Due to the recent media ban, hearing from members of the Armagh camp has not been something that has been all too commonplace in 2014.
But tonight on Off The Ball, we were joined on the line by Aaron Kernan, in the wake of Saturday's All Ireland quarter-final defeat to Donegal.
"I passed no remarks to it," said Kernan of the media ban,"Definitely in the squad it had next to no influence. Obviously I read the papers and I saw how much it was making headlines. But actually regarding the team itself it had no bearing whatsoever."
Kernan felt that the busy qualifier schedule also helped the media ban from affecting the panel and he believes performances show that the siege mentality had no effect.
Personally, Kernan shone in the last two games against Donegal and Kildare, after enduring disappointments and injury in the league and early stages of the Championship.
"I basically tried to make life as hard as I could for the management to not leave me out anymore," said Kernan of his turnaround in fortunes.
"Again it took a lucky break where it was unfortunate with Ciaran [McKeever] getting injured for me to get my opportunity. When that day came around, I knew it was Croke Park that was the stage I've trained my whole life to perform on and I definitely wasn't going to let the opportunity slip."
He also spoke about the impact former Armagh footballer and Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney made as a member of the backroom team.
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