Legend Sheehy lashes stay-away Kerry fans
Victory can be justified by any means you like, says Kingdom legend Sheehy
KERRY legend Mikey Sheehy has had a major cut at the county’s football support, labelling the lack of travelling fans at last year’s All-Ireland semi-final replay defeat by Mayo as ‘embarrassing’. ‘That wasn’t an excuse why we lost. We lost because we were beaten by a better team,’ he added, accepting squarely that the Kerry management got it wrong for the 2-16 to 0-17 defeat. But the lack of support from the stand at Croke Park is still a bone of contention. It’s not the first time an eight-time All-Ireland winner has criticised the support base. Former manager Páidí Ó Sé — a team-mate of Sheehy — landed himself in hot water in 2003 after taking a swipe at supporters and it still clearly stings a proud Kerry man like Sheehy that the 16th man belonged to Mayo. ‘I felt the Kerry support were embarrassing. Particularly for the replay, Jesus, they didn’t travel, whether it was because it was a Saturday afternoon or not. ‘You know, the team deserves… Mayo, look how many times they have lost and you go outside and you see the crowd.’ That support — or lack of it — filters down to the pitch, according to Sheehy. ‘It does. Of course the players would be aware of it.’
AS a state-of-thenation address goes, it was a world removed from Páidí Ó Sé’s emotional plea from the heart while on tour with Kerry in South Africa in the winter of 2003, when Marty Morrissey was on hand to make sure his message to supporters was carried on RTÉ television.
Of course the former manager didn’t mean it to come out that way in a previous interview when he proclaimed: ‘Being a Kerry manager is probably the hardest job in the world because Kerry people, I’d say, are the roughest type of f**king animals you could ever deal with.’
Deep down, Kerry people knew exactly what Ó Sé was getting at, that they are at their most unforgiving when it comes to criticism of the county football team.
Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh described it lyrically as ‘winter talk’ but by the next winter, Kerry had company with one of its most famous sons.
Sitting in a suite on Level Six of the Hogan Stand for the launch of the Allianz Football League, Kerry selector Mikey Sheehy calmly ran through a list of hot topics, including a withering put down of the dearth of supporters at the All-Ireland semi-final replay defeat by Mayo.
But it was just one clear-eyed observation from one of the game’s most revered stylists and someone who has been Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s right-hand man since 2013.
In a wide-ranging conversation, he discussed why a Kerry team he insists are ‘in transition’ still expect to be All-Ireland contenders. Why Dublin’s three-in-a-row manager Jim Gavin deserves to be mentioned in the company of the great Mick O’Dwyer. And why Mayo could easily be ‘going for the three-in-a-row this year’.
While Kerry’s summer exit was mentioned in the same breath as the 1982 five-in-arow defeat by Offaly - ‘One of the biggest disappointment I would have had outside of ‘82 would have been our performance against Mayo last year. It was shocking. It was so flat.’ – he explains the significance of the League final victory over Dublin that ended their opponents’ 36match unbeaten streak and punctured talk of ‘invincibles’.
‘It was a great boost to us. It was massive for confiparted dence. Funny, that day we had four or five injuries and had young lads on — the likes of Gavin Crowley, Jack Savage, all played quite well. The invincibility… look, if we were playing Dublin in the morning we would always fancy that we’d give them a rattle.’ In many ways, the 2017 season was defined by two Dean Rock frees — the missed one to equalise against Kerry in that final and the winner against Mayo in September. Sheehy is around long enough to have his own view of the cynicism on show in the final moments from both teams. ‘I didn’t even see the GPS being thrown by Lee Keegan. Look, you do what it takes. Nowadays there are cameras everywhere. In our time there wasn’t a lot of cameras. You could be getting plenty of grief. It was every bit as cynical.
‘I could understand Lee Keegan’s frustration. He knew it, they knew it, that the game was up. Unless they won the next kick-out and then the Dubs made sure they weren’t going to win the next kick-out.
‘Fair play to Dublin for what they did. They manhandled their players, kicked away the thing [kicking tee] – I would have no issue with players doing that once you win the game.’
As the old Tommie Gorman line to Roy Keane goes: what about the kids?
‘Yerra, not at all. The kids? I don’t have an issue. Once you win the game, that’s it.
‘I felt so sorry for Cillian O’Connor. Such a brilliant player. Maybe had his free gone over, the one that hit the post. Again, fine margins. I’m sure Mayo would have closed out the game at that stage. Mayo were so close. People in general don’t give Mayo the credit they deserve. They’re relentless. Their supporters are unbelievable.
‘I mean, last year was a very disappointing end for us because I think we’re better than that. You’d have to give Mayo credit. They were excellent the second day against us. They came through a long route and sometimes it might suit you to come through the scenic route like they did. They got better as the season wore on. They were lucky enough against Derry, they were lucky enough against one or two other teams but they got better and their experience and Stephen Rochford has them primed for the second day against us.
‘To be fair to them and as good as Dublin are, if Mayo had a small bit of luck they could have won the last two All-Irelands. That might sound silly but if Mayo had a bit of luck they could be going for the three-in-a-row this year.’
It’s been a tough winter for the Kerry management who have had to try and avoid the flying flak. ‘Jesus, there was a lot of snipers around, I can tell you!’ laughed Sheehy. ‘If you take notice of those people you wouldn’t be there.’
He feels that Colm Cooper could have made a telling contribution if he had remained, resisting entreaties from management to stall his retirement decision.
‘I know Kerry people don’t have it, but they must be patient’ ‘I can understand Lee Keegan’s frustration’
‘Last year we would have loved Gooch to stay on’
‘Last year we would have loved Gooch to stay on. But he had a lot of injuries and I could understand where he was coming from as well. He doesn’t owe Kerry anything either. He’s one of the best players that has ever put on a green and gold jersey. I think he would have made a valuable contribution still last year had he hung in there. He just didn’t have the appetite.’
One positive is that former Footballer of the Year Kieran Donaghy is on board for another year, as soon as his basketball commit- ments come to an end.
Sheehy admits there is no player like him. ‘If you don’t start him you can play with six lively guys, and go through the lines as such. With Kieran you can go more direct. He’s an exceptional player. Another thing he would have is he’s an exceptional player in the dressing room. He’s a leader and some of those young guys would look up to him.
‘You’ll often hear it from teams but people have to realise we are in transition. You look at the players we have lost over the last two years, Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O’Mahony, Colm Cooper… some of the best players that have ever played the game. Then you have Bryan Sheehan. They’re serious players to be without.
‘I know people in Kerry don’t have it but they have to be patient. Whatever happens this year, we would still have ambitions this year for doing well overall.’