KERRY MANAGER Eamonn Fitzmaurice says this year could be a last chance at All-Ireland glory for some of his veteran players.
The Finuge clubman will hope — in his first year at the helm with the Kingdom — that another shot at a Celtic Cross will add more motivation on his charges ahead of the championship semi-final with Dublin on Sunday.
He last night named a side which showed Kieran Donaghy on the bench but includes the likes of Colm Cooper, Paul Galvin, and the two Ó Sés who are all past 30.
“It possibly is [a last shot] for some of the older lads,” says Fitzmaurice.
“You just hope that if you are in that situation, you are in the mind-set of enjoying it because some of those older lads, they have been some of the best players that ever played the game, never mind played for Kerry.”
“You would really hope that they are looking forward to going up to a full house in Croke Park and playing there.
“This is what it is all about. It is not about playing in an All-Ireland quarter-final in a half-empty stadium with a flat atmosphere. This is the kind of thing that gets those fellas’ juices flowing. You would be hopeful it would play out there.”
Dublin go into the game as favourites, with Mayo waiting in the September decider after their win over Tyrone last weekend at HQ.
Does it sting those in the south-west that the aristocrats of the game aren’t fancied to take the Sam Maguire back to Kerry again?
“We are stung, we are devastated by it, yeah,” laughs Fitzmaurice.
“If you are looking at it from the outside, of course, we seem to be playing for the first half and we seem to fade out of games in the second half.
“We are not putting teams away so of course there is going to be questions marks over us. We are happy enough where we are at and we are looking forward to the game.”
The pairing of Kerry and Dublin, of course, is one which resonates with the game’s purists, with the dramatic 2011 decider the most recent chapter in their long rivalry for silverware.
Stephen Cluxton, of course, arrowed over the late, late winning point from a free that day and Fitzmaurice concedes the Dubs’ goalkeeper will have to be watched once again.
“We will have to be careful of that. He is kicking excellently this year.
“He has kicked a good few 45s as well as long-distance frees. Definitely if you give away anything from 60 yards in, you are going to be punished.
“If you are tackling properly, most referees will give you the benefit of the doubt. Some referees can be a bit fussier but I don’t think that will be the winning or the losing of the game,” he says.
And is that final defeat two years ago yet more incentive amongst the green and gold this season?
“It is not something that we have got near at the moment. It is a tricky one, it was hugely disappointing for the lads who were there. They lost an All-Ireland final from a winning position which does not happen too often in Kerry,” he says.
“They were very, very disappointed and it took a lot of them a long time to get over it.
“I don’t know if there is a whole lot to be gained from it. Of course they are aware of it, of course it is motivation for the lads, but they will have lots of other motivation as well.
“Definitely for the players who were involved but we have a lot of younger players who were on the panel and a few who would not have been involved at all so it would not have been as much relevance to them.
“For the more senior players it will in the back of their mind and there will be an angle there to even up the score.”
