SEÁN ÓG DE Paor could feel something bearing down on him.
Seán Óg de Paor in possession during the drawn 2000 All-Ireland final against Kerry, with Mike Frank Russell close by. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO
Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
He was charging towards the Canal End goals in Croke Park, on one of his typical runs from the half-back line, when he felt the breath of an opponent licking at his heels.
This was familiar turf for the An Cheathrú Rua man, who pocketed two points in the 1998 All-Ireland final.
Against Kerry two years later, he found himself in similar terrain again, and all he had to do was drop the ball onto the sweet spot of the boot for the follow through.
But something was plaguing him from close range.
“I remember just before I took the shot,” he explains to The42. ”I could hear somebody coming into tackle me and it was just enough.
He suspects it was Tomás Ó Sé. It was actually Ó Sé’s compatriot on the other wing, Tom O’Sullivan.
I think it was even a nail that might have touched me,” he continues, “and it was enough to put me off and the ball dropped a bit short.”
“I was there thinking, ‘go on, go on, go over.’”
“Whenever I’m giving advice to young lads, I always give that example and say, ‘never give up.’ He never laid a finger on me but the fact that I could sense his presence was enough to kick the ball maybe about a metre short.”
De Paor was one of three unfortunate sons of Galway to be presented with such an opportunity in that drawn game.
Michael Donnellan scuppered a chance later on, with Tomás Ó Sé trying to hustle him from close by.
And in the dying minutes of the game, Derek Savage tried to smack the ball over the bar with his weaker right foot rather than offload to Pádraic Joyce who had stolen a yard on his chaser.
All of their attempts were lacking in the legs needed to get over the bar.
Kerry’s Dara Ó Cinnéide tells The42 of his memories of Donnellan’s shot, and how Ó Sé was lucky not to lay a glove on the Galway man.
“I have a very clear memory of Tomás Ó Sé chasing Michael Donnellan and he was trying to grab a hold of his jersey. And if he did grab a hold of his jersey it would have been a kickable free. Niall Finnegan was on the field and that would have been over the bar and Galway would have won.
I’ve said it to Tomás over the years that if he was a yard faster, he’d probably have one less All-Ireland.
Indeed, Kerry squandered their share of scoreable shots that day too, but considering Galway’s effort to revive from 0-08 0-01 down to level the game, the chances they spurned seem more pronounced.
But after relinquishing such a big lead, Kerry had problems of their own to tease out before the replay.
Ó’ Cinnéide explains how the Kerry of those days had a ’reputation for being a team that built up leads and threw them away,’ and Páidí Ó Sé was dishing out sour milk, such was his disappointment after the draw.
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“Páidí used to get very uptight before games, he was very meticulous in his planning and everything had to go right. And when things went wrong, he used to take it badly.
A draw is anticlimactic and you can feel it even in the supporters. You would be wishing to just press a button that would bring you back to West Kerry. But we had to hang on and have that dinner the following day.
“You win an All-Ireland or you lose an All-Ireland and we’ve done both. The night that you win, you don’t feel tired. When you lose it all crashes in on you.
“When you draw, you go through everything in your head and the things that you could have done differently.”
Kerry of course, won the October replay with four points to spare in the end. But while Sam Maguire may have wintered down south that year, it was Galway who produced a moment of magic that has cemented its place in the annals of GAA folklore.
In a passage of play which featured De Paor, Kevin Walsh and Pádraic Joyce, it was Paul Clancy who was responsible for the genius move that put wing-half back Declan Meehan through on goal.
https://giphy.com/gifs/ox5JmcYpwn5jG/html5
After gathering a pass from Joyce, Clancy — with his back to the play — hooked a pass into the path of the oncoming Meehan, who drilled the ball into the corner of the net.
De Paor and the rest of the Galway pack had seen Clancy exhibit that kind of skill in the past, but they could still appreciate the quality and precision of the pass.
“Whenever Croke Park is discussed in terms of the best point or the best save or the best goal, rarely is it ever asked, what was the best pass?
That range of passing that he had wouldn’t have been a surprise to us because he would often be in right-half forward and I would have made the run up the opposite side and he would have often picked me out over the years, so we weren’t shocked or surprised at the pass he gave.”
“I think Paul Clancy’s pass to Declan Meehan was just completely outrageous.
“I’m not sure whether there was a call or if Declan called for the pass but Paul Clancy was probably the most underrated player that Galway, or anybody ever had. He was very unlucky (not to play) in ’98, he was injured.”
A special connection formed between the players from those Galway and Kerry teams, and according to Ó Cinnéide, it was ‘the closest they got to an opposition.’
Both sets of players were invited to take part in a charity game in Dingle earlier this year, and a stellar cast answered the call, such is the ongoing strength of that bond.
Those teams were also connected by the Irish language, with six Gaeilgeoirs in the starting line-ups of that 2000 All-Ireland final.
Ó Cinnéide, along with Darragh Ó Sé, his brother Tomás, and Aodán Mac Gearailt represented the An Ghaeltacht region of Kerry. Meanwhile, Galway had two native Irish speakers on the field in the form of De Paor and midfielder Sean Ó Domhnaill.
Ó Cinnéide was hoping to sink a few pints with De Paor after winning the replay, but as he recalls, the Connemara man was struggling to get served.
He couldn’t get a drink in the Players Bar in Croke Park,” says Ó Cinnéide. “I had an order put in and I told him I’d put him in for a round but he said the man wouldn’t serve him.
“I told the barman that he had played about a half an hour ago but it was just that time where players didn’t get treated as well as they do now.
“I remember being pissed off for him thinking that one of the great Galway players of the modern era couldn’t get a pint in the Players Lounge.”
De Paor’s disconsolate state only worsened in the days that followed, and he distanced himself from the world as he tried to digest the shock.
“I didn’t think we could get bet and then when you get bet, you couldn’t deal with it. To be honest, it would have taken a long time to get over that.
I remember even a week later, the curtains in the house would have been pulled and I didn’t want to deal with anybody outside of the bubble because they’d only want to be talking about one thing.”
“To beat Kerry in an All-Ireland final is probably worth one and a half or two All-Irelands because they’re not called the Kingdom for no reason.
“Every footballer who looks back on their career has regrets, and that would be one of mine.”
Galway atoned for that disappointment the following year when they won their second All-Ireland crown in four years against Meath.
Galway players celebrate their All-Ireland victory in 2001. INPHO
INPHO
De Paor suspects that had Galway completed the task the previous year, it might have compromised their efforts for the ’01 campaign.
“Looking back after we lost the replay, you do kind of look back and say, ‘if, if, if’ and those chances that we had, if we had taken them, chances are we’d be All-Ireland champions.
But then, if you want to speculate like that, if we had won against Kerry, what would have happened the following year when we did win it? Would we have had the hunger to go through the qualifiers? I don’t know.”
Another group of Galway footballers will try to breach the Kingdom’s fortress again today, albeit at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage this time.
Kerry are in scintillating form at the minute, with inside forwards Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue proving to be a deadly force that will keep Galway backs well occupied.
Galway’s last championship victory over Kerry was in the 1965 All-Ireland final, and players from that famous three-in-a-row era often dropped into the Galway dressing room during De Paor’s time to wish them luck.
De Paor drew inspiration from those visits and endeavoured to go out and play expressive football in their honour.
It was enough to deliver two All-Ireland crowns for De Paor’s generation, but a win over Kerry on the championship stage evaded them.
He’s hopeful that today’s crop can end that drought, and finish what they could not.
“My impression of them is that they work really hard. In the last two or three years, they’ve really come on well in their conditioning and the physical requirements that are needed to compete at the highest level.
Shane Walsh and Damien Comer pictured together following the Cadburys All Ireland Under 21 Football Championship Semi-Final in 2013. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“It would be nice if the likes of Damien Comer and Shane Walsh were given the license to express themselves in Croke Park and I think they will.
“You won’t get a finer individual than (captain) Gary O’Donnell and he has a lot of experience. No more than a lot of us, he’s had more bad days than good.
“Galway wouldn’t have won a lot in the last seven or eight years and he’s here now. You’d be hoping that they make the step up to competing for the big prizes. I know everyone is writing them off but look what happened with the U21s who beat Kerry (All-Ireland semi-final).
“They have a chance.”
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Fumbling the keys to the Kingdom: Galway's Millennium All-Ireland woe
SEÁN ÓG DE Paor could feel something bearing down on him.
He was charging towards the Canal End goals in Croke Park, on one of his typical runs from the half-back line, when he felt the breath of an opponent licking at his heels.
This was familiar turf for the An Cheathrú Rua man, who pocketed two points in the 1998 All-Ireland final.
Against Kerry two years later, he found himself in similar terrain again, and all he had to do was drop the ball onto the sweet spot of the boot for the follow through.
But something was plaguing him from close range.
“I remember just before I took the shot,” he explains to The42. ”I could hear somebody coming into tackle me and it was just enough.
He suspects it was Tomás Ó Sé. It was actually Ó Sé’s compatriot on the other wing, Tom O’Sullivan.
“I was there thinking, ‘go on, go on, go over.’”
“Whenever I’m giving advice to young lads, I always give that example and say, ‘never give up.’ He never laid a finger on me but the fact that I could sense his presence was enough to kick the ball maybe about a metre short.”
De Paor was one of three unfortunate sons of Galway to be presented with such an opportunity in that drawn game.
Michael Donnellan scuppered a chance later on, with Tomás Ó Sé trying to hustle him from close by.
And in the dying minutes of the game, Derek Savage tried to smack the ball over the bar with his weaker right foot rather than offload to Pádraic Joyce who had stolen a yard on his chaser.
All of their attempts were lacking in the legs needed to get over the bar.
Kerry’s Dara Ó Cinnéide tells The42 of his memories of Donnellan’s shot, and how Ó Sé was lucky not to lay a glove on the Galway man.
“I have a very clear memory of Tomás Ó Sé chasing Michael Donnellan and he was trying to grab a hold of his jersey. And if he did grab a hold of his jersey it would have been a kickable free. Niall Finnegan was on the field and that would have been over the bar and Galway would have won.
Indeed, Kerry squandered their share of scoreable shots that day too, but considering Galway’s effort to revive from 0-08 0-01 down to level the game, the chances they spurned seem more pronounced.
But after relinquishing such a big lead, Kerry had problems of their own to tease out before the replay.
Ó’ Cinnéide explains how the Kerry of those days had a ’reputation for being a team that built up leads and threw them away,’ and Páidí Ó Sé was dishing out sour milk, such was his disappointment after the draw.
“Páidí used to get very uptight before games, he was very meticulous in his planning and everything had to go right. And when things went wrong, he used to take it badly.
“You win an All-Ireland or you lose an All-Ireland and we’ve done both. The night that you win, you don’t feel tired. When you lose it all crashes in on you.
“When you draw, you go through everything in your head and the things that you could have done differently.”
Kerry of course, won the October replay with four points to spare in the end. But while Sam Maguire may have wintered down south that year, it was Galway who produced a moment of magic that has cemented its place in the annals of GAA folklore.
In a passage of play which featured De Paor, Kevin Walsh and Pádraic Joyce, it was Paul Clancy who was responsible for the genius move that put wing-half back Declan Meehan through on goal.
https://giphy.com/gifs/ox5JmcYpwn5jG/html5
After gathering a pass from Joyce, Clancy — with his back to the play — hooked a pass into the path of the oncoming Meehan, who drilled the ball into the corner of the net.
De Paor and the rest of the Galway pack had seen Clancy exhibit that kind of skill in the past, but they could still appreciate the quality and precision of the pass.
“Whenever Croke Park is discussed in terms of the best point or the best save or the best goal, rarely is it ever asked, what was the best pass?
“I think Paul Clancy’s pass to Declan Meehan was just completely outrageous.
“I’m not sure whether there was a call or if Declan called for the pass but Paul Clancy was probably the most underrated player that Galway, or anybody ever had. He was very unlucky (not to play) in ’98, he was injured.”
A special connection formed between the players from those Galway and Kerry teams, and according to Ó Cinnéide, it was ‘the closest they got to an opposition.’
Both sets of players were invited to take part in a charity game in Dingle earlier this year, and a stellar cast answered the call, such is the ongoing strength of that bond.
Those teams were also connected by the Irish language, with six Gaeilgeoirs in the starting line-ups of that 2000 All-Ireland final.
Ó Cinnéide, along with Darragh Ó Sé, his brother Tomás, and Aodán Mac Gearailt represented the An Ghaeltacht region of Kerry. Meanwhile, Galway had two native Irish speakers on the field in the form of De Paor and midfielder Sean Ó Domhnaill.
Ó Cinnéide was hoping to sink a few pints with De Paor after winning the replay, but as he recalls, the Connemara man was struggling to get served.
“I told the barman that he had played about a half an hour ago but it was just that time where players didn’t get treated as well as they do now.
“I remember being pissed off for him thinking that one of the great Galway players of the modern era couldn’t get a pint in the Players Lounge.”
De Paor’s disconsolate state only worsened in the days that followed, and he distanced himself from the world as he tried to digest the shock.
“I didn’t think we could get bet and then when you get bet, you couldn’t deal with it. To be honest, it would have taken a long time to get over that.
“To beat Kerry in an All-Ireland final is probably worth one and a half or two All-Irelands because they’re not called the Kingdom for no reason.
“Every footballer who looks back on their career has regrets, and that would be one of mine.”
Galway atoned for that disappointment the following year when they won their second All-Ireland crown in four years against Meath.
De Paor suspects that had Galway completed the task the previous year, it might have compromised their efforts for the ’01 campaign.
“Looking back after we lost the replay, you do kind of look back and say, ‘if, if, if’ and those chances that we had, if we had taken them, chances are we’d be All-Ireland champions.
Another group of Galway footballers will try to breach the Kingdom’s fortress again today, albeit at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage this time.
Kerry are in scintillating form at the minute, with inside forwards Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue proving to be a deadly force that will keep Galway backs well occupied.
Galway’s last championship victory over Kerry was in the 1965 All-Ireland final, and players from that famous three-in-a-row era often dropped into the Galway dressing room during De Paor’s time to wish them luck.
De Paor drew inspiration from those visits and endeavoured to go out and play expressive football in their honour.
It was enough to deliver two All-Ireland crowns for De Paor’s generation, but a win over Kerry on the championship stage evaded them.
He’s hopeful that today’s crop can end that drought, and finish what they could not.
“My impression of them is that they work really hard. In the last two or three years, they’ve really come on well in their conditioning and the physical requirements that are needed to compete at the highest level.
“It would be nice if the likes of Damien Comer and Shane Walsh were given the license to express themselves in Croke Park and I think they will.
“You won’t get a finer individual than (captain) Gary O’Donnell and he has a lot of experience. No more than a lot of us, he’s had more bad days than good.
“Galway wouldn’t have won a lot in the last seven or eight years and he’s here now. You’d be hoping that they make the step up to competing for the big prizes. I know everyone is writing them off but look what happened with the U21s who beat Kerry (All-Ireland semi-final).
“They have a chance.”
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