In the name of the father
HAPPENS in every county in Ireland. A knot of people on the sideline watching youngsters play football or hurling and, when there’s a lull in the action, it starts.
“See him?”
“Which one?”
“That one. There. Know who his father is?”
And away they go. Living up to a father’s stellar achievements in the county jersey can be a harder opponent for some youngsters than the stickiest corner-back; you can’t blow full-time on a reputation, after all. But what if you’re the one who provided the surname and the memories?
Tomorrow in Fitzgerald Stadium some of the Kerry minors carry very familiar handles. The fathers of Tommy Walsh, David Moran and Eoin Kennedy were featured players in Mick O’Dwyer’s great Kerry side of 1975-86, and a decade in the spotlight helped inoculate them against nerves. Their own nerves, that is.
“Ah, I’d be a bad spectator anyway,” says Seanie Walsh. “I’ll be in the terraces, that’s where I always go, but yeah, I’ll be fairly nervous for the minor game. I think it’s hard to watch games in general, I’d say most former players would find it hard anyway.
It’s not as enjoyable as playing.
“Obviously if you’re out on the field you feel you can do something about the game, you can get involved in some way, while watching can be very frustrating.”
His former team-mate John Kennedy can at least focus on other duties. Kennedy is the Kerry minor coach, so his afternoon will be fairly full, but he echoes Walsh on the comparison between playing and managing.
“When you’re playing you’ve only got your own preparations to worry about, that’s all that’s on your mind,” says Kennedy. “In that sense it’s a lot easier. As a selector or manager you’ve 30 players to worry about, or 24, as we have with the Kerry minors. But when a player goes out on the field the pressure is off, he just has to play. That’s when the pressure comes on the management, you’re kicking every ball with them, making moves, taking players off, and you’re drained afterwards.”
However, when matches and training finish for Kennedy he’s reminded of other responsibilities. His son Eoin figured earlier in the provincial championship, and though he starts on the bench tomorrow, it’s another take on ‘famous name’ syndrome. The Kennedys, at least, had incorporated a way of dealing with the coach-and-player dynamic before reaching county level. Then again, for the sake of domestic harmony, they had to.
“I’ve been involved with the club (Asdee) at underage level for about 15 years, so, when my own son got involved he was just another player,” says Kennedy.
“I wouldn’t put extra pressure on him playing and, certainly, when we leave training, we don’t bring it home. You couldn’t. If we started discussing the Kerry minor team at the dinner table, life wouldn’t be worth living at all at home, it’d be unbearable altogether. You have to leave it on the field, whether that’s a club, divisional or intercounty team.”
Kennedy senior has been at matches and heard the ripple of identification — and expectation — running through the spectators.
“Certainly you’d find you’d be at games and hear people say, whether it’s Ambrose (O’Donovan), Ogie (Moran), Seanie (Walsh) or Bomber (Liston), ‘oh, that was his father’ and there’d certainly be an expectation there. Just because your father was a great keeper, it doesn’t mean you’ll be a great keeper! I’ve heard of it affecting players — and fathers.”
Sean Walsh agrees that expectation levels can be high, though he points out that inter-county football is a pressurised environment for every player, regardless of their surname.
“You have to remember as well that if you’re playing minor for your county then you’re under a certain amount of pressure anyway, no matter whose son you are. It’s not easy for anyone in that sense.”
Kennedy points out that with minors it’s always difficult to tell in advance which teenagers will adapt to the big stage on a given day, let alone make the step up to senior — “If you can get ten or 12 minors to play up to their potential you’re doing well, there’s always one or two who just can’t get into it on the day, which isn’t a comment on their ability.
“With minors in particular you can see the pressure on them before the leaving cert, and you can almost see that weight lifting off their shoulders when that’s finished. In Fitzgerald Stadium tomorrow some of the players will take it in stride and some won’t. You want them to enjoy the occasions — after all, how many times will they get the chance to play in a Munster final? We tell them to try to enjoy the build-up, relish the occasion and go out to perform.”
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