Drive and endurance unites these Masters
Like Tiger, Kerry icon Moynihan had greatness in his DNA
THERE is a fair chance that Tiger Woods has never heard of Seamus Moynihan and, as a result, he is all the poorer for it. Like most who love sport, I was left buzzing last Sunday evening – it was also a good excuse to ignore, as every good Manchester United fan should, Liverpool taking another huge step towards winning the Premier League – watching Woods march up the 18th fairway to claim the Masters.
There were all kinds of reasons for that. It is a game I enjoy and like anyone who has been serially mocked by a pimply ball over the course of 18 holes, I have nothing but admiration for those who can put manners on the damn thing.
And no one has ever schooled a golf ball quite like Woods in his prime, so to see him back at the top could not but leave you feeling a little bit giddy. But mainly, and I suspect this is true of all us, I am in thrall to greatness.
Fairy tales of underdog success tickle me too but it does not have the same impact as watching someone this great doing something quite so remarkable.
There is something about the aura that a great champion has and when it comes packaged as a tale of redemption how could you not buy into it?
And we can all take something personal from something that epic and that is why, last Sunday, it could just as easily have been Moynihan marching up the 18th in my imagination.
Woods and double stress fracture to his tibia might be hard to sell as sporting twins – and certainly Moynihan, to be best of my knowledge,
never had an issue with crashing into a fire hydrant – but those of us who were lucky enough to share a dressing room with him could follow a connection.
There are so many things that make a true champion and ability is only a small part of it.
Like Woods, Moynihan exploited all the talent he was given to the very full because he worked ferociously hard at it.
And just as Woods was seen coming a mile off – apparently he had earned $60M in endorsements prior to teeing off as a pro – the same could be said of Moynihan.
After all, not every Leaving Certificate student is handed a starting place for Kerry in a Munster final but that honour was bestowed on Moynihan in 1992.
We knew he was just a little bit special. I remember the first time I went on the road as a Kerry player, taking on Meath in a challenge game. I started off the journey in a boisterous and full West Kerry car, with Darragh, Dara Ó Cinnéide, Aodán Mac Gearailt and Jack Ferriter for company, but when we got as far as Killarney, I was told by Páidí to get out and travel the rest of the way with Seamus.
‘The best thing you could do now is impersonate a sponge,’ Páidí advised me, before sending me on my way to football college.
And I did. I soaked up everything for the next five years, playing in that full-back line alongside him.
Did the experience leave a mark? One of my strengths as an inside defender was an ability to get a block on an opponents, but where do you think I got tutored on getting that right? Exactly. That was only the half of it. All great champions are fuelled by an extraordinary level of competitiveness and mental resilience.
‘Pony’ is excellent company, but when we lost in big games it could be a test of endurance. He took it personally. In 2002, when the two of us, along with Mike McCarthy, gave up three points each to our Armagh opponents, he wouldn’t let it rest. While the rest of us drank to forget, he would pick at the scab, delving deeper to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
And, just like Tiger when his body finally betrayed him, his mental strength bailed him out.
He effectively missed all of 2004 with a chronic ankle injury and yet refused to give up, while the rest of us were on the field he was walking lengths of the swimming pool even though he knew his chances of getting there were slim to none.
In the end, he made it back for the 2004 final, coming off the bench for a late run out. But the following year his back was in such a state that he could barely bend over in the final against Tyrone.
He was in constant discomfort with diminished mobility but, a bit like Woods in that 2008 US Open play-off (which he won despite suffering a double stress fracture in his tibia), played through the pain.
I don’t think I ever saw anyone in a Kerry shirt work as hard as he did that season as he sought to counter his back problems by doing core stability work under the watchful eye of Ger Keane.
He never stopped – he even had a room converted upstairs in his house which he used for rehab exercises – and inch by painful inch, he got himself back.
Words like inspiration are used far too easily, and I know this goes for most of my former team-mates, I was never more humbled and inspired than when I was in Moynihan’s company that year.
I will never forget that April when we played a pre-Championship challenge match and he broke down in the middle of the game.
It was horrible because we had all invested in his comeback and there was a sombre mood in our camp that evening.
But what did he do? He got straight back up on that horse and battled his way right back.
That September he would play such a starring role in Kerry’s AllIreland success that he would end the year, and his career, with an All-Star. And do you know what watching that felt like?
Well, it was just like Tiger walking up the 18th knowing that these are steps only the greatest of champions can take.
‘THE GREAT CHAMPIONS ARE FUELLED BY MENTAL RESILIENCE’