Topics

Whatever fate awaits our fearless leader for the Minster final – I am definitely suspended.
Getting married Saturday week and going on the honeymoon to Mauritius.
Have any other Gaels been in Mauritius during the championship?
Does any bar/establishment show GAA matches?

King Darragh commits for another year
by Brian Murphy, 30 January 2008

Kerry midfielder Darragh O Se has committed to the Kingdom cause for at least one more year, according to a report in Wednesday morning's Irish Examiner.

It is understood that the veteran Gaeltacht man made his intentions clear to manager Pat O Shea on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old is expected to miss the first half of the National League and will play no part in Saturday's opener against Donegal.

The news will be a shot in the arm for Kerry football as they seek a third All-Ireland win in succession.

Speaking on Tuesday, Kerry forward Bryan Sheehan dropped a major hint that O Se would return to the inter-county for one last year.

"Darragh is in his own time at the moment. We won't worry too much about Darragh. He is doing his own thing but I don't think we have seen the end of him yet," Sheehan said.

Hi folks I have two tickets for Christy Moore for sale on Thursday night in Limerick as Dolans Warehouse for €35 each.
If anyone is interested give me a pm.

Folks, I emailed the GAA requarding the Q?F structure - here is my mail and their response.
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My Mail:
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There is a lot of confusion as to what is happening in relation to the All-Ireland quarter finals in football.
Read any of the various GAA forums and everyone has a different take on what is to happen.

The official rules state that the four provincial winners (Kerry,Dublin, Tyrone and Sligo) play the qualifier round 3 winners.
Three separate scenarios have been advanced based on this wording.

1. The draw is predetermined as it has been for the last few years
Dublin v Cork/Louth v Kerry v Laois/Derry
Tyrone v Galway/Meath v Sligo v Monaghan/Donegal

2. The Quarter final is an open draw with the provincial winner barred from meeting team they have beaten in the provincial final (e.g. no repeat of Kerry/Cork in the quarter final).

3. The third scenario (the one I believe to be true) is that the Q/F draw is completely open and we could have a repeat of the 4 provincial finals, if the 4 losing provincial finalists win their respective qualifier games.

It would be appreciated if you could clear up the confusion once and for all.

Also could you supply the date of the quarter final draw if one is to happen.
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Response:
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The quarter final parings will be based on an open draw however the provincial losers cannot play the team that beat them in their provincial final. As of yet there is no date for the draw for the quarter finals.

Hannah Billings
GAA Queries
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Therefore Kerry can't play Cork in the quarter finals which is good - let the fun commence.

Rebels in the spotlight again over O'Leary suspension

By Michael Moynihan
CORK GAA chiefs are back in the Croke Park committee rooms, launching an appeal against a one-month ban on Rebel defender Noel O'Leary, imposed this week.

Board officials brought their case to the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) last night, after the Central Competitions Committee (CCC) sanctioned O'Leary for his part in an incident in the Munster SFC final with Kerry's Paul Galvin.

The two players became embroiled in a scuffle in the first half in Killarney, with the Cork man caught on camera appearing to kick out at Galvin. Referee Martin Duffy booked the Kerry attacker on the advise of his umpires, but took no action against O'Leary.

The CCC now has the authority to contact a referee and ask whether he was satisfied with the way he handled a particular incident, with video evidence, in most cases, to be supplied to the referee.

If the referee decides that he's satisfied with how he dealt with the incident when it occurred then the matter will be dropped, but if not, then the CCC has the right to pursue a case and propose a suspension where they feel necessary.

The new powers came in the wake of its controversial handling of the row between Cork and Clare players before the Munster SHC first round game in May. Delays in hearing the case and subsequent appeals that went all the way to the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) meant that three of the Cork players remained in the dark if they were eligible to play in the Munster semi-final against Waterford until the night before the game, when they were finally ruled out.

Just wondering if anyone knows the dates and pairings for the minor q/f's.
There seems to be a separate draw for the minors every year judging by who we have played in the Quarter final down the years.
2006: Kerry v Mayo
2005: Kerry v Laois
2004: Kerry v Kildare
2003: Kerry v Mayo
2002: Kerry v Tyrone

Looks like it should be Ulster but one never knows.

Lads a general question for the boyz on the board.
Has anyone out there done a medical before moving Jobs.
Have been offered a role subject to a medical and after 8 years of honest toil (and 1 of just toil after I discovered gaaboard.com) I have never done a medical.
Job is as a Project Manager so don't really know what they are after - will I have to mark Dooher \Galvin or worse Gearathy for 50 minutes......
Feedback greatly appreciated.

The art of cracking on without cracking up
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Darragh Ó Sé interview: Tom Humphriescatches up with the elusive midfielder, who when he wasn't trying to break Jack O'Connor's carraigs, avoid fielding sessions with Ger O'Keeffe or bewilder sports psychologists, won four All-Ireland medals. And he's not finished.

HOME

He used to be Dara, but his mother sent in a note to a paper about how her son spelt the name. A little song and dance, he says. That's what mothers do, he says. So now he is Darragh. Or when scraping the sky in Killarney on a summer Sunday, Darragh boy. As in "g'wan, Darragh boy".

He tells a story. You want to understand about Páidí and Ventry and football and how it's all tangled up. So he tells a story about the night his dad went to the church. Micheál Ó Sé, brother of Páidí and father of Fergal, Darragh, Marc and Tomás, is laid out in the church. Mourners are filing past the coffin blessing themselves and coming to shake hands in condolence.

One poor neighbour is suffering from a bad hernia and the protrusion under the belt of his trousers lurks at eye level for the bereaved.

"That," says Páidí to the nephews, "is some piece of artillery to have at a funeral!" Heads bow and shoulders rock.

"We were cracking up. You go to a sad funeral it's the end of the world, but things crack on. No hitch in a hearse. You can't bring anything with you. You have to make the most of life. Can't look back. Páidí has a great attitude like that. He has a great way of looking at things. The black magic I call it. He can laugh at the queerest things. We have a bit of that."

So the Ó Sé men buried their dad and brother and went about their work for Kerry that weekend in 2002.

"We kicked on from there. Football carried us away. After the season ended we got time to think about it, but we didn't mix the two. We just got on with it. That was the way it was going to happen. We spoke at home. It was going to be that way. It was good for us. It worked for us to be in among our friends. We didn't want to change routine."

People told them earnestly afterwards they didn't go to the game in Cork because they were upset about football being played at all. The Ó Sés weren't for stopping all the clocks, however.

"That's the one time you'd want everyone to go to a game. That's a cop out. Life goes on. These things happen. Everyone has their own private life, everyone has had tragedy. It was out in the open for us. People go through it."

That's life in Ventry. Football is separated out and yet it is inseparable. Going on playing football was no different from just going on. Darragh Ó Sé reckons that if you want to be a footballer the place he grew up in offers laboratory conditions.

AWAY

Going to speak to Darragh Ó Sé! Climbing the north face of enigma with just runners and a tracksuit on. If the silence doesn't kill you the fog of rumour and legend will lead you off course.

The first of many good-humoured calls from base camp.

"What'll it be about?" the man says.

"You." There's no point in lying to the man. The interview won't be about Iraq.

"Ah. I never speak about me."

"Oh. Iraq?" Another call.

"So, my man, what is it you want to talk about?"

"Eh. You?" He knows well what we're at.

"Ah, perhaps we'll do a little peesheeen on who we think will win the championship. Okay?"

Many calls later. Setting off from base camp. Call to Jack O'Connor. Darragh Ó Sé? Interview? SOS? Advice? More Kerry good humour. "You'll be some man if you get anything out of that fella," says Jack, "ask him if he's going to break Pat O'Shea's carraigs the way he nearly broke mine!" Hmmm. Thanks.

Fast-forward to a livingroom in a handsome house at the end of a row of handsome houses just outside Tralee. Books on the shelf. DVDs by the large screen. Kerry's last functioning icon lifts his baseball cap and runs his hand through his hair. The question of Jack O'Connor's carraigs is thrown in the air. And fielded.

Darragh Ó Sé laughs loudly.

"I came close all right to breaking Jack's! Close! Pat? We'll see! We'll have a go!" The Kerry manager's job should come with a wrought iron codpiece as a perk.

One night recently, Pat O'Shea gathered the Kerry players together to serve warning of an imminent meeting, one of those earnest, heart-to-heart chats to which teams occasionally submit themselves in the hope of catharsis. The tyros nodded intently. The old lags caught each others' eyes and smiled.

During the Jack O'Connor years there had been a running gag in the Kerry camp as to who gave the manager most sleepless nights, the lads from Rathmore or the fellas from West Kerry. Darragh Ó Sé could contain the mirth no longer.

"We'd be better off holding the meeting over in the Star Bar in Rathmore, because that's where all the trouble starts!"

Same old Darragh. An eternal Kerry presence. He was there in Ogie's time. He soldiered with the uncle, the great Páidí. He rose again with Jack O'Connor. Now Pat O'Shea comes to teach the old dog new tricks.

Every Kerry manager needs to be mindful of Darragh Ó Sé's place in the Kerry imagination. He is not a huge dressingroom presence in the way that Séamus Moynihan was ("I don't think they'd listen to me!"), but on the pitch, when it needs digging out, he is incomparable. The sight of him trading robust wallops and fielding a ball on a summer's day stirs Kerry hearts.

"G'wan Darragh boy!"

He is old school in many ways. He finds it hard to buy into new stuff, new routines, new ways of winning. He believes in the transformative power of the green and gold jersey. Anything more connected to the appliance of science he is dubious about.

This spring, with Moynihan and Mike Mac gone to join the comrades who have shuffled out to the rest home, Ó Sé has shown no signs of wilting or weathering. He plays with that trademark passionate and zestful style, and lately has added a talent for shooting big scores.

Strange thing is that, until last season, we thought that the raging fire in his gut had been extinguished.

He feared so himself.

HOME

When he was small the family lived in Listowel. When Uncle Páidí got expelled from the Sem in Killarney he came to Listowel and lived with them.

"Can ya imagine minding him!" says Darragh. "He was some role model to have about the place!"

When he was five they moved home to Ard an Bhothair and school in Cill Mhic an Dómhnaigh.

At home still they speak Irish to their neighbours and friends. Darragh speaks to Páidí most days, but when they meet it would usually be in the company of other people. It would be bad manners, but the Irish breaks out now and again. Playing football they speak Irish.

They are a tight bunch. When Páidí was in charge there was this joke was going around Kerry that a lad had to be from the Gaeltacht to break into the Kerry panel. They we were coming down the stairs in the Burlington one morning of a big match, Darragh, Tomás and Marc, with Aodán MacGearáilt and Dara Ó Cinnéide riding shotgun.

Páidí in the lobby lets out a shout.

"Ah Jesus boys, will ye spread out a small bit at least? I'm under enough pressure."

Micheál Ó Sé played some football growing up, got to Kerry junior level, but when his day was done, it was done. He developed other interests. Páidí was always there though and his passion spread through the family.

"He had ways of doing things. Great focus. Very driven and self-motivated. You'd hear about the training he did on his own - well, we saw that first hand.

"He was very selfish about his preparation. Grandmother Beatrice had the whole house streamlined around him. Dad had a few cattle, and one day he had the vet out going testing the cattle. Páidí had a routine where he'd train in the morning and sleep in the afternoon, and then get ready for training. Ahead of his time. She came out and she asked the boys could they come back later on. Páidí was sleeping. Dad trying to get the cows in. That's how it was."

Darragh played under Páidí for West Kerry and the Kerry Under-21s before Páidí became senior manager. They talk virtually every day still.

"He's one of those people you meet, you look forward to their company. They put you in better form. I enjoy his mindset, his competitiveness. He's the ultimate competitor. If you are injured Páidí has no interest in you. Ass off the bench then you're buddies again. Anything in the way of being right for a game he'd railroad that. Side issues not conducive to an All-Ireland were shunted. To the point of being rude!"

Páidí knew also not to go to the well too often. His loves were Kerry, Kerry and Kerry, in that order. His nephews gave more to the club.

AWAY

Back in 2002, by the end of that season, Darragh had endured a bellyful of it all. He was captain that summer, and at half-time in the All-Ireland final, with Kerry four points clear, he looked like being the Footballer of the Year as well.

The brothers had lost their father, Micheál, days before the Munster final replay, but as Kerry went off on the back roads playing better and better football we filled in the happy-ever-after part of a September ending.

They were beaten and he took it, but by the time the championship rolled around again he was hobbled by injury, the worst he's had. He could get through games on the treacherous ankle, but couldn't train hard, not in the summer. He hadn't trained at all, for instance, when he went in against Roscommon in the 2003 All-Ireland quarter-final. He won man of the match on auto pilot, but he knew he was waning. The timing was going. Tyrone devoured Kerry in the semi-final.

He needed to stop for two months but the carousel kept turning. Gaeltacht were in a county final. He had to play. They went on a bit of a canter through the competition then and he couldn't say no to playing while it lasted.

He was captain for Gaeltacht too that year, and the next March they lost the final to Caltra in Croker. "I was like a Jonah with a magpie as captain," he laughs.

By the time he was back in the intercounty dressingroom Jack O'Connor had arrived. They circled each other.

"Stuff I had done before I was struggling with. I came back with Jack in 2004 playing a few games. I wasn't enjoying it, I was playing poorly.

"Things had changed too. I wasn't going back in the car looking forward to next training. Football dominates the life. When you train at that level you are going home in the car and you constantly analyse yourself. I was analysing myself and it was never getting past, 'ah Jesus, I'm not playing well. Why am I doing this?' I wasn't playing well, not able to do things I wanted to do. Jack was saying 'Come on, keep going'."

He reckons he's been sent off twice playing for Kerry. Both times for hits on John Galvin of Limerick. 2004 and 2007. Back in 2004 he'd had a couple of quiet warnings that he was being watched by the masonry of referees, but, well, he didn't believe. Why would he? The previous winter Gaeltacht had played Senans of Clare in the Munster club final. Tight game, and as Gaeltacht pulled away Ó Sé hit his counterpart a big fair shoulder and put him out over the sideline, ball and all.

"In football that's a humiliation. You not only get put out over the sideline but you have to hand the ball back and give away possession. He took a swipe at me and grazed me. I fell but got back up."

John Geaney, the referee, was in quickly, patting his pockets for a card. The game was virtually over. Darragh Ó Sé said, "Leave him be ref, it wasn't anything. The game's over." And Geaney duly left the red in his pocket. "That'll stand to you," he said.

So Darragh Ó Sé couldn't help noticing a few months later when Jack O'Connor warned him to keep is nose clean that John Geaney was down for refereeing the league semi-final with Limerick. The game had an ugly undercurrent from the start, and on 30 minutes Ó Sé caught Galvin with a high shoulder.

Red! Geaney dealt it straight. Bah!

"I should have known myself. I didn't even get value for it that day getting sent off against him. I got value the last day though!"

"Would you say you're a dirty player, Darragh?" you ask him.

"Sure, you know I'm not," he says laughing. "Seriously. I'm hard, but I take the lumps. I get battered."

Things were different now in the Kerry camp. O'Connor was meticulous and cerebral. Páidí was more intuitive and passionate. The dressingroom was a quieter place to be.

"I found it hard to buy into Jack alright. There were things that I didn't think Jack was doing right. There were things that I didn't think Páidí was doing right either, but we had him at under-21 and we'd had Ogie as a manager. I was used to them, and when you're at a younger stage it was okay.

"There was silly stuff. I thought some of the training stuff was silly, but that was me more than anyone else. Everyone else thought it was grand, so obviously I was more the problem. Some fellas had problems but they wouldn't say!

"That said, what we were doing stood us well, but things were bugging me. I thought the way the Páidí thing was handled was bad. I wasn't silly, I knew they had to do something about it, but I was a bit pissed off. It was badly handled.

"Páidí didn't do himself any favours either.

"Then, as regards training. It was new. We weren't doing the heavy running that I felt was necessary. My fitness needed to be somewhere else. I was going on what it took me to get fit.

"To be fair to Pat Flanagan, his record stands up on its own. He said three years ago that we would peak in 2006. To be fair, we did. It was me being wrong again!

"Older players find it hard to get involved in new set-ups."

He was down. Kerry needed him up. The motivational phone calls began coming. Pat Flanagan. Ger O'Keeffe. Little gee ups. He hates that stuff.

He has his guys for that. Ó Cinnéide. Maurice Fitz. Páidí. Jack O'Shea. Darragh rang Jack O'Connor, exasperated.

"Hi. Listen Jack. Drop me now or do something. But call off the dogs!"

Wembley tickets set to go on sale in May

Tickets for the NFL regular season game at Wembley between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants will go on sale on May 16 to the lucky ones among those who have registered to buy seats for the historic occasion.


Within 72 hours of the NFL announcing the first competitive game to be played outside of North America, nfluk.com received requests for more than half a million tickets to its special registration site.

Next week, an email will be sent out to registrants, confirming details of the on-sale date and procedure.


Prior to May 16, the first group of registrants to get lucky in the lottery for tickets will receive a further email giving them details of the next steps they have to take. Notification will include details on pricing and how many tickets individual applicants are able to buy.

Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK, explained: "It is taking time for us to move this process forward, partly because we want everything to run as smoothly as possible. Beyond the May 16 offer there will be further opportunities to buy tickets so don't despair if you are not among the first group to be given the chance to purchase."


The link :- http://www.nfluk.com/news-display.php?id=2444

Taken from the Irish Times, 18th April

It's so funny how we don't seem to kick any more
Former Kerry manager Jack O'Connor joins The Irish Times GAA team in a hard-hitting weekly column every Wednesday
Two things struck me about the recent league. Too much handpassing. Lots of bad refereeing.
I checked the figures. There were well over 200 handpasses in several games - 235 when Kerry played Tyrone, nearly the same between Cork and Tyrone.
The Aussies came here last year and were better kickers with our ball. No wonder. We don't kick any more. It's too easy to coach handpassing rather than the natural skills of the game. You can get any bunch of athletes to develop into a handpassing team just running and handpassing.
One theory is that in winter teams train in grounds where the lights aren't great. And they do lots of training inside grids, handpassing and doing contact stuff. It gets ingrained.
I've said this in the past about Dublin, for example, they pick athletes and hope to make footballers out of them. Great teams get footballers and turn them into athletes.
Coaches take the easy option. Working on kicking or developing the skill isn't done at county level. Kicking is all about trying to get the balance right. You don't want fellas kicking the ball stupidly. The long ball has to land in the scoring zone and you need constructive diagonal footpassing out the field. One or two quick handpasses, a good diagonal ball for half forwards to come on to and then inside the 21 with the ball is the ideal.
We started out last year in Kerry one way and ended up moving back towards a kicking game. We worked hard on constructive diagonal kicking in each side of the field.
My cure is a change in rules. Two consecutive handpasses and then make a team kick it. That rule would transform football. Right now there are so many men behind the ball at any time there is often no point in kicking it, because there is nobody up the field.
The handpass epidemic brings us to referees. The handpass game is almost impossible to referee. Teams charge out with the ball, moving it quickly. We get too much contact in a confined space. Refs can't see. There are bodies and hits everywhere.
The Kildare and Donegal game last week was an example. Players were done one minute for overcarrying, the next minute for the foul. It's grey on the best days. A lottery on bad days. It is easier to referee two men going for a ball than six or seven in a fast moving huddle.
Not that referees are perfect anyway. A share of them don't look up to intercounty fitness. As usual this year they went like lunatics with the cards for the first few games, putting cur isteach on fellas. Frighteners till fellas cop on and it becomes a bit of a farce.
The GAA needs to draw in referees by making it attractive to former players. Too many men who referee big games know everything about refereeing and nothing about football. They can quote rules verbatim but they have no feel for the game.
There are things we have to learn or adopt. An advantage rule. Let the game flow. Come back and book a player when the play is dead.
And what about the amount of time it takes to book a player. A ref is miked up. Just let him say number 11, Kerry or number 11, Armagh down the wire to the fourth official and get on with it.
When referees stop play it takes at least 30 seconds to book fellas. Let the game flow. Let the fourth official keep track. Number 11 for Kerry booked. Recorded and announced.
And wire the umpires! A referee looks silly going from one to the other and then chasing around the field looking for a guy.
There were five minutes wasted in the Kerry-Tyrone game and they still couldn't find Tom O'Sullivan! For Crossmaglen John McEntee got booked twice but stayed on the field. If all information went through the fourth official things would move better and referees would have more authority.
Pat McEneaney has been our best referee for some time. Pat was playing a bit of junior in Monaghan until a year or so ago certainly. He knows his football. He talks to fellas. He understands the game. The GAA will have to seek these guys out.
Make it attractive, you'll get the best applying for it. We should take the time-keeping away too. I saw it work in Gaelic Park, New York, for the three years I played there. A big clock behind the goal. The referee signals to the clock man when play stops. And the clock stops. When time is out and the clock gets to the top a buzzer goes off and when play next goes dead the game is over.
Simple. Yet in my first game as Kerry manager (a league match with Longford) three minutes of injury-time were signalled and eight played. Against Tyrone in the All-Ireland final of 2005 four minutes of injury-time were signalled and only three played. You remember the ones you lose, of course, but such simple things need to be got right.

No news on the team yet but a good result from Tralee general last night:
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Kerry boss Pat O'Shea received a boost on Tuesday night with the news that Bryan Sheehan's knee injury is not as bad as initially thought.
Reports suggested that free-taker Sheehan damaged cruciate ligaments in his knee while playing for Cork IT in the Sigerson Cup over the weekend but he could now be available for the Kingdom's NFL game against Limerick.
"Thankfully the injury to Bryan's knee is not nearly as bad as first feared," he told the Irish Times.
"After undergoing some tests it appears he has only slightly strained his medial ligament, and at this stage we are hopeful that with rest and proper treatment he will be available for us at the weekend."
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Team severely weakened now with all the All-Ireland winning forwards out, Killian young out as well and maybe Tomas O'Se as well.
Resources tested to the limit now with an U-21 game on Saturday as well (Kerry u-21 without the Crokes players and they would have at least 4 on the team).
At least Declan O'Sullivan and Paul Galvin are back soon.
Still hopeful of a win.

Good news for Kerry - Declan O'Sullivan is available.
Most of the criticism of O'Sullivan can be traced back to the defeat to Tyrone when the whole half forward line had a nightmare.
Declan played very well when he came off the bench against Armagh and Cork and he handled the ball more than anyone else (save the Mayo goalie) in the All-Ireland final. I'm glad he is available 'cos he is a damb good footballer. Do I hear James Nallen reconsidering his decision to play on..........


O'Sullivan declares availability
Declan O'Sullivan
05 December 2006
Kerry's All-Ireland winning captain Declan O'Sullivan has insisted he will be available to play with the Kingdom in next year's championship.

O'Sullivan will travel to Australia later this month where he will remain until March when he returns home to link up with the Kerry panel. According to O'Sullivan, the main purpose of the trip is to rest after a busy few seasons with Dromid Pearses, South Kerry and Kerry.

"I spoke to Pat O'Shea, he understands my position. I would be hoping to rejoin the panel when I come back from Australia in March. I'll have to prove myself with the club and so on when I come back, but that's the plan at the moment anyway," he said.

"I feel I could do with a break after a couple of years playing with Dromid, South Kerry and Kerry. I'm going to stay out there until the start of March.

"Most of the established players will probably be taking a break until the end of February or the start of March, so I will be no different – except that I'll be doing it outside in Australia."

Game fixed for Cork at 2pm on Sunday.
It's live on TG4.
Don't know much about The Nire but Crokes were excellent in the win over Nemo, should have won by double scores really.
This Crokes team have lost the last two Kerry county finals and the only trophy of note they have won is the East Kerry Championship (O'Donoghue Cup).
This represents a massive game for a team whose oldest player is Eoin Brosnan and he is only 26. They have a lot of Kerry minors on the team from the teams in 04,05 and '06. They also have Keiran O'Leary whowas with the Kerry Seniors this year. They are young and light a wet day should suit them but more importantly they are not used to winning trophy's which made the win over Nemo all the more surprising.
Crokes aren't the most popular club in Kerry (or even Killarney) but most Kerry people will support them I'd say.

Attached is the match report from the victory over Nemo:
Dr. Crokes in rude health


Dr. Crokes 2-10  Nemo Rangers 0-10.
Showing no ill effects of their County final defeat, Dr. Crokes dumped Nemo Rangers out of this season's Munster Club championship in Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday, and in the process became the first Kerry club side to inflict a defeat on this famed Cork club in the 35 year history of this competition.

This was a magnificent team effort by a highly focused Dr. Crokes side who were all heroes on the day, but none more so than magnificent midfielder Eoin Brosnan who dominated all through, covering acres of ground and ensuring a plentiful supply for the forwards.
Nemo started the livelier and led 0-3 to 0-1. after five minutes with points from Morgan, O'Brien, and a James Masters free.
Kieran Brosnan had Dr. Crokes' opening score with a punched point following good work by Andrew Kenneally.
Both sides missed reasonable chances from placed balls and in the 10th minute Colm Cooper narrowed the gap to the minimum with a pointed free, and almost immediately wing back Batty Moriarty on the overlap brought parity to the proceedings with a excellent left footed equalizer.
Dr. Crokes were now beginning to assert themselves in all areas, but James Masters edged Nemo in front with an excellent point from close to the sideline in the 16th minute.

Advantage
This proved to be their final score of the half as Dr. Crokes took control and pressed home the advantage with five unanswered points. After Colm Cooper had equalized for the second time with a 30yd free,  Kieran Brosnan put them in the lead in the 18th minute with a long range effort.
Kieran O'Leary was now getting the better of his marker and contributed two excellent efforts from long range and another by Cooper following a long delivery by Brosnan which had Crokes leading by double scores at the break 0-08 to 0-04.
On the resumption, Brosnan stretched the lead in the first minute with a point, Paul Kerrigan narrowed the gap in the third but then came the defining moment in the 37th minute when a long delivery from Fleming was flicked on by Kenneally to Cooper who expertly tucked it into the net.

leading
Five minutes later Cooper turned provider, taking a quick free after being fouled, and Brian Looney finished to the net to leave Dr. Crokes leading 2-09 to 0-06. While Nemo tried hard in the final quarter and were rewarded by points by Masters and Kerrigan, there was no way through the tight-marking Croke defence, and they ran out comfortable winners to book their pace in the Munster Club Final.
The Dr. Crokes defence as a unit were magnificent, snuffing out the Nemo threat. Brosnan lorded it at midfield, ably assisted by Ambrose O'Donovan, while in attack captain James Fleming had a vice-like grip on the breaking ball. Kenneally, whilst not on the scoring sheet, worked tirelessly. Looney, O'Leary and the superb Cooper had the beating of their opponents.

Teams and Scorers
Dr.Crokes
Kieran Cremin, Keith McMahon, Luke Quinn, Mike Moloney, Batt Moriarty 0-1, Brian McMahon, Eanna Kavanagh, Ambrose O'Donovan, Eoin Brosnan 0-1, Brian Looney 1-0, Kieran Brosnan 0-2, Andrew Kenneally, Colm Cooper 1-4 (3f), James Fleming, Kieran O'Leary 0-2.
Subs: J. Cahillane for B. McMahon; V. Cooper for Looney; S. Doolan for Moriarty.

Nemo Rangers
D. Heaphy; C. O'Shea, P. Brophy, G. Murphy; B. Twomey, D. Kavanagh, M. Daly; D. Mehigan, M. Cronin; M. McCarthy, A. Morgan 0-1, D. Niblock; J. Masters 0-6 (4f), S. O'Brien 0-1, P. Kerrigan 0-2.
Subs: R. Kenny for Morgan; B. O'Regan for Daly; D. Kearney for Brophy; J. Kerins for Mehigan; C. O'Brien for Twomey.
Referee: B. Tyrell (Tipperary).

A cracing article on Moynihan for the Irish Times.
How Moynihan only won 3 All-Stars is an inditment of the allstart system IMO.
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Moynihan ends Kerry career: Ian O'Riordan on the titanic effort put in by the great Kerry defender to go out at the top

In the days after the 2005 All-Ireland final, closing time on the season and a natural a time for reflection, Séamus Moynihan sees his whole career as a Kerry footballer spread out before him, and all that he can't leave behind. He senses the mood of those around him.

That he owes Kerry nothing, has nothing left to prove, can walk away now with his head held high for the rest of his life. Probably should walk away. Moynihan thinks deeply, feels halfway undecided.

"I'll have to give it one more year," he says. "Try it at least."

That one more year has just passed.

Moynihan is sitting in his new home in the peaceful solitude of Shronedraugh, a beautiful part of Kerry more generally known as Glenflesk. His five-month-old son, Jamie, sits in his arms and his fiancée, Noreen, smiles at them both from the chair opposite.

He's been talking about last Sunday's win over Mayo, possibly the most perfect and effortless game of his career. He reckons he's fitter and stronger than he's ever been in his life, that the future of football in Kerry has rarely looked brighter.

"I've played my last game for Kerry," he says. "It's definitely finished for me now."

Moynihan lives in a part of the world where deep thinking comes with the landscape, and there's no way he'd relay this information unless he'd gone over it a thousand times in his head.

"I'd made my mind up about that a long time ago really, just didn't want to go public with it. There's no way it's going to get any better than this. I am as satisfied now as I'll ever be. To be honest, I said a long time ago that four All-Irelands was my target. I said that well before this year. That was always my target in football, and I've achieved that now.

"I'm 33 in October, getting married next July, and there's a lot of other things I'm looking forward to now, channelling my energy into other things. I know I'm lucky to able to walk away on a high like this, injury-free, and still able to enjoy my club football, which I hope to do for a few years yet."

Most things about Moynihan's football career don't need to be relayed by the man himself: his enduring, pivotal presence on the Kerry team, his constant inspiration to those around him, in victory or defeat, which stretches all the way back to his first trial with the senior team as a 17-year-old in 1991.

That one last year involved a sequence of events that now run like destiny and leave Moynihan more content than he's ever been, "his world at peace again". It's like a Shakespearean tragedy in reverse, where things first fall apart and then come together in perfect harmony.

"I suppose this particular story starts with Kerry's quarter-final last year, against Mayo. I went through that game not able to bend down at all. I was having serious trouble with my back and somehow I got away with it. If any sort of low ball had been coming into me that day I would have been totally found out. There was nothing I could have done."

The following day, at the first birthday of his brother's son, he confided in an old family friend, Fr Kevin O'Sullivan, who had both followed and respected Moynihan's career since his school days.

"We were chatting in the kitchen, and I remember telling Fr Kevin right there that I was seriously thinking about throwing in the towel. I was just telling him I was absolutely in bits. There was no way I could see myself improving again the way I needed to."

Fr Kevin cared too much about Moynihan to allow him slip out like this. Another old friend, Ger Keane, a Castleisland native, had recently completed a career change from music teacher to sports-injury therapist and was working with Ger Hartmann's clinic in Limerick. Fr Kevin politely asked Keane if there was any chance Moynihan could pay a visit.

"In the space of a day Ger Keane got me in there and in fairness, Hartmann got me as good as he could. But he said it was damage limitation at that stage, just to get me through the last two games. We got through against Cork in the semi-final and then lost the All-Ireland final to Tyrone.

"In the end I was taken off, and I was disgusted about that. I met the brother Donal a short while after the game and I told him that was it. And I was telling Ger Keane a while afterwards that I think I was genuinely depressed after that for a while. I went away and chatted to a few people but I still couldn't see a way back. A few weeks after that I was chatting to Fr Kevin again, and he suggested, look, it might be an idea to  get out of the box for a while, but not to walk away.

"I think the disappointment of losing to Tyrone, being taken off before the end, and knowing inside you weren't doing yourself justice, I didn't want to leave it like that. I didn't want to finish on a low like that, on a losing team. Then with the baby coming along, and the thought of winning another All-Ireland with him there to witness it, sure that was a mighty driving force really. I knew there were no guarantees, but I wanted to give myself every chance.

"And another reason was that the year before, when Kerry won in 2004, myself and Darragh Ó Sé were only on the periphery of that final. Darragh broke his ankle, and I had bone bruising in my ankle, and only came on as a sub. I remember us both saying that whatever else we do we'll have to win one more playing anyway, on the starting 15. All of that was the driving force really."

With all that driving around in his head Moynihan ended up back at Hartmann's clinic in the middle of November, trying to get some long-term relief for his back problem. Hartmann took one look at him and said there was no point in treating him anymore. The only solution to the problem lay in its source.

"His support muscles were not strong enough," explains Hartmann. "Séamus had done a lot of weights over the years, had a lot of good muscles on the arms and shoulders, but with very little stabilisation, and the back structure was all off balance.

"Between the twisting and turning of playing, the lower area of his spine was badly damaged."

Hartmann laid out a programme of core strengthening work, which he'd already applied to the likes of Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Ronan O'Gara. It would mean the player standing right back from the Kerry training. Kerry manager Jack O'Connor gave his full approval and Moynihan set out on that road of rediscovery.

Moynihan's ability to embrace hard training is something he learnt at an early age. Yet now, at the age of 32, he was facing the greatest test of that resolve. But there was more: after two previous applications he'd been granted planning permission to build a house on a family site in Shronedraugh, and the idea was to be moved in before the baby arrived in April. He also had his day job as a company representative, which can involve a lot of tiresome driving around the county.

Still, at least once a week he'd meet up with Keane for a core strengthening session in Castleisland, and maybe every fortnight make it to Hartmann's clinic in Limerick. Some nights he'd arrive home at eight or nine, and start working on the house.

There was one night he decided to paint the sittingroom ceiling, and in his inexperience, didn't realise he was supposed to dilute the paint with some water.

"It was like trying to spread glue on the thing," he says, though of course he got it done.

"In my own mind I'd decided I'd at least try this core programme, not really thinking about getting back with Kerry. I was thinking more about getting back and enjoying club football. With the baby on the way as well, and I wanted to be able to enjoy that. And looking back now one of the joys of it was trying to survive.

"I mean I remember after Christmas when we came back from the team holiday in New York I got a serious wake-up call, saying to myself 'what's going on here?' But I just settled into a routine. Obviously I was very lucky that Noreen is so understanding and supportive. Without that support there was no way I could do it.

"Those core strengthening sessions were tough, especially the ball work. You're lifting your whole body weight most of the time, and that's 13 stone right there. But you're still only talking about 35 minutes. It's done then, and that's a small price to pay. It gave me the chance to be more proactive about it as well, rather than constantly going around looking for someone to help me."

He approached it all like he did his old schoolboy routine at St Brendan's in Killarney. Anyone who remembers Moynihan in those early years recalls a youngster with the schoolbag over one shoulder and the training bag over the other, hitching a lift home. His two older brothers were his first inspiration but his love of football came from within.

"And I always enjoyed it," he says. "I'd say inside in St Brendan's, where we trained religiously Monday, Wednesday and Friday, that was where this routine was put in place very early on, and no matter what else was going on, there was going to be training on those days. It became second nature after that, and always enjoyable."

Part of the enjoyment came from the early taste of success. Moynihan won an All-Ireland Colleges title and got his first trial with the Kerry seniors as a schoolboy in 1991. He was then famously given his first start in the Munster final of 1992, the game that ended in a shock victory for Clare. Although he had to wait until 1996 for his first real success with Kerry he looks back on the formative years with special fondness.

"I think getting that chance so young meant I always wanted to make the most of it. And talking with Jack O'Shea or the Bomber Liston over the years they'd always tell me there's no better buzz than playing. And I feel very lucky to have had that for as long as I did.

"Those early years, though, I have great memories of. Playing with Jack O'Shea in 1992, then the Bomber came back in 1993 and I got to play with him. When I got my first trial in 1991 against Laois, Pat Spillane was still playing, and I remember coming up in the car with himself and Mickey Ned O'Sullivan (then manager). I'd have abiding memories of that kind if thing.

"And even though we were winning nothing around that time it didn't matter to me because I could always say I played with those players. And I learnt an awful lot from those first few years. Ogie Moran came in as manager in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and he was another big influence, a real gentleman. He was just unfortunate that the players weren't quite strong enough at the time, because it certainly wasn't through lack of effort.

"Things just took off from 1996 onwards, Maurice Fitzgerald opened up completely, and the likes of Darragh Ó Sé, Dara Ó Cinnéide, William Kirby, all came into a very solid team. When we won our first Munster title in 1996 with Páidí Ó Sé we were delighted, except Mayo hammered us in the semi-final. I remember we were back in training four weeks later, and made a massive effort in 1997 where we won the league and the All-Ireland."

That year, Moynihan won his first All Star, adding to his four Sigerson Cup medals. Kerry had a couple of off years in 1998 and 1999 yet Moynihan's career continued to flourish, including four years with the Ireland team for the International Rules series with Australia, plus one of the real highs - winning the county title first with East Kerry, which rewarded him with the Kerry captaincy for 2000, promptly followed by the same success with his club Glenflesk.

Yet Moynihan probably needed to taste some real lows as well to keep his desire alive. They arrived in the form of Armagh in the All-Ireland final in 2002, and Tyrone a year later in that infamous dog-fight of a semi-final. The image of Moynihan trapped in front of the Hogan Stand tunnel by the swarming Armagh supporters as Kieran McGeeney delivered his All-Ireland-winning speech is etched in the mind of many Kerry supporters, in his own mind too.

"Sure that kind of hurt stays forever," he says, "will always be there. It was the worst feeling in the world and you never get over it really. That was the most lonely place I've ever been. The fact is I met Ciarán McDonald there on Sunday, shook his hand, and could really feel for him. I just know the only thing for me to do was get back into the training and playing. If you sit down and do nothing about it then it's even worse."

When Moynihan made his mind up about giving it one more year, he'd continually remind himself he'd walk away at the end of it knowing he'd given his all. That meant revisiting some of his old training haunts, running the hills around his house and stretches of north Kerry beaches. He even revisited one of his cycling routes, about 18 miles through the mountains, "on an old wreck of a thing".

"I definitely increased the aerobic training. I think living on a farm I was naturally strong, and while the weights had their own benefits over the years, I felt I played some of my best football off an aerobic base, and wanted to look at that again.

"The plan was to sit out the league completely. I was always talking with Jack O'Connor, and as long as he heard I was training hard he didn't mind. But I know he was anxious I did come back in sooner rather than later, and in fact I did come back in for a challenge game against Kildare under lights there around March. It was a fierce cold night but I came on at half-time and tweaked the hamstring. That was a bit of a setback. I was very annoyed about that, knew I shouldn't have gone in, but it was a blessing in disguise, because it gave me the chance to go away for another month or so, that bit of space, and finish off properly what I wanted to do. And come back in an even stronger position."

Hartmann soon began to see the progress. As the championship approached he had Moynihan up for a session in Limerick, and was particularly impressed: "His ability to do the core work is as good as anyone I've said," he says. "I've always said the best man I've seen do it is Craig Mottram (the Australian distance runner), and Séamus is right up there with him. He was phenomenal. The belief he had though, that if he followed it he would come out on top, that to me was the real genius of Séamus Moynihan, how he masterminded his own return, and then looked out for the other guys as well."

The Wednesday before Kerry's final league match against Dublin he got a call from O'Connor. Mike McCarthy had injured his hand, and there was a vacancy in the defence if Moynihan wanted to test himself.

"I said I'd go in and find out where I was at, and it worked out well. I knew I was coming back into shape, so naturally then I felt I could give it one more go with Kerry. It all fell fortuitously that Mike broke his finger, because it gave me a chance to come back into the team straight away. I could have been sitting on the bench for a long time, and I knew I would have had to wait my chance, and earn it. But I was prepared to do that. I would sit and wait as long as I needed to, and keep working until I was picked on merit."

Yet his path to redemption would present a couple of obstacles more - the most daunting of which looked to be the Munster final replay defeat to Cork: "Look, it wasn't as if we set out not trying to win Munster. You can't come at it that way. But in one way, losing there was a big pressure release. The main target was still ahead of us. And we got the kick in the backside that we needed.

"The changes we made after that, obviously with Kieran Donaghy coming to full forward, and also Mike Frank Russell, Seán O'Sullivan, Tommy Griffin, all coming back into form. All that renewed our hunger and enthusiasm."

Yet Moynihan's own enthusiasm was now proving infectious. He wanted the best not just for himself but also for those around him, and when concerns about Colm Cooper's form began to surface he took him down for a session with Hartmann in Limerick. Before the summer was out Eoin Brosnan and Darragh Ó Sé had also paid a visit.

"I just felt it wasn't going to do Colm any harm. It's not that he was carrying a major injury, but I felt he was a little dazzled, and without him at his best we weren't going to win an All-Ireland."

For Moynihan, it was just as important that everyone else was up to scratch, and by now he fully sensed Hartmann's ability to empower the mind as much as the body. When it came to All-Ireland weekend, Kerry's passage now secure partly through Moynihan's man-of-the-match performance over Cork, the confidence of the whole team was exactly where it needed to be.

"You have to go in there with a fair bit of confidence anyway. But I just felt the whole team was ready, couldn't have done any more. We'd no injuries, and everyone was going in there ready and able to give it their all. That's really where you get the confidence from.

"I remember we stopped for a kick-around on the Sunday morning and I could sense all the lads jumping out of their skins, looking forward to the game. I felt everyone was on top form, it was all perfect. Obviously, we had a fair warning sign with their performance against Dublin. On top of that we all felt there'd be a serious kick in these guys after we beating them in 2004 and 1997, so there was no complacency from our point of view."

In the end Kerry's 13-point victory provided Moynihan with the sense of total fulfilment he had pursued all year. When he reached the steps of the Hogan Stand with his team-mates, with Jamie in hand, Hartmann and Keane were watching from nearby. Later, Keane remarked on the sight of Moynihan laughing with total abandon.

"Sure that had to be the greatest feeling in the world. When the final whistle went, I knew Jamie would be there at the top of the stand, and that was a massive sense of satisfaction, that he was here to witness this. I don't know if I ever felt as satisfied, knowing it had all completed the way I wanted it.

"I honestly feel I was physically as good as I've ever been. I was able to go full throttle all year. It was like there were no brakes on me at all.

"Obviously a year ago nobody was coming up saying it to me personally, that I was finished. But you can imagine easy enough what's going on out there. I imagine there were a lot of people even this year saying I was mad to come back. But I believe you know your own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone, and I knew I had my homework done over the winter, and had given myself every opportunity."

He has no idea how many games he's played for Kerry. Two numbers he does care about are zero (the number of times he's been sent off) and four (the number of senior All-Irelands he's won).

"You can't compare the four though, no, because they're all so special. I certainly couldn't put one over another anyway. Maybe in the years to come though, 2006 will possibly seem the sweetest."