Gooch injury left Fitzmaurice soul-searching

In a brief moment of vulnerability last February, Eamonn Fitzmaurice contemplated the loss of Colm Cooper this year, and wondered why such bad luck had befallen him.

The schoolteacher had been on mid-term at the time Cooper attended the Santry Sports Clinic to have his knee assessed after being helped off the O’Moore Park pitch in Dr Crokes’ All-Ireland semi-final loss to Castlebar Mitchels. Fitzmaurice and his wife Tina were in Dublin anyway but stayed a night to lend their support to the player. When the bad news was confirmed, it hit the manager like a ton of bricks. He hadn’t anticipated a cruciate issue although his selector Mikey Sheehy anticipated the worst.

“The thing with Colm was that it happened in the middle of February and we had time to deal with it,” recalls Fitzmaurice. “It was hugely disappointing and I remember the day after I was in Santry with Colm, my wife was with me and we stopped in Avoca on the way down on the M7 and I was saying like ‘what have I done to whom here?’ But by the time I got to Kerry that evening, I was in the frame of mind that Colm was gone for the year and (surgeon) Ray Moran was very clear that even if we got to an All-Ireland final, it was going to be beyond Colm this year.

“So he was just written out of the season so there was no chance of him being back, meaning there was clarity and we had to accept it. We moved on and when we won Munster that day, a lot of the younger lads came of age that day. After a serious performance, they saw that they were good enough and were up to it. I think fierce belief came out of that then.”

Cooper, even though he will be 32 next summer, will be back. And Tommy Walsh, 27 next February, is also set to return to county colours after his five years in Australia. “Would I expect him back?” said Fitzmaurice of the Sydney Swans man. “I’d say there’s a good chance he’ll be back, yeah.”

As for the older players such as Declan O’Sullivan, Aidan O’Mahony and Marc Ó Sé on the panel this year, Fitzmaurice believes family and work commitments will decide their inter-county futures.

“I think a lot of it comes down to their personal lives more so than anything else. With Declan, he’ll get his knees sorted out, he’ll be fine physically. Aidan is fine physically, Marc is fine physically. Kieran Donaghy is only 31. If their personal lives allow, there’s no reason they won’t keep going.”

All of the above were dropped or omitted at one stage or other over the summer. What Fitzmaurice admired most about them was their willingness to get over their disappointments. “There wasn’t one moan or bitch the whole year long, which is very unusual. Fellas are so competitive, fellas put so much into it, they want to be on the team and if they’re not, generally they’re not happy.

“Aidan O’Mahony was left out for the Clare game, came on after 20 minutes for David Moran and stayed there afterwards. Declan because of his knees wasn’t starting games, Bryan Sheehan wasn’t starting games, Marc didn’t start a game, Kieran wasn’t starting games. There was a huge buy-in and it was very important.”

Fitzmaurice always had a plan in place for Donaghy as much as he only started his first game of the summer against Mayo in the semi-final replay.

“I told him as much the Tuesday after the Galway game. When people look back on the season, there is a feeling why wasn’t Kieran in there earlier? He only got back from shoulder dislocation the week before the Clare game so he’s only really back since the middle of June. His fitness levels were excellent because he worked very hard over the winter but in terms of sharpness and in terms of the intensity of the football, he wasn’t quite there but you could see he was coming and coming. I’d knew he’d have a big part to play for us because if you get to a final or a semi-final against a better team, sometimes you have to throw something different.”

Fitzmaurice took a great deal of pleasure from Kerry’s ability to win their 37th All-Ireland title in an unconventional way. “One of the most satisfying aspects of yesterday was All-Irelands have been won and we have played very well and on our terms. Whereas yesterday we had to play a slightly different game than we normally play and to win that way was very satisfying.”

He’s already planning for 2015. “The thoughts starts to turn over to next year. Having Colm back in harness, the growth of those young fellas this year and how much this experience will help them. The winter together, we’ll have a holiday, that’ll make them tighter again. Good minor team, some of those lads coming up. It’s a very exciting time to be involved.”