Moynihan on Red alert

THE year Seamus Moynihan did his Leaving Certificate in St Brendan’s College, he had more than studies on his mind.

Then manager Mickey Ned O'Sullivan had picked him for the Munster final against Clare a few weeks later.

It's a game both don't need reminding of, when the Banner county won only their second title under the guidance of John Maughan.

Fast forward 12 years and it's part of history, while Moynihan enjoys the type of stature the majority of players can only aspire to.

He's enjoying something of a renaissance since the new management decided he was too creative a player to be kept at full-back.

Moynihan, who works with the Musgrave Group, makes no secret of his preference for the half-back line. It's where he mainly played at colleges and club level and where he won his first All-Ireland in 1997. It probably comes more naturally to him there, he says, confessing his placement there has more to do with Michael McCarthy's form at full-back.

He ended up there after Barry O'Shea picked up a serious knee injury and found it hard to recover.

"At that time there wasn't an option. Mike was probably playing better football in the corner as well a great man to put on the Steven McDonnells and Derek Savages. Selectors were slow to put him in full-back, but he has settled in very well," he says.

"We have gained new guys like Brendan Guiney and Aidan O'Mahony; Tom O'Sullivan has been playing good football and there has been great cover for the full-back line. It has not been a problem area this year."

His attitude is that there's very little difference to playing elsewhere in the defence, on the basis that you still have the job of marking a forward.

At the same time, he concedes there is a difference the freedom you have around the middle of the field, the obvious benefit of which is you're more involved in the play.

"Once we can play as a unit and the six backs help each other out is the most important thing. And everyone is doing that this year."

Apart from new management, the team has a new trainer in Pat Flanagan, whom Moynihan worked under during his days in IT Tralee.

Moynihan says he is "fantastic" in the way he varies training.

"The training has been refreshing and players seem to have responded. But it's very early days yet. Playing Cork is a big step-up for us. It remains to be seen how fresh we are going to be in the championship. The next four months will tell a lot.

"Winning the League was a great bonus, especially for the younger players coming into the panel. It's been a great experience for them to go to Croke Park and win there."

The only real drawback was that the final against Galway wasn't the ideal preparation for their opening championship game with Clare.

"Players were able to express themselves in Croke Park, to play football. We achieved our objective in Ennis, in a tough, physical game. It was a jump up from the Galway game. Clare played with a game plan and got stuck in. We learned a lot and it was needed. It showed the players there is such a huge difference between League and championship."

The intensity in the game seen in the way forwards tackle like defenders nowadays represents one of the main differences from his early career, he points out.

But the biggest change is in the amount of time devoted to training. "Back then, you'd train hard Tuesday, again on Thursday and there'd be a game on a Sunday, but between those periods you did very little. Now you're either doing weights on the nights off or you're stretching. And you're conscious of what you're eating and drinking. Your life really revolves around football. It has gone away more professional."

Moynihan agrees that Colin Corkery will be a loss to Cork, except that like Brendan Jer O'Sullivan, he didn't figure much in the League.

"It would be different if they had been playing all year and two weeks before the game it happened. The selectors have been aware of this for a long time and brought in new players who have done well. Cork were one of the few teams to go up to Tyrone and draw with them. They were unfortunate not to qualify for the latter stages of the League as well.

"Fionán Murray has come back and Mícheál Ó Cróinín is playing the football of his life, they're going well up front. Colin has fantastic free-taking ability, but Mícheál has balanced that. And any Cork team that goes out in the championship will be formidable especially in Killarney."

Based on the history of meetings over the last few decades, he argues there won't be much between the teams.

"If you go back to when Kerry were weak in the late '80s and early '90s, we were able to hold Cork to two or three points even though they were probably seven or eight points a better team at the time. And, after that when we got stronger, Cork were always able to hold us.

"There's never much between the sides, the rivalry always the same. Every ball won win will be well earned, it's going to be a tough battle."