Joe Kernan has backed Crossmaglen Rangers to bounce back from their surprise Armagh SFC semi-final defeat to Cullyhanna.

A last-minute Malachy Mackin goal consigned the South Armagh men to their first defeat in a county championship match since 2009 (and second in 21 seasons) on Sunday, but club chairman Kernan - who managed the Black & Amber to three All-Ireland club titles - says these things happen:

"If somebody told us 20 years ago that we'd lose two Armagh championship matches in 20 years, we would have laughed at them," the former Cross', Armagh, Galway, Ulster and Ireland boss notes in The Irish News.

"That's exactly where we are. Naturally, we thought we could win the game and we had it won with a minute to go. But it just shows you the standards we've set for years. Nothing lasts forever. It does hurt. We'll regroup, we'll grit our teeth and go on. We've great young players coming through and we have great structures at the club, but Crossmaglen isn't going to close down because we've lost a championship match.

"As chairman, I'm even more proud of our players because, when the game was over, they all went round and shook everybody's hand. We know how to win and we know to do the right thing when we lose. We'll bite the bullet, we'll take our medicine and get on with life. But don't write Cross' off.

"These things happen in sport all of the time. There's many a time we did it. I remember we did the same to Bellaghy to win our first Ulster title in '96. So you have to take it on the chin."

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