Fighting fit Sheehan hungry for final shot

BEFORE we look to the future, let’s have a quick glance at the past.

Bryan Sheehan was firing over the scores for Kerry in Championship 2006, taking pole position in the scoring charts with 24 points, finding his groove in the Kingdom attack.

And then bang. Or to be more specific, crack.

“When I heard the crack, I thought ‘oh no’ that’s it for the year,” he says of the injury sustained in an U-21 Championship game with South Kerry in late August that threatened his season.

The initial medical advice confirmed his worst fears.

Continued the St Mary’s club man: “The X-ray showed a fracture of the ankle. But thankfully that was just an old injury. I had damaged one of the ligaments, not the main one, so I was in with a chance of being fit for the All-Ireland.”

What followed was an intensive fight for fitness under the gaze of trainer Pat Flanagan, and the no-nonsense hands of physiotherapist Sara Hobbs.

There were hours of aqua-jogging, hours on the bike, painful afternoons on the balance board, lonely drives to Hobbs’s Listowel base and then the stinging cold of ice pack after ice pack after ice pack.

Amazingly he claims some good has come from the nightmare month.

“Being out injured has given me fierce hunger. I was really close to missing the year, to missing the All-Ireland final. I got a really good kick up the backside and I have been working very hard every since to get back onto the squad.”

For a large chunk of June and July, most Kerry supporters, didn’t think Sheehan and his teammates would need to worry about the whereabouts of their boots in September.

Jack O’Connor’s team stumbled over Waterford and Tipperary before Billy Morgan floored them with a one-two combination in Killarney and Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

“In hindsight the Munster final loss was a good thing to happen to us. It is strange that when we are winning there is no talk of rows but when you are losing everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and some of the stories coming out were off the wall. But the main thing is we are back on track and the critics are off our back.”

Once Longford were overcome on the qualifier trail, the Kerry train steamed headlong into what Sheehan refers to as the “big one”.

“A lot of the lads were there in 2002 when we lost the final to Armagh. There was that and this thing about the Northern hoodoo after the Tyrone loss last year. It was do-or-die time.”

Kerry were still very much alive after the battle, reinvigorated and reborn. Sheehan kicked two points from two frees in the 10 minutes he was on for Mike Frank Russell and looking good for a start against Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. Instead, with ankle bandaged, he watched the game at home — and he is a poor spectator.

“I was at home pulling the hair out of my head. With about 10 minutes to go, the nerves settled down a bit but not a whole lot,” he laughs.

Kieran Donaghy added to his stellar reputation that day, much to the delight of his attacking colleague.

“He brings a buzz to training. Even with the senior players, he gives them a lift as he is just so outgoing. In matches he lifts the whole team, you see him catching these skyscrapers inside and then kicking a score or laying the ball off and that is just great for morale.”

Great for morale also is the sight of the 21-year-old when he is stroking frees over the opposition crossbar. So does he get nervous? “I enjoy it. I have been taking frees all my life with the club, Colaiste na Sceilge, with the minors, the U-21s and with the seniors. It is part of my game and what I do.”

An audience of millions doesn’t upset him and neither does the controversial Croke Park pitch.

“You need to wear studs in Croke Park,” is Sheehan’s advice. “It is the sharp turning that seems to be the big problem. Maybe with distance kicking when trying to sit into the ball a bit more and wanting to put more into it, you would be conscious of the pitch, but other than that it is fine.”

So to Sunday and a Mayo side chasing down so many demons.

“Mayo are so quick. Their half-back line and midfield and forwards are super fit. To go and beat Dublin in Croke Park in front of 82,000 after being seven points down is a great sign of a team. At the end Ciaran McDonald was back in his own defence at corner back, he didn’t get the ball but kept running and then was on the Dublin 20-yard line and put it over the bar for the winner.

“That shows how strong they are.”