Éamonn Fitzmaurice already looking to Kerry's future

An immaculately suited Éamonn Fitzmaurice sits among us in the former Berkeley Court lobby following brunch in Jury's. Hotels from an era past but the same Kerry. One of their great defenders is now an All-Ireland winning manager. Minor winning manager Jack O'Connor is scooting around as well.

So too Mikey Sheehy, joking in the bar with Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper about dodgy knees.

The best of times again.

Gone are the days when Fitzmaurice would shuffle off to the Boar’s Head for a cure. The mind is already tuned to 2015. It has to be. The Jims (Gavin and McGuinness) have set lofty standards.

“It’s great to wake up this morning with the job done and looking forward to going back to Kerry now with the two cups,” explained Fitzmaurice. “It’s been a fantastic year for Kerry, especially with the minors winning yesterday and the Hogan Cup (Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne from Dingle) and the senior success obviously.”

Q&A

Plenty of doubts have been raised along the way, was the 11 point defeat to Cork in the league a fork in the road?

“It was unusual because it blindsided us. We felt we made good progress, we lost the first three games but then we won the three games in a row; beat Tyrone, beat Kildare, beat Westmeath. A big thing for the lads was getting wins on the road. That was a thing I felt was important for the younger lads.

“So when we faced into Cork in Tralee I felt we were in a good place. We only trained once in the week so that everyone would be fresh on the Sunday. It was just a very flat atmosphere in the dressing room beforehand. Even at half-time I tried to get things going but it was very flat for whatever reason.

“It was a fork in the road in that we vowed that it would never again happen. It set the tone for the training camp in Portugal which went very well afterwards.”

When did Gooch’s injury stop feeling detrimental?

“The thing with Colm was it happened in February. We had time to deal with it. Of course it was hugely disappointing. I remember that day afterwards I was in Santry (sports surgery clinic) with Colm. I was driving down with my wife afterwards and we stopped in Avoca on the M7 there.

“I was just saying, ‘what have I done to be here, like?’ But by the time I got to Kerry that evening I was in the frame of mind that I could say, ‘Look, Colm is gone for the year.’

“Ray Moran (surgeon) was very clear that even if we got to an All-Ireland final it was going to be beyond Colm. He was written out of the season. There was no chance. There was clarity straight away. We just had to accept it and move on.”

When did this team finally gel?

“Probably when we won the Munster championship. That day a lot of the younger lads came of age. They saw themselves that they were good enough. Fierce belief came out of that.”

Where you up in Santry to support Colm?

“I was. I was at the game the day before. I was due to come home but when I knew he was up there I decided to stay up.

“I didn’t expect a cruciate at all, I must say. Mikey did. Mikey was watching it at home. I rang him afterwards on the way up and he felt it looked bad. I thought his foot was slightly off the ground.”

So you went up especially?

“Yeah, I was on a mid-term break from school. I wanted to be there with him when he went in for the scan. Unfortunately it was the worst case scenario.”

When you took over as Kerry manager it was described as a poisoned chalice because you were too close to the players, how much noise did you have to block out?

“Not much to be honest. I came back as a selector with Jack (O’Connor in 2009 and 2010) and initially I did find that a bit strange but then I went away again so there was a distance. I had moved across. I was on the management side after two years with Jack. I knew that. I understood that.

“For me it was very simple; the bigger picture was Kerry football. I knew there would have to be hard conversations, hard phone calls with fellas that I would be very friendly with, I would have soldiered with. I felt it was just part of the job. I would have to do it and that was it.”

What about Paul Galvin?

“It was different for Paul. Tomás (Ó Se) and Eoin Brosnan knew they were going and that was it. Paul wanted to give it another lash this year. He always felt that he would win another one. He worked ferociously hard in Dublin over the winter to get his body right. He felt last year his hip injury was impacting on him a bit. He did an unbelievable amount of individual prehab. His body was probably the best it ever was for a good few years.

“He just found it too hard coming down. His life is in Dublin now. He is engaged. He is going to be getting married. A lot of his work is in Dublin. Trying to get up and down to Kerry at 34, 35 years of age, with the way the game has gone, you need to be on the training pitch as much as possible. It just was undoable.”

Did you always feel you would need Kieran Donaghy on the field if Kerry were to win the All-Ireland?

“I did. And I told Kieran as much the Tuesday after the Galway game. He only got back from the shoulder dislocation the week before the Clare game (June 22nd). He played an A v B game before that. His fitness levels were excellent because he worked very hard over the winter time but in terms of sharpness, the intensity of the football, he wasn’t quite there but you could see he was coming and coming.

“Against the better teams, when you get to a final, you need to throw something different that you didn’t have earlier in the season. He was always going to be that for us this year.”

How important was his attitude when benched?

“It was massive. All the lads, every one of them, the buy in from senior players was a massive part of the success. They accepted their roles. There wasn’t one moan or bitch the whole year long, which is very unusual – very unusual – because fellas are so competitive. They put so much into it. They want to be on the team and if they are not generally they are unhappy.

“Aidan O’Mahony was left out for the Clare game, came on after 20 minutes for David Moran and stayed afterwards. Declan O’Sullivan, because of his knees, didn’t start games, Bryan Sheehan didn’t start games, Marc didn’t start one of the games. They were very positive. That was very important.”

Was it hard to tell Marc Ó Se he was dropped?

“It was hard, it was a tough conservation but the lads have to make sacrifices at times in terms of the S&C work they do and how hard they train. The hardest part of my job is telling fellows that they are left out and that is just something that I have to do. So it was a hard conversation and a hard conversation with Cillian, when Kieran was left out for the Munster final that was another hard conversation but it is part of the job.

You got the response you wanted in last two games from Marc and Killian Young?

“Absolutely, there is no doubt about that. Peter Crowley is another fellow who was left out for a couple of games and he came back and he was absolutely immense for us in the Croke Park games and in Limerick so you do get a response. I remember reading Alex Ferguson’s autobiography and he said that he was always honest with players and explained to them why they were not on the team. They might not agree with you but I think if you explain to a fella where you are coming from and what you are thinking is, the lads appreciate that honesty.”

What did you feel you would bring to the job as Kerry manager?

“I felt that there were small changes we could make. A massive part of it has been Cian O’Neill; as well as his coaching and his selectorial abilities, his scientific approach to strength and conditioning of the lads has been a massive change. It was not that the lads were not in good shape and that their conditioning was not good, it was good because they worked hard at it but Cian took it to a different level in terms of the science. That has been a big factor in our success.

"The other thing I felt I had to was that I was going to have to bring through a lot young players and just give them the chance and the time to prove themselves; have faith in them, have belief in them and get them to believe in themselves. That would probably be my biggest challenge. But they grew and they grew and they grew; you take a fella like Paul Murphy who had never played Kerry minor. I brought him into the under-21 squad the year I was there, you could see he was a special player even if he was not a giant of a man, he played big and he has had an incredible season."

Joe Brolly’s claim of tactical fouling in the build-up – Kieran mentioned it yesterday – did you hear that?

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t take any notice of it. Referees are wise, they know that sometimes if you are trying to put pressure on a referee it does not work.

“It is no more than we are in a bubble with our preparation with regards to the way that we are going to play; they are also in their own bubble the way they are going to prepare. Eddie Kinsella refereed the game yesterday, he refereed us against Galway and he did the line below in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, so he knew the kind of team that we were. I wasn’t worried about it.”

Considering Armagh (2002) and Tyrone after them, were you conscious of how important it was broadly for Kerry football to beat another Ulster team?

“Funny, it wasn’t a thing I thought about really. Donegal were in our way and that was all it was. Of course, when you look at it, it’s sweet. When you look at those Tyrone and Armagh teams they beat us on the day fair and square.

“One of the most satisfying aspects of yesterday (Sunday) was the All-Ireland’s we have won, we have won them playing on our terms, whereas yesterday we had to play a slightly different game to what we normally play and to win that way was very definitely very satisfying.”

Are you thinking about next year already?

“I am. I am.”

Jim Gavin was thinking about it a few minutes after last year’s final?

“I remember. I was watching the Sunday Game in Kerry and he said, ‘All the teams around the country were already making plans for next year.’ The thoughts do start turning over to next year. Having Colm back in harness again, the growth of those young fellas this year and how much this experience will help them. We will have a winter holiday and that will make them tighter again. The minors, some of them will come up.”

Would you expect Tommy Walsh to return from Australia?

“I would say there is a good chance he will come back, yeah.”

Retirements?

“I don’t know. One or two of the older lads might be thinking about it but that decision comes down to can they go again? We will have to come up with something different next year. I think a lot of it comes down to their personal lives. Declan will get his knee sorted out, he’ll be fine physically. Aidan is fine, Marc is fine physically. Kieran Donaghy is only 31.

“If their personal lives allow them they will be fine.”

Is video analysis the most important aspect of your job nowadays?

“A lot of time does go into it. It depends on the manager. I have a fella working with us, Paudie McCarthy, he is brilliant at his job but I see it as one of my own strengths so I like to have the final edit.”