Memories of 2001 will keep Kerry minds focused

ALL-IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL:IT MAY be eight years ago but the memory of Kerry's All-Ireland semi-final hammering at the hands of Meath is still strong enough and, indeed, sore enough to help ensure there will be no repeat of it on Sunday.

The connections are strong too, given current manager Jack O’Connor was a selector with Kerry in 2001, while his current selector, Eamonn Fitzmaurice, played centre back.

No one has a full explanation for what went wrong that day, as Kerry, having got the better of Dublin in their quarter-final – just like they did this year – went down by 2-14 to 0-5.

It was as humiliating a score line as it sounds, and was Kerry’s biggest championship defeat since losing to Cork by 2-23 to 1-11 in the 1990 Munster final. Like this Sunday, it was a game Kerry were fancied to win. Like this Sunday, no one was entirely sure what Meath team would show up.

But for Eddie “Tatler” O’Sullivan, who was also a selector in 2001 alongside O’Connor, the very fact there are still several connections with that 2001 team can only reinforce the guard against any complacency.

If Kerry were caught on the hop eight years ago, under then manager Páidí Ó Sé, then no one will be more aware of the dangers of allowing that happen again than O’Connor, Fitzmaurice and company.

“Of course we never once thought that was going to happen to us,” says O’Sullivan, who remains close to the Kerry set-up even though he has no official role.

“It was just one of those days, one of the things that happen every so often, but for which we’ve no real explanation.

“I just remember we went up that day feeling good about ourselves. We’d beaten Dublin, just as Kerry have done this year, and I suppose coming out of that you always do feel a little unbeatable. So maybe there was a little bit of complacency there.

“Either way we just didn’t play at all on the day. We thought we were up for it but instead we didn’t get into the game at all.”

Amazingly, Sunday’s game marks Kerry’s ninth consecutive semi-final appearance this decade, and the only other one they lost as well as the 2001 clash with Meath was against Tyrone, two years later.

It means O’Connor has yet to lose a semi-final as manager, and O’Sullivan believes his experience on the sidelines against Meath in 2001 will also stand to him.

“Knowing Jack, he will be very cautious about Meath, knowing what they are capable of. Kerry’s performance against Dublin in the semi-final was something else, but he certainly won’t be getting carried away with it. We learnt that lesson in 2001 and I think Jack will still be very aware of that. Having Eamonn Fitzmaurice in there now as well can only back that up,” says O’Sullivan

Fitzmaurice, who was actually sent off at the end of that game on a second yellow card, joined O’Connor’s back-room team when he returned as manager this year, and in case they don’t have enough reminders of what Meath did to them that day, the input of Séamus Moynihan, who played full back in 2001 and last month joined the Kerry team in an advisory role, adds yet further association.

While Nigel Crawford is the only Meath player still on duty from that day, the return this summer of Mike McCarthy means he gets the chance to make amends for what happened eight years ago, as, of course, does Darragh Ó Sé, while Tommy Griffin also came on as a sub in 2001 as an early replacement for Mike Hassett.

“That day against Meath every one of their players performed to perfection,” adds O’Sullivan. “Nobody from our team did. But I wouldn’t think Meath are quite as strong now as they were in 2001.

“That was still a very good Meath team, a lot of the old guard still in there, and the likes of Graham Geraghty, Trevor Giles, still at their peak. A lot of them had won All-Irelands and that also stood to them on the day.

“I also think Kerry are a better team now, with a better mix of players as well. We didn’t have the Gooch then, for a start. Having said that, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. All we can do is hope we’re a little more prepared for it, and the lesson is still fresh enough.”