IT’S SEPTEMBER 2011 in Croke Park. The first Kerry-Dublin All-Ireland final sine 1985.
Kerry are four points up after 63 minutes, and on the verge of taking home Sam Maguire for a fifth time in eight years. They haven’t lost a championship meeting to the Dubs since 1977, and it’s only a couple of years out from the 17-point pasting Kerry dished out in the 2009 quarter-final.
Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
But Kevin McManamon fails to read the script and with seven minutes left fires a low strike into Brendan Kealy’s goals to give Dublin hope. Kevin Nolan and Stephen Cluxton add the afters to send the Hill into ecstasy.
Dublin have enjoyed a wild few years since then. They’ve added two more All-Irelands to the trophy cabinet and are warm favourites to become the first side since Kerry in ’07 to retain the title next month.
Their championship record against Kerry this decade reads: played three, won three.
For Kerry midfielder Bryan Sheehan, the 2011 final remains the one that got away.
“[It was] a game we were in control of,” says Sheehan about Dublin’s 1-12 to 1-11 win five years ago. “Five minutes out, we felt we were in control.
“In 2011, I felt we were the better team. I’ll go on record: they stole that one off us. We let it slip through our hands.
“I thought 2013 was probably one of the best games of football ever played. It came down to…McManamon going for a point more so than a goal. It just slipped in. They won it.
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“Then I think in 2015 we just didn’t perform to our capabilities. So I think we’re more than capable of beating Dublin. Fear is not an issue.”
The 2011 defeat probably rankles most with Sheehan because he was at the top of his game that year. He picked up his only All-Star, selected at midfield alongside Michael Darragh MacAuley.
2011 feels like a seminal moment in this great rivalry. Before that day, no Dublin player had experienced a championship win over Kerry. Fast forward five years and the opposite is true for for the majority of the Kingdom squad.
“If you look back at the last few years since 2011 we haven’t beaten them. They’re All-Ireland champions – if I was in their camp I don’t see why I’d be fearing Kerry.
“You always look at the tradition of football in Kerry, what we’re capable of. The history we have in this county is fantastic. Something we’re very proud of and something we have to live up to as well.
“That’s a question you’d have to ask Dublin, whether they fear us or not. but we don’t fear Dublin. We just feel that the last couple of times we’ve played them we haven’t played to our capabilities.”
There was a huge frustration in Kerry at their failure to show up in last year’s final. Losing might be acceptable, but freezing on the big day in a green-and-gold shirt is not.
“I think that’s where we were let down in last year’s All-Ireland final. We weren’t economical with the ball.
“We wasted opportunities. Goal chances. Scoreable chances from play – didn’t take them. That has to be a bit part of our game, that if we do have possession of the ball, we don’t cough it up easy. We don’t have sloppy turnovers.
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t bring it. I don’t see how they can be hungrier than what we are. They are the All-Ireland champions. [They've] beaten us in 2013, 2015, in the league – if you haven’t got more in the gut to win a breaking ball or track a run than what Dublin have, then something is wrong with you.
“I think, for us, that’s the key: that we should be more hungry than Dublin. But that’s easier said than done. I’m sure Dublin are going to be hungry.
“They don’t like losing to Kerry. They’ve an All-Ireland title. They don’t want to be dethroned. They want to go for the two-in-a-row that hasn’t been done since we did it in 06, 07.
“I imagine they’re going to be hungry but I don’t see how they should be hungrier than us.”
Dublin are held up as the market leaders in physicality and pace, but Sheehan feels it’s an area Kerry must take them on.
“They are very athletic. They’re not hiding the fact that they have these coaches in there, athletic coaches, telling them they have to run 100 metres in a certain time and if you don’t make it, you won’t be on the panel.
“I just feel that Dublin are very athletic because teams are standing off them, letting them do what they want. If you are attacking all day, you’re running forwards all day for 70 minutes, you don’t have any problems.
“If you’re asked to go backwards, if a team can get a sustained period of dominance, put them on the back foot, put the likes of Brian Fenton, James McCarthy and a few other fellas like that on the back foot.
“Ask questions going the other way, then we’ll see how fit they are, how much energy they have.
“They’ve had it all their own way because – you have to give them credit – they’re down to a system where they have possession, they keep possession, work their kick-outs, so you have to give them credit for that.
“But it be nice to see if a team could get a sustained period ofpressure on them. Put them going the back way, see how they are.”
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'We were the better team in 2011, Dublin stole that one off us' - Bryan Sheehan
IT’S SEPTEMBER 2011 in Croke Park. The first Kerry-Dublin All-Ireland final sine 1985.
Kerry are four points up after 63 minutes, and on the verge of taking home Sam Maguire for a fifth time in eight years. They haven’t lost a championship meeting to the Dubs since 1977, and it’s only a couple of years out from the 17-point pasting Kerry dished out in the 2009 quarter-final.
But Kevin McManamon fails to read the script and with seven minutes left fires a low strike into Brendan Kealy’s goals to give Dublin hope. Kevin Nolan and Stephen Cluxton add the afters to send the Hill into ecstasy.
Dublin have enjoyed a wild few years since then. They’ve added two more All-Irelands to the trophy cabinet and are warm favourites to become the first side since Kerry in ’07 to retain the title next month.
Their championship record against Kerry this decade reads: played three, won three.
For Kerry midfielder Bryan Sheehan, the 2011 final remains the one that got away.
“[It was] a game we were in control of,” says Sheehan about Dublin’s 1-12 to 1-11 win five years ago. “Five minutes out, we felt we were in control.
“In 2011, I felt we were the better team. I’ll go on record: they stole that one off us. We let it slip through our hands.
“I thought 2013 was probably one of the best games of football ever played. It came down to…McManamon going for a point more so than a goal. It just slipped in. They won it.
“Then I think in 2015 we just didn’t perform to our capabilities. So I think we’re more than capable of beating Dublin. Fear is not an issue.”
The 2011 defeat probably rankles most with Sheehan because he was at the top of his game that year. He picked up his only All-Star, selected at midfield alongside Michael Darragh MacAuley.
2011 feels like a seminal moment in this great rivalry. Before that day, no Dublin player had experienced a championship win over Kerry. Fast forward five years and the opposite is true for for the majority of the Kingdom squad.
“If you look back at the last few years since 2011 we haven’t beaten them. They’re All-Ireland champions – if I was in their camp I don’t see why I’d be fearing Kerry.
“You always look at the tradition of football in Kerry, what we’re capable of. The history we have in this county is fantastic. Something we’re very proud of and something we have to live up to as well.
“That’s a question you’d have to ask Dublin, whether they fear us or not. but we don’t fear Dublin. We just feel that the last couple of times we’ve played them we haven’t played to our capabilities.”
There was a huge frustration in Kerry at their failure to show up in last year’s final. Losing might be acceptable, but freezing on the big day in a green-and-gold shirt is not.
“I think that’s where we were let down in last year’s All-Ireland final. We weren’t economical with the ball.
“We wasted opportunities. Goal chances. Scoreable chances from play – didn’t take them. That has to be a bit part of our game, that if we do have possession of the ball, we don’t cough it up easy. We don’t have sloppy turnovers.
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t bring it. I don’t see how they can be hungrier than what we are. They are the All-Ireland champions. [They've] beaten us in 2013, 2015, in the league – if you haven’t got more in the gut to win a breaking ball or track a run than what Dublin have, then something is wrong with you.
“I think, for us, that’s the key: that we should be more hungry than Dublin. But that’s easier said than done. I’m sure Dublin are going to be hungry.
“They don’t like losing to Kerry. They’ve an All-Ireland title. They don’t want to be dethroned. They want to go for the two-in-a-row that hasn’t been done since we did it in 06, 07.
“I imagine they’re going to be hungry but I don’t see how they should be hungrier than us.”
Dublin are held up as the market leaders in physicality and pace, but Sheehan feels it’s an area Kerry must take them on.
“They are very athletic. They’re not hiding the fact that they have these coaches in there, athletic coaches, telling them they have to run 100 metres in a certain time and if you don’t make it, you won’t be on the panel.
“I just feel that Dublin are very athletic because teams are standing off them, letting them do what they want. If you are attacking all day, you’re running forwards all day for 70 minutes, you don’t have any problems.
“If you’re asked to go backwards, if a team can get a sustained period of dominance, put them on the back foot, put the likes of Brian Fenton, James McCarthy and a few other fellas like that on the back foot.
“Ask questions going the other way, then we’ll see how fit they are, how much energy they have.
“They’ve had it all their own way because – you have to give them credit – they’re down to a system where they have possession, they keep possession, work their kick-outs, so you have to give them credit for that.
“But it be nice to see if a team could get a sustained period ofpressure on them. Put them going the back way, see how they are.”
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Bryan Sheehan Regrets Dublin Kerry