Key player: Neither flashy nor feted, Johnny Crowley was still the soul of Kerry's win, writes Keith Duggan
There are men, hard men and then there is Johnny Crowley. In his stockings, the veteran Kerry forward stands as 6'0" and 13st 7lbs of prime Glenflesk beef. It was that frame as much as anything else that obliterated the Mayo defence yesterday.
Although he has had his days of drawing the oohs and aahs from the ever-demanding Kerry gallery, Crowley was never as feted as the classy Mike Frank Russell and never held the masses in thrall as the boy-genius Colm Cooper has so often. Crowley's standout season of 2001, when he was as close to svelte as he will ever know and was rapping home goals for fun, somehow got lost when the Kingdom's season was spectacularly shredded in the infamous semi-final hammering by Meath.
They said Crowley was steaming towards footballer of the year coming into that game. But it didn't happen. Since then, he has drifted in and out of the team and at 29, he might have looked around the Kerry training ground and concluded that he had milked what he could from the best team in the land.
But there is a small but significant band of supporters in Kerry for whom Crowley is the be all and end all, the man they love above the rest for being precisely what he is.
His selection ahead of the silken and implausibly gifted Russell may have provoked surprise and comment across the county and beyond. But Jack O'Connor saw something he liked in the 29-year-old on the training ground over the last three weeks. And now, as the Kingdom enter into another victorious autumn, who could argue that Crowley, a bit player all season but granite tough and special on the biggest day of all, does not embody what this new Kerry team is about?
"I suppose a few of our own experts down south were stringent in their criticism of that one," said Jack O'Connor in relation to selecting Crowley. "What was behind it was what we were seeing in training. We felt John Crowley was coming into serious form over the last month."
As Dara Ó Cinnéide said with a grin, Crowley's timing was beautiful, "like a middle distance runner coming home with a great sprint." He forced his way onto the team and in the roulette, poor Mike Frank drew the bullet. Crowley felt in his bones the selectors were going to give him a crack.
"It's tough in Kerry because if you go any bit off, you are going to be sitting down for a while. I suppose two weeks ago, I had no idea I would be playing in an All-Ireland final. But the one thing was, the lads, in fairness, had never picked the two same teams consecutively over the championship. They tried to go with whoever was showing the bit of form. And I got the break and I suppose I'm delighted with how things went for me. Because I know I won't be seeing too many more days like this."
Perhaps, perhaps not. Crowley did not score in winning this, his third All-Ireland final, but he gave one of his most authoritative displays and was at the bulwark of O'Connor's bold plan to bombard Mayo with long, high ball. Although based in the corner against Gary Ruane, Crowley bounced off the Mayo full back wall with glee, gobbled up ball after ball and spoon-fed passes for the Gooch and Dara Ó Cinnéide to translate into scores.
"Yeah, we worked on that. That's what I was there for, to be honest. To win the ball and give it off. I wasn't going to be taking on fellas or throwing dummy solos or anything like that. That is what I was put in there for - to go as hard as I can as long as I can. And in fairness it worked great, I have to say I am happy the way things went for me personally. Maybe if the goal had gone in it would have been the icing on the cake but, ah I am not going to worry about it. I am not going to be greedy."
That Crowley upset the Mayo defence was obvious. They flung their bodies at his solid frame time and time again but always too late. He delivered ball with beautiful economy. When Gooch returned the favour, a goal chance beckoned and although scores were not his primary concern in this match, he grimaces at the memory.
"Ah, I had a chance of a goal and in fairness, Peter Burke blocked it. I'd like to see it again - I probably should have gone on to my left really or even fisted it over the bar because we were six or seven points up at that stage. But I said when I was there - I would have a go at it. It didn't go in anyway. So I will have to have a look at it tonight - but sure I'll live with it anyway, we'll cope. If we lost by a point, maybe not."
It was the one blemish in a flawless day. The day was gloriously won when Crowley trundled off with 10 minutes to go, battered and elated. It was no surprise O'Connor took a moment to greet him. Crowley executed his plan to the hilt. He had time to savour the strange sensation of an All-Ireland title just gently falling into Kerry's lap as he sat on the bench.
No big game has ever turned out like he expected. After Mayo's early goal, he expected them "to plough on from there and throw on the points". Instead, Kerry did all the throwing, Crowley the digging. It wasn't fancy but it laid the foundation for the runaway 33rd All-Ireland. Big John Crowley has three senior medals now and is bound to hold a permanent place in the affections of his county after a performance that was as clever as it was honest.
"It's funny," he says. "All year we were controlled. We have never been spectacular compared to other years. But our defence tightened up and they were way stronger and the hits were going in which was not the case in other years. We are probably more difficult to play against now." He was talking about the team but it sums up his own experience perfectly.
John Crowley has sometimes struggled to find his role with Kerry but he stuck with it through love and self-belief. And in September, the only month that really matters down south, it was as if Kerry finally fell into step with the plain-serving forward from Glenflesk.
