O'Shea and Crokes are left with a haunting hurt

In his first interview after stepping down as Kerry manager, Pat O’Shea told of how the 2008 All-Ireland final defeat tormented him. On the All-Stars trip to San Francisco, he went over every decision he made, second by second. He was haunted.

The Killarney native stepped down having made it to two All-Ireland finals, one win and one loss. To finish on a bum note hurt but he knew the occupational hazards when he took the gig.

“I've always made the point that in the GAA, and rightly so, players win games; managers lose them," O'Shea said. "These are the facts. You have to take that responsibility when you go into the job first day.”

It wasn’t fair then and it isn’t fair now. The Kerry champions played their part in a thriller in Newbridge on Saturday afternoon. It was a performance defined by risks and rewards and intense passion. As Gary Gaines told his Friday Night Lights quarterback, there isn’t much difference between winnin’ and losin’ except for how the outside world treats you.

Errigal Ciarán trusted in two of the most gifted forwards in the country to get them to Croke Park. Dr Crokes trusted in their values to get them close. For the last two weeks of buildup, drawn out by an initial postponement, the hope was that all of these components could make it box office. That it certainly was.

Newbridge has come to represent many things – racetrack, theatre, a siege site, the future. Here it facilitated history. Yes, the field was lined with the new markings having hosted Kildare’s recent challenge with Galway. Still, as one world gives away to another, Saturday gave a reminder of some eternal truths. There are always things that should not be forgotten.

History has taught us that some things never change. Kerry and Tyrone can serve up epics. Class forwards are perpetually valuable. Referees will make mistakes. Gaelic football at its best has few rivals.

As the floodlights flicked on and Brendan Cawley prepared to throw the ball in, it became clear a shootout was on the cards. Gavin White was given the formidable task of tracking Darragh Canavan with Maidhci Lynch on the brother, Ruairi. Their early proficiency proved troubling. They swapped markers later with Fionn Fitzgerald forced into firefighting on Ruairi. At the other end, Tiarnan Colhoun started on Micheál Burns with Cormac Quinn stifling Tony Brosnan.

TOUCH-TIGHT: Ruairi Canavan of Errigal Ciarán and Gavin O'Shea of Dr.Crokes. Pic: INPHO/James Lawlor

Dr Crokes were brave. Admirably so. This contributed to a cracker. With ten minutes played, O’Shea demanded more. “Squeeze!” The instruction from the sideline was like a siren. Crokes raced forward until Tom Doyle pressurised Aidan McCrory into an error. Like all smart teams, they followed up that turnover with a kick into space. Burns slotted over a fantastic effort having missed one from a similar angle moments before to make it 0-3 to 0-1.

Football is a numbers game. You can boil that down to its essentials and say Crokes had 30 shots to 27 but finished with a 55% conversion from play. Or you can say why they had so many chances. By flooding numbers forward, they left themselves exposed at the back.

There are few talents more capable of taking advantage of that platform than the Canavans. Here they were awesome. They scored 1-13 between them, including three frees that Ruairi won himself. To quench that early Crokes spark, Darragh slid out, collected possession on the ground and offloaded to his oncoming brother. The only player in the history of the game as proficient in the ground game was seated in the stand smiling. Peter later made his way down to congratulate his family post-match.

With blue and yellow soaking in a famous win, the fire alarm sounded urging patrons to make for the exit and avoid using the lift. By then it was too little, too late. The Canavan torching was at an end. Seven points and still the best thing Ruairi did was arrow a quick free to his brother who drove it into the roof of the net for the game’s opening goal.

That blow left O’Shea livid. He turned to linesman David Gough and gestured wildly where the free should have been taken. He was all in. When a Tony Brosnan free left it level, O’Shea turned to the strong travelling support and gestured for the crowd to dig deep too. The roar was immediate.

The two Canavans gathered on the same sideline in extra-time, attracting understandable attention. That left Joe Oguz free to drive down the centre and find the top corner.

There was no recovering from that setback, though Charlie Keating certainly tried with his late goal leaving Crokes still within reach of a remarkable comeback. At that stage, they had nothing left. No one did. Burns and Cormac Quinn struggled to leave the field without help, Darragh Canavan’s calf had him crab-walking around the square. Crokes will rue how they let slip of this contest. They made mistakes. The first Canavan linkup score came after Brosnan missed a goal chance. White gave away the ball as they looked to hold on in normal time. Frustration got the better of Fitzgerald in the end.

None of that takes away from what was an extraordinary effort. A club that failed to get out of the group stages of the County Championship last year end the season as club, county and Munster champions. It wasn’t their approach or sideline decisions that lost them this semi-final. They and their manager will know this. But history has also shown us that it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

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