Moran: You have to enjoy good days

Happiest man in Limerick on Saturday evening?

Step forward Ogie Moran. His beaming smile was just as bright in greeting club-mate Kieran Donaghy at the final whistle as it was saluting Kerry’s victorious players as they boarded the team bus.

Few others could fully appreciate what his son David’s towering performance meant. Where it had come from and the enormity of what had to be done to produce it.

There had been the two cruciate breakdowns and the serious eye injury last year. Had he walked under one too many ladders? If there was a hex, it’s now well and truly broken after fastening a splendid first-half last Sunday week with his all-conquering display in the replay.

“The one thing the injuries taught me was you have to enjoy the good days,” he said. “I suppose when you’re coming in early into the Kerry set-up you think you’re going to be there for 10 years and the only way that you’re going to finish your career is when you retire but it doesn’t work like that. It can get taken away from you easily.

“But look, I’m not the only one who has done cruciates, Colm O’Neill has done it three times; I’ve only done it twice so I’m not going to be a martyr for that. It makes the good days all the sweeter but, at the end of the day, we have nothing won. An All-Ireland final in three weeks’ time and unless we win that it’s been an unsuccessful year.”

The grin of his face, though, suggested he was allowing himself some satisfaction from Saturday’s game. Did he think he could reach such heights after all he’s been through?

“You’d be bluffing it anyway if you could!” he laughed. “You’d hope to. I don’t think you think about your performance. It’s a team game. I was just one of 21 that came on [in normal time]. I wasn’t worried about my own performance, just winning.”

Neither he nor his team-mates lost faith, even when they went seven points behind after Cillian O’Connor’s second goal.

“There was plenty of time left. Obviously we needed to steady the ship a bit, but, as I said, we had massive belief in ourselves. At no stage did we panic.”

And the intensity of the game? “It’s up there but like it’s an All-Ireland semi-final. It was the same last year against Dublin. You’re only fooling yourself if you think you’re going to come up and go through the motions and get to an All-Ireland final.”