ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL:KERRY AND Down share a rivalry that doesn't really apply to the present tense, but the richness of GAA tradition attached to their previous four championship meetings means they cannot be ignored in the lead-up to Saturday's clash.
The facts are this. Down have won five All-Ireland titles, beating Kerry four times in the process. They have never lost to Kerry in the championship.
This is an incomparable record and folk from the Kingdom will relish the opportunity to silence the Northern tones that can always be heard using this stick to beat them with (not that Kerry supporters will bother travelling to see this event – people travel to them over the August Bank Holiday not the other way around). Thereafter, they can focus on breaking the more recent Ulster hex cast by Tyrone.
“The Down thing?” goes Pat Spillane. “Ah, the past is the past. That is more a creation of the media. Sure Kerry have never beaten Fermanagh.”
Kerry have never played Fermanagh.
“When we were on top there was no trace of Down, in the 1970s and 1980s. If there had of been they would have been destroyed.”
Yet Spillane gives the Down record against Kerry high praise. “It will give them confidence and be sure that Jack (O’Connor) will be mentioning it in his team talks this week.”
Spillane vividly remembers the last meeting between the counties as it was his last waltz on the main stage. Aged 35, he scored Kerry’s only point in the second half of the 1991 All-Ireland semi-final that was ultimately decided by two goals and a beautiful point from former Reading soccer player Peter Withnall as he destroyed Spillane’s brother Tom at full back.
Spillane blames Mick O’Dwyer for the demise as much as he credits him for the golden era. “It was the poorest Kerry team I played on in 17 years. It was the last remains of O’Dwyer. He held on to everyone for so long that they all left at the same time – I think I was the last to go. It left a big vacuum as young fellas had not been blooded.
“We caught Cork by surprise in the semi-final and struggled past Limerick to win Munster. And then Maurice Fitz had a rare off day from frees against Down, but the game was still in the balance until the last 10 minutes.”
A great Down team? “Football around those years was not very good – sure we came within a kick of the ball of making another All-Ireland final. So, not a great Down team, more a good Down team.”
Former Down player Ross Carr disagrees. “In ’91 we had a very good team – Kerry had a team that was a mixture of fellas in their mid-30s and early 20s.”
Carr is well placed to pass judgment on the past and present Down excursions having managed the current panel up until last season and featuring in the celebrated ’91 half-forward line that also included captain Greg Blaney.
“The rivalry back in the 1960s was something similar to Kerry and Tyrone nowadays. They were a great side and Down were a great side. They both won their All-Irelands in that period. In the 1970s and 1980s, Down were not competing at national level because they were not good enough.”
Down returned to the elite tier in the 1990s, but Kerry were dormant as Cork dominated Munster. Unconcerned, the aristocrats of Ulster lifted the Sam Maguire in ’91, beating a tired Meath in the final, and emulated their greatest era by coming again in 1994.
“We would have taken encouragement from the 1960s team,” Carr continued. “We had no hang-ups about Kerry or Croke Park. There was no disrespect of teams like Kerry, Cork, Meath or Dublin – just confidence in our own footballing ability and Croke Park is the place to play football. It still holds a special place in the heart of Down people given the traditions created there in the 1960s. It is nearly a spiritual connection.”
Carr is cautious of any talk about Down’s historical superiority haunting the dreams of a modern Kerry footballer. “Kerry must be fed up with all the talk about never beating Down in the championship. They will want to lay those ghosts to rest. In many respects, Down are stirring up a hornet’s nest on Saturday.”
Still, the suspension of Tomás Ó Sé and Paul Galvin makes this the best moment to catch the All-Ireland champions at their weakest. Down, it should be noted, are potentially a coming force with the combination of All-Ireland minor winners from 1999 and 2005 spearheaded by Benny Coulter and the prodigal Marty Clarke.
“This Kerry team has experienced a big transition in the past 12 months. They cannot say they are as good as last year. One third of the team – Tadhg Kennelly, Darragh Ó Sé, Tommy Walsh, Paul Galvin and Tomás Ó Sé – are gone. That is five All Stars or conceivably the best five players in these positions.”
Spillane agrees: “This is the day Kerry will be at their weakest. They stumbled over Limerick and badly missed Paul Galvin, getting destroyed in midfield because he was not there to gobble up all the breaks. And now Tomás is gone. Kerry to win but in a close, competitive game.”
