| Managerial highs and lows
 By
John Carey
Slipping out of the tunnel underneath the heaving mass of Croke Park
Kerry manager Jack O’Connor wore the look of a man in a state of
happy exhaustion.
With the details of his side’s spectacular All-Ireland victory running
fresh in his mind Jack’s initial words to the press are a mess of
syllables, before he regains the composure which is his hallmark.
He said: “Being a manager you work on a lot of things, you want
things to be perfect, the way we played today was as near to perfection
this Kerry team could play.
“All of our key men played well - we had them on the kick-outs
and put pressure on them from very early on. Mayo like to carry the ball
out of defence - we restricted their ability to do that and maybe that
was the decisive thing on the day.”
O’Connor believes this win - the second of his three years in
charge - is: “Twenty times sweeter than the first time. The pressure
is different. We were written off a lot this year but showed what we were
made of today.”
The Kerry manager is possessed of impeccable manners and moves the conversation
away from thoughts of revenge to praise his players.
“It’s all about the work they put in. All-Irelands are won
by hungry teams, Kerry were hungry this year they are the perfect bunch
of lads to train and deserve all the success which comes to them.”
Seamus Moniyhan is a veteran of occasions such as this but the gifted
full-back’s face carried the look of divine happiness.
He said: “I don’t care how many times you win the All-Ireland
it’s always special. Losing it last year made us even more determined
to win this one. There is no happiness like winning this title. There
have been some players who have been critcised this year but this success
is due to everyone on the panel. We all push each other and the camaraderie
and craic is what keeps you going through the long winter nights of training.”
In contrast to the exhuberance of the Kerry dressing room Mayo captain
David Heaney emerged from a dressing room steeped in silence.
He said: “The most recent defeat is always the worst, but this hurts
more than anything I have experienced in football. Kerry played well like
the champions they are but we didn’t do ourselves justice.”
Mayo manager Mickey Moran is patrician and understated at the best of
times but the always courteous Donegal native’s mood touched on
the sombre in the wake of the Connacht champions record defeat.
He said: “We lost it in the first 10 minutes. Some of our players
were more worried about the names that Kerry had than about playing football.
When the mind goes the body soon follows and fair play to Kerry they are
a top football team. You have to be at your best against them, they played
great, clever, incisive football and deserved their victory.”
With that Moran, head bowed in a mixture of the despair he felt and
the shyness which is his custom, departed Croke Park - a man who carried
a county with him and watched his dream dashed by fate.
But it was Kerry’s day. The Kingdom’s colours have been carried
high out of Croke Park many times but on Sunday their supporters wore
the look of wonder at their county’s perfect day. 2
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