Kerry’s big asset

WHEN you’re six ft six, the view over the horizon is as good as the one over your shoulder. Mike Quirke appears an unlikely weathervane for the state of Kerry football, but he has an unique perspective of the Kingdom’s pasts, present and its future.

“Thomas Hickey,” he suggests as the table talk in Tralee’s Mount Brandon Hotel lurches back to the future. “He’s an Under 16 from Castleisland, his brother Maurice was a Kerry minor last year. He’s left-legged, red-haired, a super footballer,” says Quirke.

This much I know. Hickey’s father, Tommy ‘Juicy’ was a freakishly natural basketballer, footballer and soccer player. Quirke says his junior ticks those boxes, and then some.

Before we meet, the Kerins O’Rahillys midfielder has been across North Kerry delivering gear and goodies to summer Cúl Camps.

Tomorrow morning, he sees what Milltown-Castlemaine has to offer. He’s got a dandy job title – Games Development administrator for the Munster Council – but even without the bells and whistles, he recognises the implication of what he does.

“You visit schools, summer camps, work with development squads. Work with Under 14s, 15s, 16s and 17s in the Tralee and Castleisland areas. You’ll end up with a core of about 20 guys who hopefully will go on and play Kerry minor in a year or two.

“I suppose you are trying to shape football in this county going forward.”

There’s another one closer to home. “John C O’Connor, big, tall, athletic midfielder (15) from Strand Road (Kerins O’Rahillys), a stonewall certainty for Kerry minor in three years I’d say. He’s after making some progress in 12 months. Then, he couldn’t catch the ball properly, it was bouncing off his head. But I watched him recently in an Under 16 semi-final against (John) Mitchels, and he was climbing over guys, taking the return pass, taking his score. Some prospect.”

Does Mike Quirke seem an unlikely interview subject the day before Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-final clash with Meath? Of course he does – if you know absolutely nothing about the current dynamic in Kerry football.

Quirke has a Kerry past, all the way back to 2003 and Páidí O Sé. He’s 28 now and “the man with more critics than anyone in Kerry football” is suddenly on the radar. A player of consequence.

A figure of consequence in the dressing room. When the squad went into conclave the night Tomás O Sé and Colm Cooper were dropped ahead of the Antrim qualifier, Quirke was the man steering captain Darran O’Sullivan through uncharted waters, and in the presence of senior, strong personalities. This is the Quirke his colleagues know, not the one stereotyped by so many.

There’s a degree of legitimacy concluding that his 20-minute salvation during Kerry’s Championship purgatory in Longford early last month was The Moment Mike Quirke Arrived. But there’s a less dramatic, more sustainable theory – the coach and trainer who saw last season with Strand Road why Quirke has copy-righted ‘the best club midfielder in Kerry tag’ became Jack O’Connor and Alan O’Sullivan of Kerry. They saw thrice weekly what “the man with more critics than anyone in Kerry football” could do.

By the time they met Mid Kerry in the 2008 county final that dare not mention its name on Strand Road, Quirke says a season’s conditioning under O’Sullivan had the body right.

“Then I had a knee operation at the end of the season, the same as Kieran Donaghy, and the two of us did a pile of work in the gym. It was December, and six weeks where I couldn’t run was an open invitation for me to get out of shape again. So we’d be down in the gym at 7am – I had to knock on his door a few times – Alan (O’Sullivan) would come down with us some mornings, doing boxing, rowing, weights. We’ve kind of maintained that thing together – three sessions a week. That period after the operation has stood to me.”

There were conversations too with Eoin Liston about becoming for Kerry the player of consequence he was with Kerins O’Rahillys.

“Football-wise I knew my game had improved a pile, and fitness wise I was, say, 20% fitter than a couple of seasons ago. But I spoke to Bomber about the next level. Everyone wants to be starting, but if you’re not, you have to be a player of consequence. To become that with Kerry in the championship had to be my goal this season. Fitness-wise and weight-wise, I’m as good as I could hope to be. I’m now 28, and if you’re not making an impression at this age, you’re not going to.”

Quirke’s considerable frame means he has to be a 52 weeks a year athlete.

“In the winter time, it’s a nightmare for me. I could look at food and put on weight. Even during the championship after training, we go down to the Brehon Hotel for pasta and chicken, and it could be nine o’clock. Eating that amount of carbohydrates at that time is no good for me, so I’ll have a substitute energy drink or something.”

QUIRKE can’t tell you why, but he’s been a strong figure in most dressing rooms he’s shared – basketball with Tralee Tigers, Strand Road, even Kerry.

“In every panel, you are going to have the regular starters. It’s the other 15 who have the hard job in terms of motivation. You’re putting in the same effort. Getting a balance between those two groups is the key. There’s always going to be a divide between them, no matter how good the panel dynamic is. I’ve seen both sides, maybe guys who aren’t starting feel it’s easier to relate to me, or would feel more comfortable saying things to me than to Darragh, Tomás or Declan O’Sullivan.

“I’d have a good relationship with Jack too from last year and maybe guys bounce things off me that they want to relay back.

“People forget that for guys like Darran (O’Sullivan) as captain, Paul O’Connor and the other younger lads like Barry John Walsh, that it’s a huge culture shock.

“They’re only getting used to the whole thing. It takes over your whole life. It’s not that I’m going around putting my arms around these guys but I’m there if needed.”

However, by the time Kerry danced with demons in Longford, Quirke’s Kerry credit was already in deficit. Against Cork in June, an early injury to Tommy Walsh had pitched Quirke and Darragh O Sé together in midfield. In the face of Cork’s free-flowing movement, it was a brutal mismatch. The old refrain began.

“Cork exposed us tactically that day, and they had us in terms of physical preparation. (But) I do think it’s bullshit that I can’t get around the big pitches. Ger O’Keeffe is an engineer and he’ll tell you Killarney is four feet shorter than Croke Park, and I’m playing there all my life. It’s something that people like to latch onto, a tag that sticks: ‘Croke Park is too big for Mike Quirke’. It irritates me at times.”

But Jack knew. Alan O’Sullivan knew. The trainer’s killing fields had told them that in a difficult spot, they could turn to Quirke.

“Yeah, it was a big 20 minutes in my career,” he says. “It was a vindication of a decision to stay on with Kerry when people were telling me to walk away. But I knew from the League, when everyone got their chance. That gives a great sense of ownership to everybody in the group, whether you’re Darragh or Mike Quirke. Therefore when you can come on and help to stabilise things above in Longford, you feel even more a part of the group. You belong. That’s fantastic for me; I’ve had more critics than anybody down the years in Kerry football. It’s great to know that with 15 minutes to go, the management trusts you to go in and help the team over the line.”

Not that Quirke or David Moran, Anthony Maher et al are happy with merely stepping into the breach for Kerry. “In training, it’s hell for leather stuff, Jack seems to have lost the capacity to have enough puff to blow the whistle. The football is tough and frenetic, Darragh O Sé is throwing elbows and fellas are getting cranky and that’s a great way to have it. Me too nice? If you asked that question to a couple of guys, they’d tell you your answer. I’ve no problem being as ruthless as I need to be. No, I don’t think I’ve any problems in that regard.”

Only two weeks ago, Quirke toasted Tommy Griffin in a Kerry senior club championship semi-final against Dingle. O’Rahillys enjoy a pre-eminent position with Dr Crokes at club level in the county, but adding to their 2002 county championship success under Liston has proved elusive.

“It was undoubtedly the lowest moment I’ve ever had in any sport in my career,” Quirke whispers of last November’s replayed decider defeat to Mid Kerry – a final they lost to a dubious injury time penalty.

“I’d say up to about a month ago, I used to watch the game on my laptop once a week. I’d go upstairs and sit on the bed and flick it on, or fast forward to the last 10 minutes. Herself would say ‘what are you watching that thing again?

“I just couldn’t put it away. Tommy Walsh gets the ball, tearing up the stand, chased by Aidan O’Shea and I’m hoping maybe the ref will blow up the final whistle this time.”

He agrees that with the likes of David Moran and the Walsh brothers, opportunities may arise again. He just wants it to be while he’s a player of consequence. Quirke shakes his head at the raw deal Moran and Tommy Walsh sometimes get.

“The remarkable thing about them is their age. They’re both 19 or 20, kids in football terms. You look at Darragh going for his 80th Championship appearance on Sunday, and then look at those lads. They’ll hopefully end up playing 60 or 70 times for Kerry but at the moment, there’s a vast difference in experience. But the amount of negativity they get is scary. Is it a Strand Road thing? I think David Moran is going to be a very close impression of Darragh O Sé in the next decade. If he gets the right guidance, he’ll be amazing.

“Tommy is way beyond where he should be, and that’s now used as a stick to beat him with! I don’t know, but I’m astounded at the amount of negativity directed towards them.”

Maybe he shouldn’t be. They’ve a colleague, who’s come through the same.