Clearly Armagh saw no value in another meander through the competition's latter stages. Their minds were surely focused on more important things and a mission they'd be promising to complete since their first All Ireland of 2002. But there was no click. Even when a win over Wexford was required to stave off relegation during the last round of games, it took points from Aaron Kernan and Steven McDonnell deep into to stoppage time to haul them back from the edge. We doubted them. More fools us.

More than anyone else, they have kept going with no sign of slowing in summer.

When they lost the great epic of an All Ireland semi-final to Tyrone last year, it was muttered in the Croke Park press box that big Joe would have them out running the roads of south Armagh early the next day and he might even throw in a little bit of rock breaking, just to ease them back into it ahead of the rest. There was a light laughter because nobody was sure if the comment was meant in jest. And maybe it is the manager that has them here on the abyss of greatness once more. Maybe it's the players too. And maybe it's the psychology of Armagh. Commitment to other causes never waned in that part of the world, why should their dedication to this one show cracks?

"I was told when I came in to manage this side that this was a done team who'd been on the road for a few years and that was it, " says Kernan. "I think we have 15 or 16 changes on the panel from 2002. When I look at other teams, the sad thing is a lot of them keep players too long and then they look at the line and there is nothing there.

We had to be cruel to be kind at times and a lot of the players knew it was time to go and in fairness they looked at themselves and some realised they weren't up to it anymore, saying 'I've had a good run, I'll go now, ' and that helps my job when boys tell me I can't give anymore. But the key to our sustained success is that we kept things fresh. That's crucial, especially when things are going well.

"You can make drastic changes when you're going down but if you can keep the new faces when your on a high, well it keeps everyone else on their toes as well.

"But you obviously have to have the right players as well.

There's no doubt we are lucky with the quality and the leaders we have, there's no doubting that. The Paul McGrane's and the Kieran McGeeney's and these boys. People say some of these guys are old, past it. I can guarantee you Saturday, with five minutes to go we'll have these men still hunting in packs and still chasing and fighting to the end.

"People underestimate these players, the work they've done, what they've built up. When boys have been around for a while and have done all these things right, their lifestyles are good, they watch what they eat, they train hard, they rest when needed. These things have to be taken into consideration and players build up stamina. You don't wear them out. We've done this and the older players have built up immense stamina and are used to high intensity games and it's second nature."

The physical has been taken care of, but the mental remains. He'll have heard rumours of Saturday's opponents. They've been together even longer than Kernan's troops and this year it showed. Unrest, tiredness, perhaps even boredom of another season.

"It's just not like turning a switch and saying here we go. We've all had that, just as Kerry had earlier this year and sometimes you have to look deep into the mirror and say either we do this right or we are gone. They've done that and fair play to them.

They've had to come out of this fighting and they have.

And that Longford game will have brought them on immensely.

"And we know you don't lose class overnight. They had a glitch, and for that you have to give Cork credit. But look, they are at exactly the same stage we are at. We weren't brilliant earlier in the summer either. It took a lot for us to get back to an Ulster final but as I kept saying to people at the time, at that stage of the year the key is to make sure you are still in there with a chance. But now, at this quarter-final stage it's the time when some teams stand up and keep improving from here until the end of the year.

"That makes winners. Others will stand aside. We'll only be looking at our own performance in that regard because that's all we can do and that's all we can manipulate. And usually when we play well, we tend to win so it's up to us to get our game right."

We won't doubt them this time.