‘There was an air of destiny’
In 1997 Stephen Stack was the only footballer on the Kerry panel with an All-Ireland senior medal. Seamus MacGearailt has won minor, U-21 and senior All-Irelands as a player and a coach1997. TIMMY SHEEHAN spoke to them about their memories of ’97
IT was the longest famine in Kerry’s long and proud football history. One can reflect back on the periods between 1914 and ’24, and ’62 to ’69, but the barren stretch from 1986 to 1997, with so little participation in the latter stages of the Championship, was unprecedented in terms of Kerry’s record on the All-Ireland title roll of honour.
During that time six different counties won All-Ireland titles, while Kerry’s only appearances outside of Munster were All-Ireland semi-final defeats to Down (2-9 to 0-8) in 1991 and to Mayo (2-13 to 1-10) in 1996, even though a Minor All-Ireland had been won in 1988, and an Under-21 title in 1990.
A Minor title in 1994, and back to back successes in All-Ireland U-21 finals in ’95 and ’96, laid the foundations for a return to the top table. TWO men directly involved in the 1997 senior success sat down together to recall and discuss the factors that influenced what ultimately proved to be a milestone success for the Kingdom.
Seamus MacGearailt enjoyed an illustrious playing career as a goalkeeper and a defender, winning two All-Ireland minor titles and two All-Ireland senior medals, either side of playing on the Kerry team that won the first ever All-Ireland Under-21 title. The An Ghaeltacht club man was subsequently part of Kerry management teams that won All-Ireland titles in all three grades. He was the team coach when Kerry won their 31st Senior title in 1997. STEPHEN Stack made his debut with the Kerry seniors in 1985 as a teenager and won his first All-Ireland medal in 1986, having played in the Munster semi-final that year on Mick O’Dwyer’s famed team. The Listowel native then had to soldier through thick and thin for a decade before he won his second Celtic cross. A stellar defender, his match-ups with some of the marquee opposition forwards during that successful season was hugely significant to the All-Ireland win. WHAT were the factors that contributed to those lengthy spells when Kerry went without winning an All-Ireland? Seamus: The 1959 and ‘62 winning All-Ireland teams were both the same teams, they were pushing on then, basically that was the problem really. There was very few young players introduced to that team to freshen it up. There wasn’t enough young players coming through. We won the Minor in ‘62 and ‘63, very few of those actually made the Senior team.
In 1987, they didn’t all go, a lot of them were around the same age at that time. There was no young blood coming into the team so there was nothing to freshen it up. It was very hard to blame selectors, because if you think back on the County Championship matches that time, they were the players showing up in all of the County Championship matches, the older players. In hindsight, they probably stayed on a bit too long. When they won in ‘86 a lot of them stayed on the next two, three years, so you missed two, three years building a team.
You came across very good teams at that time. If you look at ‘75, we won the All-Ireland in ‘69 and ‘70, we were still there in ‘75. We were all dropped and we were only around the 30 mark, Micheal O Se, Tom Prendergast, myself, Liam Higgins, and they built a young team. In fairness to that young team they won in ‘75, but they didn’t really mature as a team until ‘78.
Stephen: There wasn’t an awful lot of young players introduced, and I suppose it was difficult at the time because the team was successful up until ‘86. During the ten-year period you didn’t have dominant players that commanded full back, centre back, midfield, centre forward, full forward, those positions for three, four years, like most established teams do. We didn’t have that. We had a lot of players, like myself, who could play wing positions, but we didn’t have enough dominant players up the middle that you could build a team around. A lot of players who came in played those positions, but didn’t hold them down for too long. The spine of the team wasn’t that strong.
I remember being part of a team below in Cork in 1990, we were beaten by twenty points. People thought that we would never again win a Munster Championship, and I think, who was it, Mickey Ned (O’Sullivan), actually had literally to rebuild a new team for the following year. We were fortunate we still had Jacko (O’Shea), Charlie Nelligan and, I think, we still had Ambrose (O’Donovan), if I remember rightly. But other than that he nearly had to create a brand new squad, and we were fortunate to come back and win (Munster final) the following year.
But Cork, as you said, at the time were very strong. The Northern teams were beginning to come. What the current generation of players, and it’s no fault of them, and supporters probably wouldn’t understand was that winning a Munster Championship at that time was a huge thing. It’s nearly taken for granted now. Any fellow worth his salt at all now is going to have five or six Munster Championships. I won four in the course of my career, and they were hugely valuable and I can tell you hard fought. TALK about the breakthrough in Munster in 1996 and the controversy that surrounded the celebrations that followed?
Stephen: I do remember, and at the time we possibly did (over celebrate), but it was completely unintentional, and I would say we learned from it the following year. It was such a huge thing at the time to beat Cork, it hadn’t been done in a while. I remember being below in Páidí’s [Ó Sé’s pub in Ventry], I don’t know were you there Seamus? We didn’t spend three weeks at it. We spent a couple of days at it, but what happened was that we were all back there together. It was very visible and it was very public, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, that was it.”
Seamus: I wasn’t part of the celebrations at all, I was working. But it was completely exaggerated this thing about the celebrations because you got back to training on the Wednesday or the Thursday. I think it was the Thursday night.
Stephen: I think the problem at the time was that it was back in Páidí’s, and that’s where we wanted to go. I think it was the fact that it was the summer time it was very public, everybody could see what was going on. There wouldn’t have been a word if we had won that semi-final [against Mayo]. It wouldn’t have got a mention. It didn’t happen the following year.”
Seamus: It’s always traditional after the Munster final that the players headed back West. YOU mentioned the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Mayo in 1996. What are your memories of that match?
Seamus: I would be honest with you, I think the players thought that Mayo weren’t as good as they were. There was a perception that Mayo were a weak team, and I think there was a bit of complacency. We tried to avoid it, but I think it was still there in the back of the minds. The attitude probably was wrong and, as Stephen said, after winning a Munster final that team had won very little up until then. In fairness we celebrated after the Munster final, but then they cut down, they worked very hard for that semi-final, and fitness wasn’t a problem. Attitude may