Mayo’s Moran gave Enright his toughest games
BERNARD Brogan . . . Paul Mannion . . . Ciaran Kilkenny . . . Cillian O’Connor . . . Michael Murphy . . . Conor McManus . . . Paddy McBrearty . . . the names just roll off the tongue.
Those are just a sample of the illustrious figures that Shane Enright had to pit his wits against during his man-marking assignments for Kerry in his senior inter-county career. He gave as good as he got most of the time, but there was one particular nemesis in 2017 that caused him an inordinate amount of pain.
Coming in off his three best seasons in the green and gold jersey, the Tarbert man was universally heralded as one of the stickiest defenders in the game. As Kerry prepared for the All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo, Enright was well prepared for the task ahead of him – a clash with the in-form Andy Moran.
What followed was probably the most chastening experience of Enright’s career. The long-serving Mayo attacker was on fire, hitting 1-5 from play, in the drawn first encounter between the sides. Moran delivered the goods again the following week, notching 1-1 in the Connacht side’s victory, as the Kingdom corner-back found himself substituted early in the second half.
Talk about a couple of tough days at the office!
“Yeah, in 2017, things kind of fell apart a small bit. Andy Moran was the toughest opponent that I ever marked. Going into that game, I thought that he hasn’t got the pace to burn me, just get tight to him or whatever, but he seemed to be a step ahead everywhere,” admitted Enright.
“He went on to win Player of the Year that year, he had three points kicked in the All-Ireland final after 20 minutes against Dublin, he was absolutely flying that year. It was great to test yourself against them fellas.
“More often than not, I did well enough against them but, like I said, I thought Andy Moran that day, whether I was off it or he was on it, probably a bit of both, but he just seemed to be top notch that day. He was strong, he was cute, he was kind of fouling off the ball and he’d be gone, making a second run, but he just seemed to buy a yard, and it was over the bar.
“To be fair, not making excuses or anything, but there was an awful lot of space in front of us, probably 40 yards for the ball to be kicked into. Over the last year or two, Peter (Keane) has gone the opposite way where he has brought more men back and has played slightly more defensive and then spring forward, whereas before we were maybe a small bit more open, and we trusted ourselves to mark them players one-on-one.
“That was a tough battle, it was tough the way it went, then again he was one of the best players in the country at the time, so there’s no fault in that either.”
Andy Moran, and all the other great forwards in the game, are now in Enright’s rear view window. He is looking to the future. He is a Kerry supporter now, and he had his own good news story over Christmas which has helped to channel his immediate focus.
“The time was right, and I’m ready to go. I’ll be their biggest supporter in 2021 watching the games. I won’t miss the hard training and going back to the hard slog in January. I’ll probably miss the big days out, but you’ll get used to that too,” he said.
“But, look, I got engaged over Christmas, so I’m looking forward to that new adventure, spending time with my fiancée Sarah and her beautiful daughter Kayla.”
The Tarbert man’s time in the Kerry family has come to an end. He has given dedicated service to the green and gold jersey for 15 years. Now he has an even greater priority as he embarks on the next chapter of life.