Bad day for Drom/Broadford, Good Day for Me.

Bad day for Dromcollgher/Broadford. Good day for me. I spot Joe Kernan and pounce. Any chance of a word Joe?

"Sure, no problem at all". He'd been so close to his car and had almost gotten away scot free. I'm sure he was raging at being nabbed but he couldn't have been nicer about it.

A brilliant performance from Crossmaglen, what's the secret? I venture, trying to catch him out. It was no use.

"The gulf in experience told today. We got off to a good start and that's what Dromcollogher wanted. After that our boys grew in confidence and the goal after half time, finished them off. Any team that beats Nemo Rangers, you always respect them but Crossmaglen showed their power today."

The pace and movement from the Armagh men was efficient, effective and clinical. Is that a style, they've intentionally developed?

"Not really. Nothing beats hitting in a long early ball but we can play it short or play it long and the lads are versatile enough to do that. The bottom line is whoever is free gets the ball. Let him be twenty yards away or fifty yards away, that's the way it's played."

Wise words indeed and Joe Kernan should know. He was manager of Crossmaglen when they won their County Final in 10 years in 1996,they've won all 13 since. Then of course there was the small matter of masterminding Armagh´s first All-Ireland in 2002.

"Matches in training are very competitive. Everybody is fighting to get into the team and the way they do that is to do it in training. I presume whoever does it in training will be starting the next day. It's just sheer competitiveness the whole way through the panel." It sounds like a good recipe for success.

Oisin McConville. Great. I thought there might have been a chance of Crossmaglen underestimating Drom/Broadford but it didn't happen.

"We made that mistake last year. We've been beaten in two All-Ireland semi finals and we've come back and won All-Irelands and that's what it's all about in Cross."

They call him the gambler. After the damage he inflicted on Saturday, they'll be calling him a lot worse around Drom/Broadford.

Focus. Crossmaglen are very focused but surely there is a danger they're going into the final now having not being tested. "There is definitely a danger of that and that is something we are going to have to guard against. We're going in against a very strong Kilmacud team and you can be sure they'll be held bent on beating us but we can't worry about that, we can only worry about ourselves".

If they do and come up with a similar performance on St. Stephens day, it will be hard to see them being stopped.

Next up was the Drom/Broadford manager John Brouder. He was exhausted and desperately disappointed. He'll reflect on it being a good year, a great year even but it didn't feel like that in the tunnel after the game "It's just all about today's match today and it was a very bad defeat. We met an awesome team playing to their full potential and we just didn´t get any of the breaks and we didn't play anywhere near where we think we should be at."

There was a lot to learn from facing Cross though "They were the best team we've played and the biggest aspect of today was their power and their pace. They just blew us away in the tackle and they were very strong in holding possession."

Power and pace. Crossmaglen were on another level. "The lads will have to go back and think about what they can do to reach that level. Cross probably have ten years of gym work behind them. That's something we haven't looked at too seriously for the last few years because maybe you don't need that in Limerick football but if we're going to compete outside that, it's something we're going to have to take more seriously."

It has been a great year for Drom/Broadford and John Brouder acknowledged that but late that Saturday afternoon, that didn't really matter to him. He was downhearted, disappointed, determined they would learn from defeat and bounce back.

As Oisin McConville said, "we never like to lose but defeats are ok as long as you learn from them".

Crossmaglen have come back from defeats. That challenge is Drom/Broadford's now.