Sigerson Cup and UCC synonymous with Kerry footballers

Of the Kerry team which began the drawn All-Ireland semi-final with Mayo, eight had played Sigerson Cup football for UCC.

Brian Kelly, Paul Murphy, Shane Enright, Peter Crowley, Donnchadh Walsh, Johnny Buckley, Paul Geaney and Stephen O’Brien all wore the red and black, with Fergal McNamara and Daithí Casey other alumni on the panel. Apart from Walsh, all of the others have been part of the recent college history, as two Sigerson have been won and two other finals reached since 2010 under Billy Morgan.

John Corcoran, one of Morgan’s trusted lieutenants, believes players from the county use the Sigerson to their advantage wherever they get their third-level education.

“Kerry have always had a tradition of embracing the Sigerson, no matter where they go to college,” he says. “They’re being encouraged to do so as the benefits of it are seen and other, less successful, counties would do well to take notice of that. It’s an unique competition, you have to stand on your own feet because you only get one chance.

“The finals are played over a winter weekend where you have to be physically and mentally strong and any player that comes out the other side of it will always be an improved player.”

UCC has long been a nursery for talented Kerry footballers. Such has been the success that it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“There will always be Kerry fellas coming to UCC,” Corcoran says.

“I know it’s a cliché, that success breeds success but it’s certainly true in this case. Players see what others have done and they realise that they have a chance of progressing and impressing the county selectors.

“It’s testament as well to the set-up in UCC, the way players are catered for and the tremendous work that games development officer John Grainger does.”

The other strong UCC link with the Kerry side is through manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice, who won a Cork SFC with the college in 1999.

His former team-mate Micheál Ó Cróinín, who captained a side laden with Kerry men such as Paul Galvin, Ian Twiss and Billy Sheehan, recalls the way the momentum built over the year.

“We had done well enough in the Sigerson in Belfast,” he says, “but we lost to a good IT Tralee team which had half of Ireland playing on it, including Jimmy McGuinness, Séamus Moynihan and Colm Parkinson. When the county championship came about then, we were drawn against Bantry, who were the champions. It’s always good for an early game like that to give you a focus and we beat them after a replay in Castlehaven.

“We beat Aghada and Ballincollig over the summer and things just began to get going from there. Lads made the effort to come down for games and we had a bit of craic too.

“That was the year people began to call us ‘UCK’ because of the number of Kerry players and I know the Kerry lads relished that. By the time college started back we were on a roll and we carried that on.”

At centre-back was Fitzmaurice, who Ó Cróinín describes as “the general of the team”.

“Two of his greatest attributes was he was always so calm and level-headed and you see that now with Kerry too. He mightn’t be ranting and raving but he’s not afraid to say what he has to if he feels it’s needed. I was the captain but, I suppose, you’d call him the spiritual leader, he was the rock of the team but he was a good footballer too, something he didn’t always get credit for.”

His success as Kerry manager has not surprised Ó Cróinín. “People maybe thought he was a bit young going into such a big job but that just showed what they thought of him back there. He’s steady, positive and authoritative. The biggest concern might have been he was too close to some of the players, but he hasn’t been afraid of the tough decisions. He’s well able to make a call and stand over it.”