TEN YEARS AGO Eamonn Fitzmaurice was centre-half back on the Kerry team which crushed Mayo in the All-Ireland final.
This weekend he’ll be hoping for a similar outcome as the two teams meet in the first of this summer’s football semi-finals on Sunday. Yet how does this Mayo team compare to the team he faced back then?
“They are way more physical,” explained the Kingdom boss. “That physicality has been the hallmark of James Horan since he came in.
“In terms of their conditioning, they are probably the premier team in the country; Dublin are obviously at a serious level as well. But Mayo took it there first and other teams had to react; we certainly had to in Kerry.”
In 2004 Fitzmaurice lined up against Mayo legend Ciaran McDonald, as his team strolled to a 1-20 to 2-9 win. Two years later the teams faced off once more in the September decider, with the now-Kerry boss coming off the bench in a 4-15 to 3-5 victory.
“There is a ferocious togetherness in the group now in Mayo, there is a massive spirit there; and there is a lot of character there too.
“They showed a lot of character against Roscommon and that was a game that they could have easily folded up the tent, gone home and been beaten but they showed a lot of character to come back and win that game.
“They have a lot of the hallmarks of champions about them, they have been very, very close the last couple of years; they were only beaten by a point last year and by four in 2012.
“In neither game did they get any of the breaks that you need to win an All-Ireland, particularly a tight All-Ireland final so they are a serious, serious group.
“They have an edge about them and if we are going to beat them we will have to be at our best. It is as simple as that.”
So far in this year’s championship, unlike Mayo who have had tough encounters with both Roscommon and Cork, Kerry have reached the semi-finals with relative ease.
A combined winning total of 19 points between this year’s Munster final and their All-Ireland quarter final victory over Galway, have Kerry been tested thus far?
“When we conceded the second goal against Galway, they brought it back to two points. We had to react, some of our subs did well. So yes I think we have been tested to be honest.
“We were disappointed with the goal {Tom Flynn’s solo effort} of course. On the day against Galway it was not good enough.
“Mayo have some serious line breakers and they can come through the middle too; the likes of Lee Keegan, Donal Vaughan and Keith Higgins. Aidan O’Shea if he gets on a run he can be very hard to stop; we are well aware of that.
“Obviously, the test the next day is going to be tougher but we have had different kinds of tests this year.
A key area for Kerry so far this year has been their middle eight, with the likes of Bryan Sheehan, Anthony Maher, and Johnny Buckley standing out in the Munster final in particular.
Yet with Mayo’s formidable half-back line and the O’Shea brothers to contend with around the middle, Kerry are facing arguably the country’s top team in those areas.
“It is a huge area, especially on Sunday. Whoever wins that battle will probably win the game.
“Mayo are top in that area and the way they can release the Lee Keegans and Donal Vaughans, they can make it very hard for you. It is going to be a very important area but I am happy that we have the men to do the job.”
