The quick route to success

NEMO RANGERS had a Kelleher Shield game in west Cork during the week. Nothing surprising in that.

What was a little surprising was the presence of one of their Cork senior players at the match.

“Paul Kerrigan trekked down to Dunmanway for the game,” says Ephie Fitzgerald, the Nemo manager. “He wasn’t playing, obviously, but he came down. That’s the kind of individual he is – he’s a very down-to-earth person.”

Kerrigan carries a lot of Cork hopes tomorrow in Killarney, but the youngster himself isn’t getting carried away ahead of his visit to the Kingdom.

“Kerry are Kerry, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing them in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Killarney or Croke Park, you always want to try to win. I suppose it’s a good while since we won in Killarney, but there won’t be much emphasis on the venue so much as the result.

“Conor (Counihan) has just been saying to us that this game is a blank canvas for fellas and that they can get on the team if they do well in training. That’s the best way to approach things. I don’t mind who I’ll be marking. We’re all looking forward to it. We had a good league, a good McGrath Cup, a good first round of the championship and we want that to continue.”

He doesn’t have far to look for advice, of course. His father, Jimmy, won All-Ireland medals for Cork but Kerrigan Snr doesn’t pressurise his son.

“I wouldn’t ask him for advice, he’d probably be telling me for the whole day! He’s grand, he wouldn’t have been pushy about me playing GAA, he’d have been as happy with me playing soccer or rugby. He just wishes me luck when I leave for a game and tells me enjoy it. That’s probably the best way, because he’s just another supporter.”

His club coach is aware, though, that many of those supporters are investing their faith in Kerrigan on the basis of his searing pace.

“People are looking forward to him playing,” says Fitzgerald. “A Munster semi-final in Killarney isn’t going to be easy, but Paul has talent in abundance and he’s a level-headed youngster. He has all the attributes of a top-class player, I’ve certainly never seen anyone travel with the ball as fast as he can.

“That pace is invaluable, and he’s become much stronger in the last couple of years because of his weights programme.

“What Cork have in him — and in Paddy Kelly on the other wing — is pace, they’re two very direct players, and the kind of movement they bring to it will be a plus for Cork.”

Kerrigan showed that speed in flashes against Waterford in the first-round win, even if much of his game that day was directed towards supplying men further up the field.

“It was my first championship game,” he says. “Despite what you’d see on the scoreboard, Waterford are a very good team but on the day we played well. We have three of the most dangerous forwards in the country in our full-forward line, and getting the ball into them as quickly as possible is the most sensible thing we can do.”

Cork had 14 points to spare over the Deise and Kerrigan stresses the importance of instilling and maintaining a winning mentality. Having so many of the All-Ireland-winning Cork U21 side, like himself, on the senior panel helps that process.

“It’s very important – when you’re playing you want to win as much as you can, but when it comes to medals and so on, you can look at those when you’re finished.

“I think there are about ten of the U21s on the senior panel, we had a strong team at that age group and hopefully we can keep the older lads on their toes even. As a panel we’re going well.”

For all the focus by pundits on Cork, Kerrigan is happy with the relatively low-key build-up.

“The hurlers have had success in recent years, they’ve won All-Ireland titles and All Stars. They’re fantastic, they’re role models for all of us. They deserve all the praise they’ve gotten.

“If that means the footballers come in under the radar then I prefer it that way, particularly being so close to Kerry. We would consider them our closest rivals, and I think coming in under the radar, if you like, suits this panel. That’s just the nature of the lads who are involved – we just want to get to an All-Ireland and get our job done.”

Kerry in Killarney is the first part of that job. Fitzgerald backs his club-mate to make it the first part of a long career at senior inter-county level.

“The other side of the build-up is the pressure of the game tomorrow, and whether Paul can treat it as another game to show what he can do.

“He’s been playing top class football at club level and of course with the U21s. He’s as dedicated as any player I’ve ever seen. He’s a quiet enough guy but he’s dedicated himself totally to football, he deserves any praise he gets. I hope he has a long and fruitful career with Cork. Tomorrow is just another step in that career, it’s not the entirety of his career.”