The letter, the pillows, the contract

1. Eamonn Fitzmaurice and the letters

On the morning of last year’s All-Ireland final, Kerry footballers woke to find a personal letter handwritten by their manager pushed under their rooms in the Dunboyne Hotel. Taking the idea from Jake White, Fitzmaurice told this newspaper last September: “I didn’t want to be doing it for the sake of doing it. I spoke to Diarmuid (Murphy) about it on Saturday and he felt the personal touch, epsecially some of the younger lads, would be huge for them.”

2. Joe Kernan and the