Kieran McKenna smiles as he recalls the fixation that took root early and never slackened. “I was the eight-year-old sitting up watching a League Two game in the spare room while the rest of the family had the TV on elsewhere,” he says of a County Fermanagh youth spent soaking up every available detail. “I know so many children are passionate about the game but I was the one watching every single second of football, day and night.”
Little has changed in almost three decades, although McKenna may have fewer opportunities to dwell on the lower divisions now. He has lifted Ipswich from the doldrums, winning promotion from League One in his first full season, and that is hardly the entire story.
