Paul Hearty will have no problem handing the captaincy duties back to Stephen Kernan for Crossmaglen's AIB All-Ireland club football final replay against Garrycastle on Saturday.

The long-serving goalkeeper deputised for Kernan in Croke Park two weeks ago after the centre forward failed to have a controversial suspension lifted. But the draw with the Westmeath champions means Kernan will be available for the replay.

"It's justice, in a small, wee way. Stephen gets to lead the team out the next day and he'll be looking forward to that," Hearty told the Irish News.

"We'll have a full complement and Stephen will add a different dimension to the attack and in around the midfield sector. So we'll have more quality in that area, so it's maybe played into our hands a wee bit."

Hearty is expecting a much-improved performance from Crossmaglen on the drawn encounter.

"We've another bite at the cherry, I think we can play a lot better," he added.

"We dominated the second half, we were five points down at one stage and we came back and came at them and if we can do that for 45/50 minutes the next day, which we are very capable of doing, we'll win the game.

"We had enough chances in the second half to win the game, but I think our first half performance let us down badly." Tweet

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