STILL GOING STRONG Fergal Kelly, pictured here in action against Kerry’s Dara Ó Cinneide during the 2004 All-Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Final, is lining out with the Mayo Masters next weekend. Pic: Sportsfile
Interview
Ger Flanagan
AS next Saturday’s All-Ireland Masters football final replay beckons, Fergal Kelly insists that Mayo are leaving no stone unturned in their preparation for what he expects will be another hugely physical encounter against Cavan.
The former Mayo senior midfielder is currently enjoying his first year in the Masters set-up.
Kelly admits that while his original intention was to play ‘for the enjoyment’, at this stage there is only one thing on his mind.
“When you get this far you definitely want to win it, and there is huge hunger there,” the 40 year-old Ballyhaunis clubman told The Mayo News.
“I came into the Masters for a bit of enjoyment, and during the summer it was really enjoyable. It’s gotten a bit more serious now that we are in the latter stages because you want to win, but it has been real enjoyable so far.”
On the first day out, not even extra-time could decide a winner after a pulsating 80-plus minutes.
Kelly admits that he thought Mayo had done enough to take the title as the end of normal time approached, but he says he couldn’t argue with the eventual result.
“We started well and put up a few good scores, but we missed an awful lot. After we conceded the goal just before half-time, they got back into it, and it was really nip and tuck after that.
“It looked as if Declan Sweeney had got the winner in normal time. . I was saying to him afterwards that it was probably better to get the draw than having to listen to him for the rest of my days going on about getting the winner!” he laughed.
“It looked as if we had lost it in extra-time but ‘Filo’ [Kevin Filan] came back on and kicked that last point. The draw was probably the fairest result.”
Of course the drawn encounter wasn’t Fergal Kelly’s first All-Ireland final for his county.
He also lined out at midfield for Mayo against Kerry in the senior decider of 2004 and, while it may have been a day to forget for Kelly and company, it also taught him some invaluable lessons.
“There definitely won’t be as much pressure in Cavan the next day as there was in 2004, I can tell you that,” he joked. “But if you had the experience that I have now, back in 2004, then it would have made a huge difference. Putting an old head on young shoulders would be an incredible thing to do, to have the calmness, and the footballing brain to take the right options all the time.
“I always said this [Masters] must be the hardest bunch of lads to manage, because everybody thinks they know best. But it’s an awful lot easier to talk to lads at this age about making right decisions whereas young fellas don’t understand it as much.”
Former Mayo senior manager James Horan and current Breaffy trainer Shane Conway each took a recent training session with the Mayo squad, which Kelly noted were ‘brilliant’.
David ‘Ginger’ Tiernan is the team’s only injury doubt, but is expected to be fit despite a back injury. Kelly feels there is plenty of class in this squad to get over the line on Saturday.
“The likes of the Breaffy lads [Gerry Jennings and Eddie Conroy], who you would not think are 40 years of age, and Aidan Higgins, Declan Doyle and Declan Sweeney … these are serious footballers and when you are this far now, you want to win it.”
