Quirke: 'I’ve never done drugs in my life, but I’d imagine that’s what the buzz must feel like'

Kerry selector Micheal Quirke knows the dramatic victory over Dublin will count for nought if the Kingdom fail to land Sam Maguire at Croke Park on Sunday

BUZZ: Kerry Selector Micheal Quirke. ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Mike Quirke is no killjoy. Twenty minutes in his company is a pleasant experience but when he says winning an All-Ireland will do nothing for him personally, he means it. But in the best possible sense.

For him, to see the players walk up the Hogan Stand steps on Sunday will be enough reward. They have given him plenty of thrills this year, but the Kerry selector yearns for the likes of David Clifford and Seán O’Shea to strike gold in what is remarkably their fifth senior seasons, for his Kerins O’Rahillys club-mate David Moran to cap what has been a fine and lengthy career albeit one punctuated by considerable physical and emotional pain.

“These fellas have been rocked and disappointed – 2019 (v Dublin), and then above in Cork in 2020,” says Quirke. “They have gone through huge disappointment and when you look at that this team was your ‘winning five in-a-row’ minors and they were the ones heralded to dominate and that never happened.

“Maybe it will never happen but all we want to do is see if we can tick every single box that we can possibly tick to make sure that when we are walking off the field after Sunday that as many guys as possible have performed and given themselves the best chance to win.

“There is nothing else for us to talk any joy out of it from. What am I going to get out of winning an All-Ireland? Nothing really. But the sense of fulfilment that you would get from playing a small part in helping that group over the line would be... that’s what you have!

“The buzz after that (O’Shea) free kick went over the bar the last day, I’ve never done drugs in my life, but I’d imagine that’s what it must feel like.” 

Quirke is also thrilled with the vantage point as a selector to Jack O’Connor. Like his colleague Paddy Tally, he was only just out of inter-county management when O’Connor came calling. He likens the change from head honcho in Laois last year to consigliere in Kerry as moving from “being the bus driver to being the bus rider” but as a man who champions collaboration O’Connor has made that transition easier.

“He understands that people are coming with different ideas or with fresh ideas. He hears them out; if they are good ideas we will roll with it. If not, ‘no, I don’t think that’s a good idea’. But it is a collaboration more than anything else, which is great. It is probably a big sign of his management, that it is not just his way.” 

The high of last Sunday week’s win over Dublin gave way to a nasty comedown when Quirke reviewed the game on the coach home to Kerry. “I am cutting up clips and preparing for Monday morning for our video review stuff on Wednesday. As soon as you start doing that stuff, it brings you back down to earth pretty quickly. Once that is done, you are on to Galway and that’s like a job in itself, trying to get back to reality as quickly as we can. We trained last Wednesday (week). We expected the session might be a little bit down, which would be a natural reaction after being up on that high, but it just wasn’t. That is a testament to the attitude the players are bringing to it because they are not satisfied. Being involved in a big highlight game and a last-minute free is great, but if you don’t get it over the line, it is not worth a whole pile.” 

Victory over Dublin was perhaps sweetest for David Moran, who had nothing but disappointment against them for over a decade. It was sweeter still given how a serious injury in last year's Kerry SFC final, left many questioning if he would return to the county fold.

“That was a horrific injury (when he tore some of the abductor off the bone in his groin) he suffered in the county final last year at the start of the game. It would have been a much easier path of him just to pack it in. He has a young a child at home, himself and his wife Sinead, he’s got a busy business, so he had every reason he could possibly have to pack it in, but he also understands that this group is close (to winning an All-Ireland), and everybody is greedy. I suppose he is greedy because he understands that he has an opportunity to be part of that one more time. We spoke, Jack spoke to him, and everyone spoke to him, and he was happy to stay on and we were delighted that he did.”