I t's February 2007, and the physiotherapist has just asked him to take three steps without crutches. Ronan Clarke thinks he's having a laugh.

He's dealt with bigger challenges in his sleep: winning an All-Ireland in front of 80,000 people, clinching four Ulster titles and trying to cram all those individual awards into an already crowded trophy cabinet. But the physio isn't joking; he wants three steps.

Within seconds, though, beads of sweat are glistening on his forehead and at the end of the exercise, the sweat is pumping. He suddenly realises there's another All-Ireland to be won if he ever wants to get back playing inter-county football.

"Croke Park seemed a million miles away," he reflects, shaking his head. "You're trying to walk a few steps with someone beside you to help." No doubt about it, shuffling across the room not long after cruciate ligament reconstruction was his lowest ebb.

Quiz him on the turning point and he maps out the day he first walked to the rehab clinic. It was only five minutes from home, but it was on top of a hill and he was still hampered by the crutches. The short hop nearly broke him but it was the first real mark of progress. Inside, Dr Phil Glasgow, the man who would nurse him back to full fitness, stuck a 20kg weight onto his ankle to straighten his knee out. He had to repeat the exercise every night for six weeks and it wasn't pretty. Leaving the clinic he was knackered and asked for a lift home, but he slept soundly that night. The stubbornness was back. After 16 months of darkness, there was light again.

It's February 3, 2008. Ronan Clarke feels ready for road again. He'd been shaping up for an Armagh return for a few months but it just didn't happen. Once or twice he was due to start McKenna Cup games but felt sore and didn't risk it. He was already back with Pearse óg in their county championship run, although more in spirit than in body, but returning to the Armagh team was more complex. It was January before he was finally ready, with no more swelling of the knee, no more pain. He was named in the team to face Cavan in the first round of the league. This time his heart, not his knee, pounded.

Five minutes had elapsed when the ball came his way. A goal beckoned but he sent a point whizzing over the bar. More chances presented themselves but he just managed one more point. "Afterwards people were saying I should have done this or that and they wondered if I was finished, but I was just happy to have the Armagh shirt back on again. I was just trying to run without a limp," he says. "That game was my milestone. Just to get back. I'd never taken anything for granted before but I swore I'd relish every moment of my career from then on."

After so long in the cold, it's little wonder he's living for the moment. The last instalment of the International Rules has a lot to answer for but it nearly saw the end of Clarke's career. Not long over a back operation, he twisted his knee badly in training. He had also been having hip and hamstring trouble, so it was the last thing he needed. The initial prognosis wasn't too bad but further examination showed his cruciate ligament was badly ripped.

"It was a lonely time," he admits, "but there were five or six of the family at my bed when I woke up after the operation. That put me in a positive mind-frame straight away. I spent a month in the house just resting and taking painkillers, out of work. I watched box-sets of The Godfather to keep sane."

Recently, a number of Kerry players revealed that they hadn't been in touch with their captain Paul Galvin since his sending off against Clare and it seemed peculiar that Galvin would be left on his own at such a time. Clarke admits to feeling some isolation during the injury, but praises his team-mates for staying close by. "You're out of sight, out of mind but Paul (McGrane) always visited and the lads would ring. In fact they all kept in touch; Geezer, Diarmuid Kenny and JP Donnelly, all of them."

Around then, Armagh had four cruciate patients in their squad, but without Clarke they struggled badly for scores, narrowly losing last year's two championship games. "Maybe 2007 wasn't a bad one to miss after all," Clarke smiles wryly.

With the help of his father and brothers, one of whom, Conor, is on the Armagh squad too, the recovery process began in earnest early last season. There was no chance of championship football for 12 months and it nearly killed him. "I know everyone despairs at times but the family and Phil Glasgow, Phil Morrow and Jason McGahan kept me going, all positive people. From the word go, Phil Glasgow was class; I trained with him at walking pace and sweated buckets. He held me back when I got giddy or sore, but he always got the right mix."

Keeping the weight off was another priority so Glasgow devised an upper body programme for Clarke and though he was out of the game, he led the life of a professional. When not resting, he was testing the leg, lifting weights or swimming. He ate right, stretched his knee and heeded advice.

Away from the training ground and the roar of the crowd, football continued to define his existence. To pass the evenings, he trained the Mullabrack ladies footballers. They started out three years ago at underage level and Clarke has been helping them for the past couple of years. Under his guidance they have prospered and will soon play in the semi-final of the Armagh senior championship. "We've developed very well and have six or seven girls close to the county team," he says. "You learn a lot about yourself managing a squad, but I love it. The girls play to a very high skill level and all they want to do is train -- it's a release for me."

All the while, he was preparing to return to club duty. Pearse óg reached the county final and with dad, Adrian, over the team and the brothers in tow, he wanted to get back. He returned in the midst of that campaign but was never fully right. Playing at midfield, he failed to score in the last three games. In the semi-final, his knee started to swell after just 15 minutes and he went off injured in the final against Crossmaglen after it swelled again. In hindsight, it was too much, too soon but can you blame him for wanting to get back to play for his father and with his brothers?

After Cross' beat them, he spent the remainder of the year regaining full fitness and used the national league to ease back into the inter-county groove. Under the new management of Peter McDonnell, Armagh struggled through spring before eventually claiming some big scalps and finishing the competition in the ascendancy. Since then Clarke has caught fire and is irrepressible right now.

Apart from his 0-2 against Cavan and 0-3 against Down, he's breaking ball for his old strike partner Stevie McDonnell. They're the double act that everyone wants to see. It was no surprise that McDonnell himself suffered when his pal was missing. "At the minute he's stronger than he ever was," McDonnell says. "He's chomping at the bit every time we go out."

Making up for lost time, of course. It's six years since his name first went up in lights but talk of an ageing Armagh team amuses him. While there are some elder statesmen, their underage structures are excellent and the average age of the current squad is 25. They have a freshness which comes with a new manager and the road to Croker is open again. Beat Fermanagh and they will fancy their chances of going all the way, with Kerry and Tyrone struggling and Dublin below-par.

"There's a lot of legs left in the team," Clarke states. "Players are fresh, Peter has put an unbelievable lot of faith in us, with Finian Moriarty back and Brendy Donaghy in against Cavan and Down. The younger lads have fitted in like a glove and Stephen Kernan is playing brilliant football." Fermanagh's mission will be to stop Armagh from feeding their lethal inside forwards. That could see Clarke and McDonnell starved of the ball.

"We have a Plan B, don't worry about that," he chuckles. "But I won't be saying what it is. Peter leaves no stone unturned. We have plans for every game. We're not taking Fermanagh lightly. They've put two hotly-tipped teams, Monaghan and Derry, out. They have what it takes and were very close to playing in an All-Ireland final a few years ago. But we have to look at our own game and the hunger is there after the heartbreak of last year."

If they don't win, the microscope will be out again. And Clarke won't be spared a lashing if he doesn't hit three or four points. "We're open to scrutiny but its not just pundits, it's the public too," he says. "One bad game and people will be shouting abuse. Now we have thousands of genuine Armagh supporters; they could bring 10,000 to a league game, but others would never say it to your face and instead would backbite away. Owen Mulligan is an example of the scrutiny you're under, even away from the field: I'd say he's tortured with it. I'd be very good friends with him, he's a lovely guy and it's hard for him in Tyrone. He's back doing well in the local championship and that's great to hear. Maybe it's the blond hair that attracts people but they should never judge a book by its cover."

A sales executive with Red Bull, he's in the public eye himself around the Armagh and Down areas and jokes that people must think he's nuts when they see him stretching his knee and back on side roads all around the county. He enjoys the banter, though, and says it's amazing how many people from the other side of the community approach him to quiz him on Gaelic football. "I even had a few boys asking me for tickets and they'd sort me out for rugby tickets in return. I think it's great," he says. "Naturally, tensions are high around July 12 but it's not like the old days. Things have moved on. We've been in cross-community youth clubs and these things and I take people as I see them."

That's a mark of the man. And here's another insight: On the night when he finally won his first All Star in 2006, he left Dublin for a Pearse óg function where the 1981 U21, minor and underage winning sides were being honoured at a 25-year reunion. Even on one of his biggest celebrations, he was thinking of others. Clarke has never forgotten where he came from. The dark days are behind him now.