Maurice the jewel in Kingdom’s crown

It wasn’t a memorable All-Ireland Football Final for the neutrals, according to the late The Kerryman Gaelic games columnist OWEN McCROHAN, but for Kerry – and one player in particular – it was a seminal and unforgettable one

CLASS will tell. The wondrous talent that is Maurice Fitzgerald was the essential difference between Kerry winning their 31st All-Ireland title on Sunday and returning home without the Sam Maguire Cup.

That, in essence, is the story of a tension-filled encounter in Croke Park when Mayo, the team the experts said simply couldn’t afford to lose, outshone even their previous well-chronicled shortcomings in attack by handing the game gift-wrapped to their opponents.

A score of 1-7, with only four points coming from play, is a miserable tally on a perfect day for football. Some of the chances that were squandered will return to haunt the Mayo forwards for the rest of their lives and it is quite incredible to have to record that even good footballers like Colm McMenamon have not learned the simple ploy of punching the ball over the bar from close range.

The overall pattern of the game showed that the losers had learned nothing from last year’s heart-breaking failure to Meath. Instead of gaining from the store of experience accumulated after two visits to Croke Park in September 1996, Mayo appeared to be inhibited by the prospect of losing yet again, and, with hindsight, it is clear the side has actually gone backwards rather than forwards.

To win, Kerry needed Fitzgerald to be at his brilliant best and it was fitting that the best footballer in the game should choose the biggest stage of all to show what he could do.

Nine points, three from play and six from frees, is a fabulous contribution from one man, but it was the quality and range of some of those scores that won the admirable of the crowd.

A disappointingly sub-standard first half saw Mayo completely out-classed, even when playing with the light breeze. Dermot Flanagan’s early departure after four minutes and Maurice Sheridan’s injury just before the break, which forced his withdrawal, didn’t help the Mayo cause.

Kerry took full advantage. Playing fast, cohesive and adventurous football, they tore the opposition apart. Contrary to the expectations of many, it was Darragh Ó Sé and William Kirby who were lording the midfield exchanges and when the ball moved into attack it was obvious that Fitzgerald was on song and that was enough. In defence, the six backs were so tight and vigilant that goalkeeper Declan O’Keeffe didn’t have a shot of any substance to deal with before the interval.

Mayo’s shortcomings in attack were signposted as early as the eighth minute, at which stage the Westerners had accumulated four bad wides through Nestor, Casey, Sheridan and McDonald, while Kerry had two points on the board thanks to Darragh Ó Sé and the flying Pa Laide who electrified the crowd in the way that Ger Power did in the 1970s.

In the 17th minute Kerry’s confidence received a body-blow when Billy O’Shea, who had been playing well, was stretchered off with a broken leg after an ill-timed clash with Fitzgerald.

The Cahersiveen man must have been gutted by such an unfortunate happening but he didn’t allow it to affect his composure and he went on to give a truly masterful display.

The Kerry selectors pulled the first surprise of the day when they introduced John Crowley to the unaccustomed role of full-forward instead of Brian Clarke, who would appear to have been a ready-made replacement.

However, this didn’t have any bearing on the overall position and Mayo looked a thoroughly demoralised outfit at half-time with five points of a deficit to overhaul and several bad wides to their credit.

It had been a poor first 35 minutes, but Mayo’s many inadequacies cannot be laid at the door of the Kerry team who played some lovely controlled football. Barring an act of God, it was obvious they weren’t going to be beaten.

When the score stood at 0-11 to 0-4 after eight minutes of the second half, that opinion became conviction and the possibility of a Mayo whitewash now loomed large on the horizon.

What happened was something very different. Faced with outright humiliation, the Mayo men bent themselves to the task on hand and fought back with furious resolution.

Now it was Kerry’s turn to feel the heat as Páidí Ó Sé’s team was thrown back on the defensive. The transfer of Liam McHale to midfield broke Kerry’s previous stranglehold and in a golden 10-minute spell the Connacht champions scored 1-3 without reply.

Incredibly, Kerry were breathing the oxygen of survival with a precarious one-point advantage (0-11 to 0-7) and in response to a growing crisis the selectors introduced Donal Daly in stead of William Kirby.

It made little difference as Fallon and McHale proceeded to exert the kind of dominance that was expected of them before the game. With their stride beginning to look increasingly frayed, Kerry supporters looked despairingly towards the sideline for signs for Michael F Russell’s introduction.

Russell’s arrival was mysteriously delayed until 10 minute from the end and Dara Ó Cinnéide could have considered himself unlucky to have got the beck from the line.

The hard-grafting Denis O’Dwyer had a goal chance smothered and then the Mayo sub, PJ Loftus, hit an atrocious wide. Further respite came to Kerry when Ciarán McDonald sent a 30 yards free hopelessly wide from a perfect angle and then a massed Mayo assault could have yielded the goal that might well have brought the cup across the Shannon. Wastage of that magnitude would break the heart of any team.

Those three desperate misses were the final nails in Mayo’s coffin. In between times, Fitzgerald won a dubious free which he pointed himself and then with the last seconds ticking away, a long range free on the sideline allowed the Cahersiveen man to assume the mantle of a cold, calculating assassin as he put Mayo to the sword with as glorious a point as Croke Park has ever seen. To paraphrase the Guinness hurling advertisement, here was a man who could break hearts from 70 yards.

From a Kerry perspective the winning is everything and the quality doesn’t matter. Not a memorable game, maybe, but a momentous victory nevertheless. Maurice Fitzgerald, Liam Flaherty, Eamon Breen, Stephen Stack, Seamus Moynihan, Darragh Ó Sé, Pa Laide, Killian Burns and Barry O’Shea were gems in the Kingdom’s crown.

Ó Sé and Kirby were lording the midfield exchanges and when the ball moved into attack it was obvious that Fitzgerald was on song and that was enough