Championship

All-Ireland SFC Final 2007: Home Is Where the Heart Is

September 11th, 2007
by Weeshie Fogarty

Pat O'Shea is more than the Kerry football team manager; he is the embodiment of the sporting fabric that weaves through his native town of Killarney. Weeshie Fogarty profiles the man for whom faraway hills have little pulling power

When Pat O'Shea follows his players down the tunnel and out on to the green sward of Croke Park next Sunday a huge crescendo of noise - that massive wall of sound - will wash over him and his squad like a tsunami. This is a moment that the Kerry manager will remember for the rest of his life, the day that he experienced the greatest achievement of a packed sporting career. And make no mistake about it this slight even fragile figure that has directed the Kerry march to this historic final has had a magnificent career.

While Pat and I were born into separate football camps in the town of Killarney - he to Dr Crokes and I to Legion, I have always kept a close eye on his achievements, which eventually led him to the top football job in this country. His life has literally been consumed by sport, with Gaelic football top of the list.

Pat is the first person from the Dr Crokes club to guide a Kerry team to an All-Ireland senior football final since the legendary Dr Eamonn O'Sullivan. Eamonn trained eight winning teams, his last final appearance in a final being 1964. Pat is fully conscious of the fact that he follows in his footsteps. "Dr Eamonn was a hugely iconic figure, especially for younger people like me. A kind of mythical figure to our generation. Looking back I suppose only Mick O'Dwyer would have followed in his footsteps. He was very influential, not alone in Kerry football, but in the town of Killarney and in the overall life of Kerry. Since you published that superb book on his life I am now more fully aware of his magnificent life achievements," O'Shea says of his predecessor.

Pat and I have sad and vivid memories of his first ever involvement in a football final. When we met recently he retraced his road to Croke Park and recalled that sad event. "I have a crystal clear memory of playing in an East Kerry U-12 final, my first big game. It was the 24th of May, 1976, between Legion and the Crokes. The game was played in the small pitch in Fitzgerald Stadium. There was as usual tremendous rivalry between the two clubs and a massive crowd lined the perimeter of that little field. I was playing corner forward and two of my team mates were Francis Keogh and his brother Tim. Their dad Timmy was watching the game and sadly he suffered a fatal heart attack on the sideline.I was very conscious that something serious had occurred. We were ushered back to the dressing room and the game was abandoned and rightly so, of course. Two weeks later the final was played and it was the very first East Kerry U-12 final played in the big pitch in Fitzgerald Stadium. It was my first experience of life's tragedy and I have never forgotten it," O'Shea recalls.

My own personal memories of that sad evening are firmly embedded in my memory. Timmy was also father to Eamon Keogh, the outstanding news and sports photographer, and as he reminded me recently he was with his dad that evening. The trainer of the Legion side was the late Mickey Culloty, brother of Kerry great Johnny.

Pat O'Shea was born and reared in the shadow of the Stadium and all his young days were spent there either kicking football or pucking a slioter with his brother Seanie, who later became an outstanding Kerry hurler. The old adage "an ounce of breeding is worth a ton of feeding" was never more apt than on Pat's CV. His father Murt won numerous O'Donoghue Cup medals in East Kerry with Dr Crokes, and he is also the holder of a minor hurling county championship medal with Killarney. In 1951 Murt helped Dick Fitzgeralds to win the Kerry senior football county championship.

Pat's mother Birdie comes from a family steeped in football tradition as her later father Paddy won All-Ireland medals with Kerry in 1913 and 1914. So Kerry's appearance next Sunday under the guidance of Pat O'Shea will bridge the decades back through the shadowy mists of time to that long forgotten era.

A highly accomplished and versatile sportsman Pat has played hurling in goal for Kerry, he played with the Kerry footballers and as a basketball player one story illustrates just how good he was. Sean Murphy, who runs the popular sporting bar in College Street, Killarney, recalls vividly a conversation that took place in the bar some years ago.Two Americans who were playing with the local Gleneagle club were discussing the strengths and weaknesses of basketball in Kerry and indeed Ireland and they passed the following comment. "The only player we have seen here that might have made the grade in America is Pat O'Shea."

High praise indeed.

Pat traveled to America in 1982 with the Irish U-15 team accompanied his friend Timmy Moloney and is adamant that this experience was hugely influential in his later sporting involvements. A natural corner forward on the football field he was a regular goal scorer for his club at all age groups. Probably the most important score he has ever registered was in 1991 when Crokes won the county championship. A goal in arrears with seconds left to the reigning champion West Kerry in Dingle, Pat jinked and dummied his way in along the end line and squeezed the ball between the post and the goalkeeper to snatch a dramatic draw.

Crokes won the replay and went all the way to the All-Ireland Club final in Croke Park the following year and recorded a famous victory over Thomas Davis of Dublin, 1-11 to 0-13. And the scorer of the winning goal in the 14th minute of the first half? No prizes for guessing. Pat O'Shea.

Martin Byrnes is from Drumtarriffe in County Cork. When he arrived as a psychiatric nurse in Killarney in the early 80s he joined the Crokes. More than most he would have a close and personal relationship with the Kerry supremo. Martin played with Pat and also served as a club selector with him for the past three years. So what kind of a person is O'Shea behind the calm persona he displays on the sidelines with Kerry?

Martin explains: "He was always very light, played corner forward, but he rarely stayed there, he was always roaming. He had tremendous vision and he could see moves developing before anyone else. He was a great link man as he was in the basketball. No matter what he is involved in he likes to be at the centre of things. He's a great talker, has a good head and is an excellent coach.And don't forget that together with Michael Culloty of Tralee he wrote a wonderful book in 1994 called Gaelic Football Training Skills, and it has been endorsed by some of the top club and inter-county coaches. Colm Cooper reminds me of him. Pat could give you a great pass and then tell you where to put the next pass."

So what sort of a temperament had he in relation to playing big championship games? "He was always cool and oozing with confidence and this to me was the big thing. He always believed he was the best at what he did and he always transferred that on to the team. And he has done the very same with Kerry," Byrnes says.

And what kind was he to work with as a selector and trainer? "I learned so much from him, he eats, sleeps and drink football, it's his life. He is very astute, he is continually examining videos of games, and is constantly in touch with coaches around the country. He is always learning and transferring it on to his own teams. At meetings before matches he never spoke for too long, but whatever he said was well worth listening to. I always believed that one of his strongest points as a coach was the fact that he could get the very best out of the most average of players, this is another of his great talents," Byrnes says.When O'Shea was appointed as Kerry manager earlier this year there were mutterings from various quarters in relation to his job as a football development officer with the Munster Council and the fact that it might interfere greatly with his new position. So how did he juggle his home life, his work, guiding Crokes to the All-Ireland Club final and managing Kerry? "Yes, it was fairly hectic but as long as it did not affect the family I was on solid ground. At the time of the draw and replay of the All-Ireland Club final we also played Tyrone the same weekend in the National League and your concentration can be different. The same following the Moorefield game in Nenagh, we played Fermanagh in Cavan the following day. I never envisaged that would happen, so it was unusual.When the club situation was finished I remember going in the dressing room and apologising to the Kerry players because it was not right on anybody or fair on anybody. However, that situation could not have ben avoided, it was totally unforeseen," O'Shea admits.

A fiercely dedicated family man Pat is married to Deborah Ann, who is a daughter to that great GAA stalwart Eddie O'Sullivan, more popularly known as "The Tatler". They have three daughters, twins Amy and Leah, and Rebecca and son Gavin. So was it difficult balancing family time with his multitude of other involvements? "Of course we knew what to expect, all that was part and parcel of the job. My family are all involved in the sport and they love and enjoy going to the games. It does give you less time at home of course, but thankfully I was able to juggle the home life and work. It was not easy but we managed it and we were all happy."

It must have been very daunting walking into the Kerry dressing room for the first training session. Had he any problem bridging the gap with the players from club trainer to Kerry manager? "No I didn't feel that was a problem. I knew a lot of the lads from being involved with different groups up along during the previous years. I was going in there wanting to be as successful as they wanted to be. I wasn't coming in to change anything. I had no ego problem, I was carrying no baggage. I have a saying - 'players win championships and management loses them'. These are a hugely successful bunch of players and in many ways have not got the same respect outside the county as they have from inside the county. To go to four All-Ireland finals in a row is a huge, huge achievement, but of course the next step is the biggest and that is what the year is all about. Getting to the final is one thing, but now we must win it."

Pat O'Shea is a born and bred townie and; he loves Killarney. "It was a wonderful place to grow up and the surroundings are magnificent. I love walking in the National Park in the autumn, especially when the town gets that little bit quieter.There have always been great games between Crokes and Legion and that healthy rivalry keeps us all going, its part of the GAA. Killarney is so unique, you can have brother playing against brother, next door neighbours against each other, friends against friends, cousins against cousin, and school friends against each other. Where else would you find this? Both clubs have served this county well. We have seen great players; great people come from both Crokes and Legion. Just look at the facilities provided for the youth of the town by the clubs, that's you answer."

Pat O'Shea is passionate about his town, and of course his county, so am I. We have worn different colour jerseys all our lives. He black and amber, I green and white. There were days when I cursed the delicate beautiful skills of the Crokes man as he tormented Legion defences.

For many years it was a case of control O'Shea and you beat the Crokes, and it worked at times. Now he faces his greatest test of all. Club rivalry will be cast aside as I and indeed the whole county will on his men to victory. He follows in the footsteps of other Killarney townies who have guided The Kingdom to All Ireland final day. Gerald O'Sullivan, Jackie Lyne, Johnny Culloty and the greatest of all Dr Eamonn O'Sullivan. Win, lose or draw against Cork this quiet spoken, hugely passionate, obliging, and unassuming Killarney man has written himself into Kerry's glorious football story.

Fogra: I have gone for a Kerry win in all Championship games so far this year. I have no notion of changing horses in mid-stream now. Kerry for the two-in-a-row by four points.



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