Experience, cuteness belief... the Kerry way
FEW could have anticipated Kerry’s All-Ireland triumph of 1986 over Tyrone would not merely be the last hurrah for a team recognised as the greatest in the history of Gaelic football, but would mark the beginning of a barren period for the Kingdom.
Remarkably, after a total of eight title wins from 10 final appearances stretching from 1975, the Sam Maguire would not return again to the county until 1997.
Notably, just one member of the 86 squad — Stephen Stack from Listowel Emmetts — played 11 years later while Páidí Ó Sé, part of the select group who won eight medals, was manager.
In the 86 final, Kerry won (2-15 to 1-10) largely as a result of a magical last 20 minutes highlighted by goals from Pat Spillane and Michael Sheehy — and were lucky to be only seven points in arrears after Kevin McCabe pointed a Tyrone penalty in the 38th minute. In different circumstances the northerners could have been the Jubilee team in Croke Park yesterday, rather than having to wait a further 17 years to win their first title.
Ó Sé feels they would not have lasted as long but for the motivation of getting back on top after Offaly had halted their bid for a record fifth consecutive title in 1982.
“The following year we were beaten by Cork and there was a big effort put into trying to win in centenary year. We won the league and championship that year. I was captain in 1985 and a lot of lads made a big effort for me. In 1986 we were going for three-in-a-row. Basically, after that the tank emptied out.’’
Jack O’Shea, who missed a penalty after just two minutes, felt the McCabe miss was the game’s ‘defining moment’.
“It gave us a shot in the arm that we could get back. That team played its best football for the next 25 minutes to win by eight.”
Believing that ‘little new blood’ was brought in during the golden years, O’Shea agreed that the majority of the players were nearing the end of their careers. “Teams ‘suffered’ for the next couple of years, but in fairness Cork had a very good team in 1987 and for the next four years they dictated the Munster championship. We were up against it in re-building at that time.’’
He himself continued until 1992 (when Kerry lost to Clare in the Munster final), having captained the team which lost to Down in the 1991 All-Ireland semi-final.
That game marked the end for Spillane, who made a massive contribution against Tyrone. “By then we were certainly on the wane, having been at our peak during the four-in-a-row years. Experience, cuteness and belief got us through. It was the exact opposite that deprived Tyrone, because they had us for the taking. But unlike Tyrone teams afterwards they just didn’t have the composure or the belief to put us away.’’
Up to then, the highlights of his career had been his first medal win in 1975, then 78 — “having experienced defeat you appreciated it even more” — and the 84 victory was a huge boost after losing to Offaly. And 86 was special.
“Every once in a lifetime you get a game where everything you do goes right and that day against Tyrone was one of those days. There are times when you do something instinctively and it comes off,” he said about his vital goal. “I dived and palmed the ball past the goalie!’’
What kept him going for a further five years, he says, was the incentive ‘to end on a high, on his own terms.’
“In Kerry you are remembered for your last game and if your last game is a failure in an All-Ireland final it sorts of drives you on to go the next year and the next year.......When you are winning, you just want to go on and do the same.’’
Stephen Stack was a member of the Kerry minor team which lost to Tipperary in 84 (the year of their last All-Ireland final appearance until yesterday). But, in the company of Mick Galwey (who won the first of his 41 international caps with Ireland five years later), had the satisfaction of beating Tipp in the 1987 U21 decider in Clonmel.
Stack went straight from the minor team into Mick O’Dwyer’s squad, lining out in the first game in the 86 campaign when Tommy Doyle was kept out by injury. After that, he was on the bench all the way to the All-Ireland final. “You were only really learning your trade, learning from some of the greatest players that ever played,” he commented.
“My recollection of that year is more about the semi-final. Kerry were being written off going in against Meath and O’Dwyer seized on that. I remember him making his motivational speech in the dressing room and he telling us we were the greatest team in history. He was on fire. I think that was the day his dentures flew out of his mouth!”
With Kerry losing the next four Munster finals, winning in 1991, going under to Clare in 1992 and to Cork again for the following three years, Stack feels the gradual loss of so many of the previous team was aggravated by the shortened careers of players who came after them.
“Some of the good players didn’t stay as long maybe as the younger players coming through would have needed,’’ he explained. “The problem was when the 1987 team was beaten comprehensively there was a huge exodus. Jacko and Spillane stayed on, Ambrose too, but, there weren’t enough ‘central’ players.
“During that 11-year gap there were always fellows good enough to play in wing positions, but we hadn’t enough of dominant central players. That was our big problem — the spine of the team wasn’t there, not until Darragh Ó Sé came along. They were great times for Cork people, but dreadful for us!’’
