Proud Paul Kerrigan calls time as commitment ‘gone bananas’

Fri, 27 Nov, 2020 - 21:38

Denis Hurley

In years to come, Paul Kerrigan could be the answer to a trivia question — which Cork footballer’s last championship game came in a win over Kerry?

Generally, victories over the Kingdom are part of a journey to greater things for the Rebels, but the two-point triumph three weeks ago was followed by last Sunday’s Munster final loss to Tipperary. Kerrigan, who announced his retirement on Friday, was an unused substitute.

It would be much fairer to prioritise the other trivia answer that he forms part of, joining his father Jimmy in winning an All-Ireland senior medal for Cork.

The pinnacle was, of course, that day in September 2010 when Kerrigan helped the Rebels to end a 20-year drought as they beat Down, part of a sustained spell of Cork challenging under Conor Counihan. As well as the Sam Maguire, they won three Munster titles and three national league Division 1 titles, as well as Division 2 in 2009, Kerrigan’s breakout year.

The Nemo Rangers man had made his debut the previous summer, on the back of the 2007 U21 All-Ireland, which itself followed Munster titles at that grade in 2005 and 2006 with Kerrigan as captain. The better memories in his inter-county career may have come in the earlier part, but it doesn’t make them any less valid.

“I remember at the time thinking: ‘This is a day I’ll never forget’, but it doesn’t really happen that you remember every moment,” he said of 2010.

“That was a great couple of years, a great journey with big games year in and year out. It was great as a young fella to be part of that.”

In the blink of an eye, he went from a young fella to a stalwart. When Cork reconvene for 2021, Ciarán Sheehan is likely to be the only player with an All-Ireland medal, and he took a hiatus to go to Australia. Kerrigan stuck it out, the bridge from one successful period to what he hopes will be another.

While the defeat to Tipp was a setback, he is optimistic about Cork’s future.

“I would have good faith in the group that are there now at the moment,” he said.

“The age profile is good, and they’re on an upward curve. The potential is there, and they have a good work ethic. You can talk about a sense of duty, but I’d love to be five years younger to see where this group goes, if everyone can stay fit.

“A lot of them now have beaten Kerry in their first year or two on the panel, which is a big fillip for them.”

Kerrigan had considered retirement at the end of 2018 and 2019, but had decided that this year would be final one regardless. “I was thinking about it last year and I had a chat with Ronan,” he said.

“I came back and we had an extended season with the club and then myself and Luke were on the panel for Leitrim a couple of weeks later.

“Then the Covid hit and I was wondering if I’d go back, but I said I’d see how it went. Things went well after Covid and I was training well, the last two months have been really enjoyable.

I had it in my head that it was my last year as I’ve been there a long time and the commitment is gone bananas — every five years, it seems to go up a level.”

Naturally, he would have designed a different finish, but such is life and sport.

“It’s top-level sport and the management have hard decisions to make,” he said.

“If an older player is throwing the toys out of the pram, it’s bad for everyone. I always remember the example of Daniel Goulding, he was taken off at half-time against Longford in 2016 and he was brilliant after it.

“I was disappointed not to play, but I was more disappointed with the result. I’d generally be a ‘glass half-empty’ guy, I would have plenty of regrets about things like that, but hopefully that’ll change over the next few years as I step away from it.”

An All Star nominee in 2010, Kerrigan represented Ireland in international rules in 2015 and would have travelled for the series in 2017, but Nemo’s progress in the county and Munster championships precluded that.

Now it is Nemo who will have his full footballing focus, beginning with the deferred County Premier SFC final against Castlehaven next spring.

“We’ll use the experience of preparing in January for a one-off game like the All-Ireland club semis,” he said.

“We’ll have to see how the announcements go, it’ll probably be December or January when we get back into it.”

He will also spend more time with his wife Laura and son Billy. Having guided Coláiste Chríost Rí, where he teaches, to a Frewen Cup (Munster U16½AFC) title and also taken charge of the school’s Corn Uí Mhuirí team, he doesn’t rule out a management role at some stage.

“Maybe, down the line,” he said. “To be honest, I’m not sure about being the main man, but maybe an involvement, I’ve been seven or eight years doing it with Críost Rí.

“Not immediately, anyway. I’ll still be tipping away with Nemo, but down the line, we’ll see.”