Keeping the champions on their toes
FITTINGLY, Pat Flanagan was leading the Kerry warm down when the complex NFL permutations were calculated on a Sunday evening in early April.
As the news filtered through that the Kingdom's League defence was over, Flanagan, the physical trainer acknowledged as one of the most vital figures in last year's all conquering campaign, began to think on his feet.
Instead of planning for a semi-final, Flanagan started to slip into championship mode ahead of a date with Tipperary in the first round of the Munster SFC on May 29.
"The reaction was bad initially," he admits, "as the players began to realise that they would not be going through and they had worked hard for a semi-final. Though we seemed in a good position to make the semis, I had considered both options in my head during the previous week."
The disappointment did not last long or wasn't allowed too by Jack O'Connor and his management team. Flanagan doesn't reveal the secrets of their Sunday evening chinwag in Fitzgerald Stadium but even the scant details bears all the hallmarks of last season's ultra professionalism.
"You have to think ahead to the training plans even at this early stage as you don't have the players as often as you like because of club commitments and the like. We now have to make best use of the training in the time available and how that works with the manager and his plans. Jack, the selectors and I will put a clear plan together. We took a week off and then we have to work around club games this weekend so ultimately we will have a week or two specifically for the Tipp game."
It is a little ironic that a native of Waterford and a former member of the famed Mount Sion hurling club is such a figure in the resurgence of Kerry football.
Flanagan's hurling exploits produced few results in a google search but his athletics exploits has earned him a spot in cyberspace noting his national titles and his representative honours at 100m and 200m. When not running, he was earning a degree in Physical Education and an MSc in exercise physiology in Thomond College Limerick.
A post in IT Tralee followed soon after, where he lectures on a degree course dealing with PE and leisure for those with disabilities. But his non-academic talents were quickly nurtured when he became physical trainer to the College's winning Sigerson teams in 1997 and 1998, teams which included current Kerry seniors Seamus Moynihan, William Kirby and Micheal Francis Russell.
The side's manager Val Andrews was so impressed that he persuaded Flanagan to join him with the Cavan set up in 1999. But he was drawn back to his adopted county, coaching the Milltown/Castlemaine team that won County Kerry Division 1 County League and Mid Kerry SFC in 2001.
Then came a call from O'Connor and a place in Kerry football folklore.
Now comes the hard bit retaining the All-Ireland crown, a feat last achieved by Cork 15 years ago. And already a link with the past has been their undoing. Billy Morgan, who managed the Rebels to those successes in 1989 and 1990, was again at the helm when Kerry suffered the first loss of the 2005 campaign the league opener in Pairc Uí Rinn.
"The game was a bit odd against Cork. I thought it was there for the taking. Cork took it by the scruff of the neck and won. But I wouldn't put it all down to the holidays and the celebrations. As the league went on we gelled more and more. And it showed, especially in the must win game against Mayo and then again at the weekend against Tyrone. And I was happy with how the lads responded physically and mentally.
"The entire onus during the League was to maintain, as best we could, the fitness we had."
But was there always an eye on the long summer ahead?
"No we were not building towards the championship," he states categorically. "The league was used for Jack and the selectors to look at new and other players."
But O'Connor, Flanagan and these players have now been on the road for 20 long months. Those League and All-Ireland titles have been delivered in that time. But that success has been a double edged sword. Certainly it sated the annual desire for success in the Kingdom but one wonders if the celebrations, has dampened both the physical and mental desire for further glories.
"These guys are not difficult to motivate. They have taken good care of themselves in the wake of the All-Ireland. They are a very dedicated bunch and I am very happy with how they looked after themselves.
"We started back with gentle training from November onwards that would have been a bit of ball, some football drills, nothing too heavy. The base level of fitness was good. The residual effect of last year's early training was always there."
But the efforts were not confined to speed, pace and agility. "We also worked on getting stronger."
You mean bulking up? "No," he stresses. "Bulking up is creating bigger muscle and a bigger body. That may be the aim in rugby but gaelic football is so quick that additional bulk could hinder the players. Getting strong without the bulk is the key. What I will look at is how many times we will train and recovery periods. We will also vary training, for specific players, or for those coming back from injury. So at any one time we may have a number of different training regimes going on."
