Ulsters and one league title with Armagh, an U21 All-Ireland triumph with the orange jerseys and a club stint that’s racked up seven provincials, three All-Irelands and a list of county championships you nearly couldn’t count, if he can’t look over that and be content, he never would be.
Perhaps it’s because there’s more success sure to come with Crossmaglen that he’s so level-headed but, even in inter-county retirement, Kernan doesn’t bemoan what he’s missed out on.
“From my own point of view, I won four Ulster championships with Armagh and that was something I was delighted to have done. Regarding the bigger scale and things, yeah, there are other Ulster titles you probably could’ve ticked off along the way and there was obviously the All-Ireland semi final [2005] against Tyrone when we missed out on getting to an All-Ireland final and which will always be a huge disappointment.
“But, regarding my own career, do I see it personally as a failure that I never won Sam Maguire? I don’t. I had a superb 10 years with Armagh, I enjoyed the whole lot of it, it was something I always wanted to do. But I didn’t start out in Gaelic Football saying ‘I have to win Sam Maguire and, if I don’t, everything else is going to be a failure.’
“I’m sure if you talk to someone like Darragh Ó Sé who has five or six All-Ireland medals. He’s probably more annoyed about the one or two that he let slip. You have Armagh players who won that one All-Ireland but they’re annoyed about the few that they didn’t win so I don’t know when you’d ever be happy. The people who have won some aren’t happy that they didn’t win more so I’m not going to be annoyed for the rest of my life that I didn’t win a Sam Maguire.
“I had a fantastic time as an intercounty player, I enjoyed it thoroughly, I met great people, seen the world – I’ve been to America, Australia, Dubai – so that’s something that I was privileged to have got and it made the whole experience something special for me. Now, I’ll continue to enjoy playing my club football.”
Of course, with Crossmaglen, Kernan won’t feel like he has strayed too far from the inter-county setup. He’s already spoken about how, sometimes, the work his club go through feels like more than what they were doing with Armagh as they frantically chase down more All-Ireland glories.
Now, he can give his undivided attention to the south Armagh stronghold and, even though he foresees another good half decade of clocking up miles on the pitch with his club, Aaron Kernan knows his future will be with Crossmaglen come what may. When the boots are hung up, he’ll be servicing the future generations, helping them aspire to the greatness he and his teams have managed to touch.
“I know even from our own club point of view here I do tend, as the season goes on, to get involved where some of the underage coaches would ask you up to take a few sessions and definitely it’s something I know I will do,” he pondered a future in coaching.
“Obviously I want to still see myself playing club football for another four or five years but once that’s finished up, without doubt, I know for sure that I’ll remain heavily involved within the GAA.
“I’d like to get involved at maybe underage coaching and maybe find my feet and take some of them jobs before you put your name forward for something that entails a bit more responsibility. So definitely regarding coaching and that, I’d like to get involved and if it leads to coaching or becoming a manager at a higher level at some stage, we’ll wait and see. Hopefully there’s something that will be coming down the track but not for another four or five years.”
A decade of county football comes to an end and one of the game’s finest half backs is already planning the next decade.
And where better than with his club. With Crossmaglen. At home.
