It started as so many uplifting stories do - in the ashes of a particularly painful championship defeat. In the Armagh Athletic Grounds in May 1995, Derry trimmed the home side by 10 points. Jim McCorry stepped down and Armagh were looking for a new manager. They settled on a combination, a joint-managerial set-up and appointed Brian McAlinden and Brian Canavan.

Tomorrow, five years on, the two send out a team chasing back-to-back Ulster titles. Their record is, according to county secretary Patrick Nugent, "a fairly competent one, the board is more than happy with their efforts". No one deviates from the view that the two complement each other well.

While waiting to be interviewed for the manager's job, the two found themselves sitting together. Canavan asked McAlinden if he really believed there was an Ulster title in the county. "Not unless I'm in charge," was the reply.

The last time Armagh and Derry played out an Ulster final, McAlinden was captain and Canavan vice-captain. McAlinden was probably the better known player.

A long-serving goalkeeper, he played for Armagh in the 1977 All-Ireland final and was "a great shot-stopper, accurate but not that long with his kick-outs, and good to use the ball out of his hand" according to Donegal's Brian McEniff, who played against both players and managed them for Ulster's Railway Cup team. "His only weakness was just under the crossbar, because he wasn't that tall." Canavan was "a very good, competitive wing back who read the play very well".

In shorthand, McAlinden is the more private but fiery of the two, the man who stokes the passions and runs the line during matches. McAlinden was something of a practical joker as a player. A young Jarlath Burns was innocently offered a stick of chewing gum which turned out to be a laxative. Burns's caution led him to put it away but his little sister couldn't resist the supposed confection.

Canavan is cooler, more detached and cerebral - he has been known to admit that he wouldn't mind watching matches from the stand, where he could get a better view and concentrate on the emerging patterns of a match - but conversely more at ease dealing with the media.

Recognising their distinct abilities, the county board asked them to consider a joint approach. "We felt they complemented each other," says Nugent. "So they went away, talked about it and agreed.

"Brian (McAlinden) is the task master who hands out the jobs and would be seen as the harder of the two, the driving force. Barney (Canavan) talks to the team, mediates, discusses personal problems with players and would be seen as more of a deep thinker."

Jarlath Burns retired last year after serving as the team's captain. His regard for the management has peculiar origins. "They didn't pick me for the panel until Christmas," he says. "When the chance came my reaction was to say no, but the way they both contacted me and articulated their vision for the team made a big impression on me. The way they not only brought me back but made me captain speaks volumes about their open-mindedness, their willingness to listen."

In Burns' view, the most important contribution they have made has been mental. "They are 100 per cent Armagh men with no agenda but for the good of Armagh football. They took over after a big defeat and made a massive difference. They brought a steely mentality to the team."

The description of a typical training session conforms with the consensus, according to Burns. "After the physical training, Brian would speak to the players generally about the opposition, what they've done to us in the past, what it means to the county to win, our pride and why we'll beat them. Barney goes into the specifics of the drill and what he's trying to achieve with it, what it's about and how over 70 minutes we will beat the opposition."

A complicating factor for the management has been the progression of Crossmaglen Rangers to the status of the country's premier club. In three of the past four years, the club has won the All-Ireland and consequently its players miss out on training with the county. This hasn't inhibited the rise to prominence of such players as the McEntee twins, John and Tony, and Oisin McConville, but others might have made more progress had they been available.

"The problems of success," says Paddy Nugent. "There's no satisfactory way of dealing with it."

That will be for Derry to discover.