Winning, no matter at what level any team may be competing, is never that easy.

And it is almost inevitable that success can often spawn envy and even begrudgery.

Take the case of Crossmaglen Rangers, for instance.

They have now won 13 Armagh county championship titles on the trot yet there are those who would decry their achievement as “not being good for Armagh club football overall.”

This begs the question - surely the Rangers can only beat what is put in front of them?

They may have dominated the Armagh championship since the mid-90’s but, proportionatly speaking, their supremacy is not really that much different to the majestic record that Kilkenny boast in recent All Ireland Hurling championship finals or indeed Tyrone’s shared dominance of the All Ireland football championship since 2000.

I well recall that when Down (twice), Derry and Donegal won the All Ireland Football Championship title between 1991 and 1994, I was downright envious.

I longed for Armagh to be right up there at the rtop but I certainly did not begrudge any of these three Ulster counties their success on the biggest stage of all.

When I eventually got to manage Armagh, I actually took their triumphs as a spur to drive my native county to All Ireland glory in 2002.

Life is a learning process for us all and I certainly tried to learn from the achievements of those Ulster sides that had preceded us to the Sam Maguire Cup. Similarly, other teams in Armagh have every opportunity to wrest the county trophy from Crossmaglen Rangers.

It has even been suggested that the Rangers have been top dogs because most of the last thirteen finals were played at their own ground.

For the record, six were played at the Athletic Grounds, one at Silverbridge and the other six at their home base, Oliver Plunkett Park.

I don’t think they have gained any unfair advantage from where matches have been staged - the team has been fortunate enough and skilful enough to have mantained their winning ways.

Top teams at all levels set the benchmark for others and I feel that Crossmaglen Rangers have thrown down the gauntlet - again - to those teams with aspirations of replacing them as Armagh champions.

And just as Rangers have been the prime force in Armagh, Ulster have carved out an enviable record in the inter-provincail football championship under Brian McEniff.

He has managed the province to success on 14 occasions since the early 80’s and that’s the kind of standard I must now strive to maintain in my role as his successor.

We play Munster in the semi-final on Saturday with the match having been switched from Dungarvan to Fermoy - something I’m happy about - and I would dearly love to get into the final.

John McCloskey, Seamus McEnaney and Tony Scullion form my backroom team in the Ulster management set-up and

we will bring the curtain down on our preparations at Brewster Park, Enniskillen tomorrow night.

Obviously, the International Rules series strips us of some resources - we are down the services of eleven players overall - but I don’t believe this to be an insurmountable burden.

The squad have been very enthusiastic and committed since our first session and although Munster can lean on a base of those Cork and Kerry players not involved in the International Rules series, we believe we are in with a good chance of winning.

Ireland obviously feel much the same about their prospects Down Under if I’m to judge from comments filtering back.

But I would hope that both teams maintain a level of discipline that will ensure the continutaion of the series.

I think much will depend on the approach of the Australians themselves.

If they are over-physical and the Irish respond in kind, we could see the death knell for the series sounded. That would be a major disappointment but it would not, in my opinion, mean the end of any international link for the GAA.

I believe that there is the very real prospect of gaelic football being improved in countries like the US and in a number of European nations that might eventually lead to tours being undertaken there by teams representing this country.

Maybe it sounds a bit far-fetched but if sufficient money is poured into coaching in such countries, standards can be improved dramatically.

For the moment, though, the International Rules will provide a focus for us all. I would hope to see an Ireland and Ulster double landed this weekend!