‘It’s a tough gig and you can be very isolated’ says Fitz

IT wasn’t exactly hands across the border last week when Eamonn Fitzmaurice spoke to the press ahead of this Sunday’s Munster final, but the Finuge man did express a level of understanding – sympathy wouldn’t be the right word, Fitzmaurice isn’t the type to condescend – for his opposite number’s plight.

Peadar Healy has had a difficult season and-a-half in the Rebel hotseat and, while Fitzmaurice hasn’t endured a similarly difficult spell as Kerry boss, there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way during his four plus years in charge.

Fitzmaurice knows what it’s like to be criticised and questioned. When it comes down to it, the only people who truly know what inter-county managers have to put up with are those very same inter-county managers.

“It is a tough gig and you can be very isolated,” Fitzmaurice explained.

“The only thing is that in any management set-up – and I am sure Peadar is the same with the people around him – they all know what they’re doing, how hard they are working, what they are trying to achieve.

“So when you have that solidarity around you, then you don’t take a huge pile of notice to what’s going on outside. That’s one of the uncontrollables, that comes with the job and you know coming into the job that will be part of it.

“Peadar has good experience from being involved with Conor Counihan before so I’m sure before he took the job he’d have known that, but I’m sure that’s not an element that he lets bother him too much, he keeps the head down and works hard. All he needs is one big win and that’s it, everything else is forgotten.”

From this vantage point it’s hard to imagine that big win will come this Sunday afternoon. Cork’s Munster championship to date has been underwhelming and that’s putting it politely.

“They are at a low ebb, that’s what people are saying,” the Kerry boss said.

“Obviously we are not going to be taking them for granted. There are a lot of things that come into play. First of all, they can be inconsistent, definitely, but when they are playing well, as they showed in the second half of the Tipperary game in particular, they are as good as they have ever been.

“It’s been out there that they are at a low ebb, but within the group that doesn’t seem to be the way that they are thinking because they have come through a couple of sticky tests and that is usually a sign of togetherness.

“Both the Waterford and Tipperary games are games that they could have lost if there hadn’t been that togetherness and that knowhow to get the job done, especially after Conor Sweeney got that goal for Tipperary in the 69th minute, it was a great sign of them that they went up the field and got a goal.

“I think they are quite close, to be honest, a lot closer than people think they are. You can see flashes of play, you can see that they are working hard on their game but it hasn’t clicked to the extent that they want yet.

“We know ourselves in 2014 when we went down to Cork, we were being written off but there was a lot of good work going on in the background. It was only a matter of the tide turning – and it did. We went on from there.

“We are well aware of how dangerous they can be and how we have to be on our guard for this game. With this historic rivalry form really does go out the window.”

One gets the sense from talking to Fitzmaurice – and from talking to Paul Murphy and Mikey Sheehy who also spoke last week – that the Kingdom are hoping for a real battle this Sunday. Much better surely to reach Croke Park having come through the right side of a

I like adversity and I like when you come through it. I seem to like to do things the hard way

tough battle.

“As a player myself and from the management point of view I like adversity and I like when you come through it. The way I am in life in general I seem to like to do things the hard way so it’s of no surprise to me.

“I think players and people thrive in those situations that when you are thrown curve balls and you have to dig your way out and figure your out – and when you do it can be a very powerful thing going forward.

“It’s definitely something that the lads showed in bucket loads the last day [against Clare] and if you are to win a Munster final you have to show loads of it the next day. You need to keep showing character day in day out, week in week out.”

The counterpoint to that desire for a game is a fear that Kerry might lose and have to navigate their way to Croke Park through the back-door

“There are no certainties in the qualifiers,” Fitzmaurice insisted

“If you get a draw away from home and depending on the way you play in the Munster final it can take a lot of energy out of the set-up. When you’re winning you want to keep on winning and keep that momentum up.”

Much wants more and Kerry, off the back of their National League triumph, will be out to win their fifth Munster title in-a-row.