Éamonn Fitzmaurice: ‘There comes a point when you have to say something. I was sick of it.’

The short-term focus for Éamonn Fitzmaurice is tomorrow’s visit of Clare. The long-term focus is getting back to Croke Park to atone for the catalogue of Dublin defeats which have been accumulating.

Sat, 11 Jun, 2016 - 01:00

Eoghan Cormican

The Kerry manager isn’t concerned at present with the latter, or so he tells us. Problem, then, because the seven reporters present in the Meadowlands Hotel in Tralee are more interested in discussing Dublin’s hold on Kerry rather than anything likely to happen in Killarney tomorrow. Oh well....

Having lost to Dublin three times in the past nine months, are Kerry a hungrier outfit this summer?

When you lose an All-Ireland, it always sharpens the hunger. You’d definitely be hoping that will be visible this Sunday. So far this year, I have been very happy with the lads and the way they have trained. The first two league games weren’t up to scratch. The last league game wasn’t up to scratch. The games in between we were happy with. But you only really know on the big championship days when you are being tested. These are the days when you learn if lads can dig it out when you are in a sticky period.

Is part of said hunger derived from the fact that 2016 could represent the last hurrah for two, if not three or four, Kerry players?

I don’t think so. That can be a dangerous way of looking at it. We always just take it one game at a time. I’m sure there were some players thinking last September that if we had won they might have finished up at that stage. A lot of our senior players are playing a lot of very good football. The history of last hurrahs isn’t great.

Does the hurt of the most recent Dublin defeat, April’s 11-point league final trimming, still linger or has it been stored away?

We were all very disappointed. There is an element of parking it for now and you go back and go about your business. We had a good bit of work to get done in the gap between the league and championship. There was a lot of club activity. That was good from the point of view of everyone playing football. Look, it is something we might be able to or might have to draw on later on. At the moment, we are only looking at Sunday.

You said after the league final that Kieran Donaghy was subjected to “rape and pillage” fouling by the Dublin defenders. Do you regret those comments?

I don’t have any regrets about what I said. The language, maybe, could have been more politically correct. There is always the thing that when you lose a game, you don’t want to come across as a sour loser. But, there comes a point when you have to say something as well. I was sick of it. I felt something had to be said. My phraseology was more something that should be used in a dressing-room rather than a press conference.

Would you be hopeful that referees would take a kinder view of the Kieran Donaghys, Aidan O’Sheas and Michael Murphys of the footballing world this summer?

We live in hope.

No county thus far this summer has managed to beat a county who finished above them in the league. Sixteen league places separated Kerry and Clare. The home outfit, drawing on this logic, shouldn’t encounter too much difficulty in booking a Munster final place.

I’m sure the Clare players don’t think they have been wasting their time all winter. They won their league quite impressively. The fact that they played well under-par against Limerick is a danger sign for us. We know when we played them two years ago above in Ennis, we were lucky to get out that day. That would be some stat if Clare were to beat Kerry.

Clare ran Kerry to four points two years ago. Is the current Banner class stronger?

They are. There is consistency in the management with Colm Collins and he’s developing it the whole time. He has found another three, four, five players to complement what was there two years ago. Shane McGrath was a player that played very well two years ago. He came on as a sub against Limerick the last day. They have added depth to their bench when they can be bringing in players like that.

Clare have a tendency to take short kick-outs which doesn’t particularly suit Gary Brennan as it lessens his involvement. Will Kerry push up on these short kick-outs or will you instruct your players to sit back and defend?

It is something we are going to have to deal with. Joe Hayes is very good with those short kick-outs. It gets their running game going. They do have the option of both players at midfield. When Cathal O’Connor went off the last day, he was a loss from the point of view that they were able to double up on Garry Brennan and make it very tough for him. They are comfortable in going short and long.