Shane Enright: 'It’s mad to think Kerry U20 have gone 16 years without being in an All-Ireland final'

This afternoon Tomás Ó Sé leads Kerry into battle against Meath in another All-Ireland under-20 semi-final. Recent defeats at the penultimate stage ensure the Kingdom are up against it

Kerry’s Rob Stack and Eddie Healy lift the cup after winning the U20 Munster Championship Final

Shane Enright, it’s fair to say, had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the under-21 football grade. For instance, a humbling defeat to Clare in 2007, and a pummelling by Cork two years later, certainly turned out to be black marks on his Kerry inter-county resumé.

However, in the season in-between, the Tarbert defender was part of the Kingdom side, managed by Sean Geaney, which lifted All-Ireland honours. Beating Kildare in the final (2-12 to 0-11), with Spa’s Mike O’Donoghue goaling twice, it was a day to remember in Thurles.

Amazingly, in the sixteen years since, Kerry have never found themselves back in an All-Ireland under-21/under-20 decider. They didn’t even get out of Munster for nine campaigns after 2008, and have now lost their last five All-Ireland semi-finals.

“We were lucky in my second year, we won the All-Ireland after being beaten by Clare the year before in my first year out of minor. We were down Anthony Maher, Killian Young and Darran O’Sullivan on the day, so they were obviously big losses. We still should have been beating Clare,” he said.

“The following year, we had a strong team, albeit a team that lost an All-Ireland minor semi-final. The big thing was that we had a lot of players in with the seniors. You had Killian, who was starting with the seniors, Tommy Walsh, David Moran, Paul O’Connor, Kieran O’Leary, so there was massive talent there.

“Starting out that year we were hoping to go a long way, so it was great to win it. It’s an All-Ireland medal, it was the one medal that I got underage, so it was brilliant to win it. It’s definitely one that you cherish. It was a special year.” 

Following that triumph, Enright went on to enjoy a decorated Kerry senior career, culminating in the All-Ireland Final victory over Donegal in 2014, and an All-Star award in 2015. He believes there are several reasons for the under-21/under-20 famine for the Kingdom.

“Players at minors are very young, and when you reach 20 or 21, you’ve gone through college, and there can be a big turnaround. Players have gone off doing different things, maybe some fellas are gone travelling, there can be hitting the pubs as well at that age!” he added.

“There is no real correlation there, and even more so now with the age back to under-20s. It makes it harder again, because at 17, you are very young, and by the time you come to 20, you might have some teams who might have really improved compared to others.

“It’s mad to think that Kerry would have gone 16 years without even being in an All-Ireland final, and especially when it was straight knock-out. You only really had to win one game to come out of Munster, and then be in an All-Ireland semi-final, so you would have expected more.” 

Another factor was that some key players in the five-in-a-row-winning minor outfits (2014-2018) had restricted spells in the next grade, or simply weren’t allowed to play at all. Sean O’Shea and Diarmuid O’Connor had one campaign, David Clifford and Mark O’Connor (gone to Aussie Rules) had none.

“Some of the better players ended up not playing in it. The likes of David Clifford never got to play 21s because they were inside with the seniors so early. That would have been a big, big thing. Obviously, with the minor-winning teams, some of the better players just didn’t get to play, because they changed the rules.

“I think that was very unfair, because we had our stronger players in with the seniors in 2008, and they brought back the experience and were a massive boost to our under-21 side. The lads would have been the same, and no doubt if they had played, we probably would have won one, if not more, by now.” 

This afternoon, at Semple Stadium, Tomás Ó Sé leads Kerry into battle against Meath in another All-Ireland under-20 semi-final (3pm). Recent defeats at the penultimate stage – to Galway (twice), Kildare, Tyrone and Sligo (last year) – ensure the Kingdom are up against it.

“I know that this Meath team is strong, they won the minors three years ago, so it might be a tough ask. I’ve watched a few of the lads’ games, and they’re going well. It’s probably a team that don’t have any superstars, but they’ve a lot of real quality in there. Hopefully, they’re hitting form at the right time.

“There mightn’t be the same expectancy either, you might not be under the same pressure, and sometimes you see that you perform better as a team, because everyone rows in behind each other, and you’re not depending on any one fella.

“Hopefully, that can come to the fore now, and on Saturday, they can get a result,” stressed Enright.