LAST SUNDAY WAS a milestone in Marc Ó Sé’s relationship with Kerry football.
He called time on his Kerry inter-county playing days last October and that meant the defensive stalwart was not involved at the start of a Munster campaign for the first time since 2001.
The meeting with Clare in Ennis also broke a 25-year run for Ó Sé of taking in Kerry championship outings.
“It was the first time since 1992 that I wasn’t at a championship game for Kerry.
“My small man was sick and he was in hospital so I couldn’t go to it. Only for that I would have been there. Obviously you’d be listening to the radio.
“It was a hard day to kill when Kerry were playing, the first championship game that I wasn’t involved in since 2001.”
Ó Sé is at peace with his decision to depart to pull the plug after the 2016 season, retiring with five All-Ireland senior medals to his credit.
But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have some pangs of regret as the countdown to another summer of football took place.
“There was one night the boys were training in Austin Stack Park and I was doing a bit of shopping and I was just passing the pitch and they were all coming out of training and I felt it that night.
“I actually came up to the National League final and I didn’t feel it at all, I was like a supporter. I really enjoyed it.
“Certainly the last day I felt it a bit alright, watching The Sunday Game that night.”
Ó Sé has slipped back into life with his club An Ghaeltacht, simultaneously holding the roles of joint manager and player this year.
Last Monday week he grabbed a prize that had eluded him throughout a stellar career as the West Kerry outfit won Comórtas Peile in Mayo for the first time in 18 years.
“It was a huge thing because the Comórtas is a huge competition for our club, it’s something we really cherish and value.
“Even years when we were winning county championships, we could never win the Comórtas and it was a medal that I never had.”
He’ll take his place among the supporters next month in Killarney for a Munster final contested by two teams who have endured contrasting fortunes.
Kerry got the early season of fillip of conquering Dublin, being crowned league champions and discovering a batch of new players.
Cork have toiled in their opening Munster ties, mixing dreadful starts to games with forceful late comebacks.
Ó Sé feels the pressure of favouritism will now hang over Kerry.
“All the pressure I think is on Kerry because Kerry are expected to win.
“We came up here (to Croke Park) in 2009 against Dublin in a quarter-final and everyone was expecting Kerry to be beaten out the gate and we actually turned it around because we had nothing to lose.
“All the pressure was on the Dubs. There was no pressure on us. Our campaign along that year was very bad, Sligo should have beaten us. There’s games where you can really up your performance.
“If I was a Cork fella the next day coming into Killarney, with all that has been said about Cork, I know I used to try and find any angle I’d need to improve and they have all the angles now that they need.
“I think they will up their game. They are a team that are capable of doing that.”
The 2007 Footballer of the Year believes Kerry need to be posed with strong tests early this summer as they were hampered by a lack of examination in 2016.
“They got a great test (last Sunday). It was perfect from Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s point of view in my opinion because in the first half Kerry struggled and then facing into a stiff breeze in the second half with 14 men.
“Let’s be honest, Clare have improved significantly. Kerry were always going to have a tough game up there.
“You need tough challenges. Last year we didn’t have them before the Dublin match. This year they had a tough challenge against Clare and they need a tough challenge against Cork.
“A lot of people have been giving out about Cork how poorly they’ve been going. But I remember 2015 we drew with them and then the replay was the bad night in Killarney.
“Cork were excellent the first day out there and possibly should have beaten us only for Fionn Fitzgerald’s equaliser. Cork will definitely raise their game.
“They definitely improved their performance in the second half. When you take the game on its own merits, they’re no different to Kerry, they’ve a lot of work to do.”
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