For Kerry, the sweetest thing
That they’ve long-armed Cork, their oldest rivals and potential successors as football’s high kings is a factor.
But this road to September has been beset by battles and carpet-bombed with angst and aggravation. With the search for form and a formula.
At one low point, even their vitriolic critics had given up kicking them, as Jack O’Connor reminded us last night. But with his management team and squad, they did what every hopelessly honest cause does – they hunkered down and worked damn hard. And like Tim Robbins’ imprisoned character in The Shawshank Redemption, they crawled through a river of shit and came out clean the other side.
There may be an unspoken moment on the train home today, when they look at themselves and what they’ve done – not just yesterday, but over the decade. History is never written in the here and now, but it seems slightly ludicrous that 12 months ago, we were crowning Tyrone the team of the decade.
Darragh, Tomás, Tadhgie, Galvin, Tom Sull. The Longford slashing, the Sligo scare, its acrimonious fallout, the ass-kicking in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
And the clearing in the thicket, the first view of the Big House.
Kerry defeated Cork to win their last All-Ireland title two years ago, but it was a hopeful Rebel outfit, not an expectant one. Conor Counihan’s side may be frequent visitors to Jones Road in September over the next few years, but as he said after the semi-final win over Tyrone, finals are there to be won.
There isn’t a new green and gold wave emerging in the Kingdom so it wasn’t just because it was the last final of the decade yesterday that their 0-16 to 1-9 victory felt like a closing chapter.
The future can wait a while. Last night, the Kerry coach, celebrating his third All-Ireland with Kerry, was in reflective mode.
“It was a sweet one this year. We sailed close to the wind but we got over that hump and the boys got the smell of the thing,” he said.
“I said often during the year, they lost an All-Ireland here last year and there’s a lot of baggage with that, a lot of emotional baggage. It’s about getting back here to see the finishing line and that’s what gets the players.”
More than once, O’Connor has alluded to the last 15 minutes against Antrim in the final round of qualifiers, but its legacy was self-evident in the way Kerry reeled in Cork at Croke Park yesterday.
A 10th minute Roy of the Rovers netbuster from Colm O’Neill propelled Cork – in need of a fast start – into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead. Cork’s massive backing in a crowd of 82,286 sensed a monster’s slaying. The evidence that Kerry expected the opening flurry of punches is in Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s diary elsewhere in today’s GAA section, but the Kingdom certainly responded like it was in the script.
Ten points later, Kerry led 0-11 to 1-6 at the break, but more alarmingly for Cork, their defensive set-up – so resilient against Tyrone – was fatally holed below the waterline.
With Ray Carey not making the throw-in, Cork opted for Kieran O’Connor ahead of Eoin Cadogan in the full-backline, and positioned him at full-back. He never got Declan O’Sullivan in his crosshairs at any stage; the ripple effect was dramatic, but it took 30 minutes for the sideline to rejig the rearguard.
By the time the second half began, Cork’s last line of defence was Eoin Cadogan, John Miskella and Michael Shields.
Cork looked shaken and shapeless, but Kerry never went for the jugular. Darran O’Sullivan slalomed through for a point (0-13 to 1-6), but 10 minutes later, three Cork points had them on the brink of an unlikely comeback.
If the return of Mike McCarthy is touted as the masterstroke of the season, Kerry decision to reward Tommy Walsh’s impact as a sub in the semi-final should not go unmentioned either. He landed four points from play yesterday, with the pair in the 56th and 57th minutes nailing down a 36th title for Kerry.
“People were saying the 2004 and 06 final wins were soft, but there’s nothing soft about this one. We get our energy from enjoying each others’ company in training and just trying to build it up as the year goes on. We felt we were right coming into the game. The heat was on Cork after the way they performed all year and we were coming in under the radar. That suited us.”
No-one more than the West Kerry contingent. Dingle’s Tommy Griffin and Diarmuid Murphy had rocky opening periods but they’ve been there and rewritten the tee-shirt. Griffin settled down on Colm O’Neill to produce a 50-minute masterclass, and Murphy stood tall when Daniel Goulding bore down on him in a crucial one-on-one after 48 minutes.
The Gaeltacht three have a tenant’s lease on Croke Park, and once again yesterday, they flourished under the searing spotlight of pressure. Darragh and Marc O Sé found their form when it mattered most, Tomás continued his dazzling season with two more points and a shutdown of Paul Kerrigan.
Player of the year? Perhaps, though Paul Galvin might have a claim on that one too. The wire-brush of Gaelic footballers carried, clattered and covered better than anyone again yesterday. The Roy Keane comparisons are glib though unavoidable. And if his colleagues need to look beyond their Finuge firebrand, there’s Declan O’Sullivan, Tadhg Kennelly, Seamus Scanlon.
And Mike McCarthy. “He more than anybody has energised the team,” mused O’Connor.
What will energise Kerry heading into another decade?
Natural wastage and retirements suggest the Kingdom cannot expect to contest another eight finals, and win more than half. It’s asking a lot to suppress Cork for much longer, but O’Connor and co will winter well and enjoy trying. They’ll keep coming back. As Tomás O Sé said a year ago, they’re Kerry.
That’s what they do.
