“The Ghost Train is no more but for me it leaves a special memory: one morning as the train slowed down coming through Ballyfermot, a fisherman from Port Magee woke up and said: “Don’t some people live very far away.””
I’VE BEEN incredibly fortunate to have experienced All-Ireland Final day, a national cultural celebration, from many different vantage points.
A central part of that day for Kerry people is the journey from home to Dublin, or the pilgrimage, as Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh labelled it. Nowadays it it possible to slip up the M7 from Adare in a couple of hours.
Previously the Ghost Train – or as Connie described it ‘Puck Fair on wheels’ – departed Caherciveen at midnight and meandered into Dublin for a dawn arrival. That arrival time varied depending on the quality of the turf that propelled the train.
How a player performs in the Big House is the litmus test for every generation of Kerry footballer. All-Ireland final day is a unique occasion I have viewed through a variety of lens, from the terraces, to the pitch, sideline and press box.
What follows is a snapshot from the different perspectives.
In 1994, I stepped onto the hallowed turf for the first time as a raw and impressionable 17 year old as a member of the Kerry minor squad that won the All-Ireland. Living deity guided us with Charlie Nelligan as the manager and Mikey Sheehy a selector. It was dream stuff. We played Armagh in the semi-final and Galway in the final.
My first impression of Croke Park was the size and depth of the old Hogan Stand, and the noise that came from there during the course of the match. I was also fascinated by the pitch itself. I couldn’t believe how uneven and imperfect it was, particularly across the 20 metre line on the Hill 16 side of the ground. There were gradual hollows and knolls which gave the place a very particular feel.
At that stage construction on the new Croke Park had begun and the new Lower Cusack Stand was there for the final. I can remember doing a lap of honour after Jack Ferriter had accepted the cup and the positive reception we got from the Dublin fans on the Hill was memorable. Back then there was an an All-Ireland banquet on the Monday which honoured the four teams involved the previous day. I spent the day observing the Down and Dublin senior players. I can still remember seeing the likes of Keith Barr, James McCartan and Mickey Linden up close, and being surprised by how normal and friendly they were.
The first All-Ireland final I attended was the Hurling Final of 1992 between Cork and Kilkenny. I missed the Golden Years boat as I was considered too young to be brought to the matches beyond Munster, wrongly I felt!
Coming from Lixnaw, we have a huge passion for hurling and it was my first game growing up. My late father had very set routines when we took that pilgrimage to Dublin. Leave at the crack of dawn, be in Dublin early and have the tea and sandwiches my mother packed in the Phoenix Park on the way to the match. We were always early for the match and saw all of the minor matches. My memory of that 1992 final is keeping a close eye on the opposing centre backs (my own position with Lixnaw), Pat O’Neill and Jim Cashman, two outstanding hurlers. I loved O’Neill’s style in particular. He was man of the match the same day with Kilkenny winning.
For the Maurice Fitzgerald final in 1997 I was on the Canal End with my brother Ciarán and a few of my cousins. I had a personal interest in this one. My clubmate Eamon Breen was left half back on the Kerry team. I had won an under 21 All-Ireland with many of the players a year before. I had played in a few of the league games and I was brought in as an extra player to make up the numbers for football regularly that summer.
I was on the Kerry Junior team that year and our All-Ireland final against Mayo was slated for the Saturday evening prior to the SFC semi-final against Cavan. The previous weekend the seniors had an A v B game that I played in and Paidí rang me that evening. There were a couple of injury concerns for the following weekend and he asked me to be a sub with the seniors. I was conflicted. Of course I wanted to go with them but I also felt a loyalty to the Junior team that I had been playing with all summer, and who were now in a final. I rang him back to say I felt I had to play the Junior Final. He understood and that was that.
Needless to say we lost the Junior final by a point in a game we should have won. It is one of the rare what ifs? I have from my career, that I think about every now and again. Anyway back to the match. When Kerry won the lads all made a beeline for the pitch but I stayed where I was. I vowed silently to myself that I would only be on that pitch on All-Ireland final day as a winning player and I was determined to make that happen.
Including the replay in 2000, I was fortunate enough to play in six All-Ireland finals, with three wins, one draw and two losses. For a hurler from Lixnaw it was six more than I would have expected to play in as kid growing up. When I played in my first final in 2000 the stadium was in that in-between phase, part behemoth, part construction site.
At that stage of the development the Cusack Stand and Davin Stands wrapped around the back of the Canal goals but the Hogan Stand was still under construction, with only the lower deck available for the final. As part of our semi-final preparation that year Paidí took us on a ‘school tour’ as he called it himself, to see Croke Park a week after we won the Munster final. We were still four weeks out from our semi final with Armagh. It was invaluable to get a feel for the place, particularly the new perspective of the Davin Stand behind the goals at the Canal End and the unusual scene of the cranes behind the skeleton of the Hogan Stand. We travelled as far as Borris-in-Ossory the night before and stayed in the Leix County Hotel. There was no M7 in those days. There was a disco out the back and we gave a call in to have a look. Different times!
The following day Paidí told us we were under strict instructions that we could have a look around and walk the pitch but we couldn’t bring footballs out on the field with us. We were all disgusted with that and he felt that off us. Needless to say he had a bag of footballs in the boot of his car and he brought them out himself. His personality meant no one was going to argue with him. The eight All Ireland medals probably did no harm either. We got to have our few kicks.
When I think back now on the finals played in, I find it hard to remember specific moments. I remember how I felt afterwards and how result-dependent that was. It was always so special to meet up with my family after the wins and enjoy the victory with them. Oftentimes the journey is tougher on them than on any player. I loved playing in Croke Park. By the time we got there I always felt ready by that stage of the season.
While my primary duty was defending and minding the middle, I was lucky enough to kick a few points on the biggest day and the buzz as the adrenaline coursed through your body as you raced back into position is hard to describe. The biggest take away I have from my days as a player in All-Ireland finals is that I feel privileged to have played with and against some of the best players of all time. I am often asked who was the best player I played with. It is an impossible question.
I was on the right side of the result twice in management, as a selector with Jack O’Connor in 2009 and as the bainisteoir in 2014. I had also dipped my toe previously in a little known and unexpected manner in 2007. I had retired from inter-county football after the league in 2007. The week of the final the then chairman of the county board, Seán Walsh, rang me. Seán is a great friend of mine who had been there at the start of my Kerry journey as a selector with Charlie on that minor team. He has always been good to me. He was looking for a favour. Pat O’Shea was in charge of the team and had asked Seán to give me a call. Pat wanted me to act as their eyes in the sky in Croke Park for the final against Cork. I would watch the match from the manager’s box and would be wired up to Seán Geaney, a selector with Pat. While initially reluctant I did it out of a sense of duty and loyalty to Seán Walsh, my former team-mates and friends and, in particular, Paul Galvin.
By the time 2014 came around, as Harry Truman famously remarked, “the buck stops here”. There was one interesting curve ball I had to deal with early in the final against Donegal, mind. About five minutes in, one of the stewards came over to me to ask me would I mind sitting down? Here I was, standing on the sideline of Croke Park as one of two managers in charge of All-Ireland finalists, concentrating on the match, and I was being asked to sit down!
I thought he was mistaken and said nothing. He came a second time to inform me that Vincent Brown (yes, Vincent Brown) was sitting in the front row of the Hogan Stand and I was obstructing his view and that he wanted me to sit down. The poor steward got a fairly colourful response as I told him where to go and to tell Brown where to go but he left me alone after that.
I often laughed at it after. The cojones of Brown, but of course that is not surprising. I loved managing that team, was very comfortable in the role and felt no way fazed or nervous before the final. I knew we were in a good place and that it would take a serious team to beat us. The only time I got antsy was when Donegal came right back us at the end. We should have been more comfortable and could have got caught at the death. The relief and joy at the final whistle was amazing. The consensus is that it’s not as good to win as a manager but I enjoyed 2014 every bit as much as any of my medals as a player.
There was a fierce honesty and humility about that group that I really liked and admired. One abiding memory I have is while we were waiting for everyone to board the bus under the Hogan Stand to return to our hotel for the banquet. Sam was up top and at that stage of the evening the tunnel was dark, the lights inside the bus were off, but the blue lights from our Garda escort illuminated the bowels of the stadium giving it a magical air. Before the madness began in those moments I felt a quiet satisfaction with what had been achieved, against the odds. Later as the celebrations stretched long into the night I remember Declan O’Sullivan giving an incredible rendition of The Parting Glass. Special times with a special group of people.
When I retired from inter-county football I got the opportunity to write with the Irish Examiner, thanks to Tony Leen. When I first went into the Press Box in Croke Park I was in equal parts gobsmacked with the view and had a feeling of imposter syndrome. I need not have worried as everyone was more than welcoming. While everyone in the press area enjoys a good match, there is the obvious undercurrent that everybody there is working as well as spectating and it is a hive of activity. Depending on your role you may have assorted functions to perform. The writers have deadlines to meet, and may have multiple pieces to write. In general, for me I don’t struggle with this.
There is usually plenty to write about. The odd day where a wall is hit and the words aren’t coming can be interesting though. Obviously while I was involved in management I stepped back from any media roles but since I finished up in 2018 I have continued writing with this paper and have also started working with RTÉ, thanks to Declan McBennett. I enjoy both roles immensely. While not at the coalface and not dictating the conversation from the inside it keeps me involved and really tuned in to the game. Obviously as an inter-county manager one can be a lightning rod for criticism when everything isn’t going according to plan but when I returned to media duties post 2018 I made a decision to let bygones be bygones and had a fresh start with everyone.
To be fair I didn’t have too many axes to grind, that I was aware of anyway. For last year’s final, I did co-commentary for the first time with Darragh Moloney, something we are going to repeat on Sunday. There is plenty of homework being done this week for that role, so much so that Tina said to me: “You know that you are not managing a team anymore, right?”
It is a privilege to be calling and writing about such a big game from that stunning vantage point, on our national day, All-Ireland final day. It is a magical occasion and regardless of your perspective whether there in person, watching on television or listening on radio from around the world it is simply us.
May heroes emerge and may the best team win.
