Cavan win sent Kerry on road to redemption

Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final game between Kerry and Cavan will be the first championship clash between the counties since their 1997 semi-final meeting.

While Kerry won 1-17 to 1-10 and then beat Mayo in the final, things were far from smooth in the build-up for the Kingdom as they battled to end an 11-year title famine.

“There would have been a big element of pressure, because of the way we had collapsed against Mayo in the 1996 semi-final,” Kerry great Séamus Moynihan recounted of the clash.

“In 1997, we were after winning the league and had the extra bit of experience but the pressure was still there. We were lucky Cavan were in a similar situation in ’96, it was virgin territory, they were playing a championship game in Croke Park for the first time in ages.”

Cavan’s position was something Kerry could empathise with, having been in a similar situation in 1996, winning what was a first Munster title for many on the team.

“We had taken our eye off the ball,” Moynihan said. “We hadn’t looked beyond beating Cork and the preparations for Mayo then weren’t quite up to scratch. As well, going to Croke Park was a new experience for us. In one way, that Mayo loss helped us though as in ’97 we were far better prepared, we were focused and stronger as a team. In ’97, we knew we had the work done and we had a far greater belief in ourselves.”

Even with that, though, Kerry found themselves trailing by 1-7 to 0-9 at half-time.

“Fintan Cahill got a goal for Cavan in the 35th minute and that put them a point ahead,” Moynihan recalled, “but we were fortunate we went in then and had a chance to get focused again before the second-half. There was no panicking, it was just a case of getting back on the saddle. Half-time probably broke Cavan’s momentum and allowed us to regroup.

“One other big difference between ’96 and ’97 was the squad was a lot stronger, we were able to bring in guys like Johnny Crowley, Mike Frank Russell and Donal Daly. “Mike Frank got 1-1, the goal was from a lovely Maurice [Fitzgerald] pass and it gave us some breathing space.”

With seven points between the teams at the end, Kerry had, in the words of one reporter, “taken a concrete block off their chests.”

“It was a fantastic feeling,” Moynihan said. “It was great to be going into training on the Tuesday evening, Páidí always said the four weeks of September was the best time to be training. We were transformed. We felt we had a point to prove.”