Inside Kerry’s All-Ireland final prep: recovery vans, suit fittings, and hotel chess

Just as it was absent after their stunning All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh, the Kerry team bus wasn’t near their dressing room following the semi-final victory against Tyrone.

Instead, parked outside the door of it under the Hogan Stand beside trusty kit man Colm Whelan’s van was a truck with C11 Recovery emblazoned along the side. Eagle-eyed viewers of The Open Championship in Portrush last week may also have noticed it in the players’ area. On Instagram, would-be champion Scottie Scheffler and former Masters winner Jon Rahm were pictured outside it.

For the past few seasons, Kerry have been using the Kildare-based mobile recovery unit, which features Avantopool ice baths and compression boots. Cork GAA, Munster Rugby, Basketball and Cricket Ireland are among its founder Ryan Casey’s other clients.

“For the last number of years, any time we would have got to Croke Park, a recovery guy comes in,” Kerry selector of the previous three seasons Mike Quirke told the Irish Examiner football podcast last month. “There would be ice baths in the shower area. As soon as that quarter-final is over, the boys goe straight in there for the next day.

“It’s a great service and you know what it’s a nice thing for players as well because you’re saying, ‘The recovery guy is booked because we’re going to be here in two weeks’ time.’”

Psychologically, it is most certainly a boost and almost as self-fulfilling and prophetic was something that occurred across Jones Road last Saturday week. Outside of All-Ireland finals in GAA HQ, Kerry have their post-match meal in the Croke Park Hotel but there they were also fitted for their All-Ireland final suits. A couple of hours after qualifying for the final and they were already dealing with the frills and fuss that come with the day.

This month three years ago, Jack O’Connor spoke of the distractions around All-Ireland final day. “They have to understand that this is about performing on the big day and not getting carried away with any sideshows or tickets and looking after their partners the night before and all this. There are a lot of sideshows.

“Getting measured for suits, tickets and accommodation for their partners and all that, you have to absolutely park all of that stuff and concentrate on the performance because it will be well forgotten about if we can’t get over the line now.”

The logistics and other non-management backroom members pride themselves on their diligent levels of preparation. As they did for the last two games, Kerry will stay in Dunboyne the night before the game with Donegal also expected to spend Saturday in Meath in Enfield (Kerry’s banquet is the Clayton Hotel Burlington on Leeson Street and Donegal’s takes place in The Radisson Hotel in Golden Lane). Kerry’s bookings had been arranged for months – Donegal stayed in the Burlington hotel when they won the 2012 final but Kerry were there when they beat them two years later. For last month’s quarter-final, Kerry had heard Armagh attempted to book into the regular Dunboyne base.

The result mightn’t have gone the team’s way but for the final group game against Meath in Tullamore last month, they had organised their accommodation in Mullingar weeks before Glenisk O’Connor Park was confirmed as the venue.

In 2022, Kerry made an advance payment on their hotel for an All-Ireland quarter-final assuming they would beat Limerick in the Munster final. The pre-paid booking saved them around €7,000. Last year, accommodation costs for Kerry totalled €165,436 compared to €177,302 in 2023.

When Kerry beat Dublin in the following semi-final that year, they hadn’t a hotel booked for the night after the final. The team they had vanquished no longer needed their sleeping partners The Gibson Hotel and took their place.

There may have been some confusion about April’s training camp in Portugal. Last November, treasurer Paudie Healy told local media it would not be taking place only for that decision to be reversed. “Sure we're going anyway,” smiled O’Connor about the board agreeing to the trip after Kerry claimed the Division 1 title.

Like other counties realised, going abroad worked out cheaper than a camp at home but for Kerry who had played seven games in eight weeks it was also a chance to work on two-pointers.

“It’s a skill getting the right kickers on it and creating the space, so we had a bit more time starting with the training camp to work on stuff like that,” he recalled earlier this month. “That was the real practical reason.”

A total of 25 in their eight SFC games compared to 11 in the same amount of league fixtures would suggest the work done on two-pointers on the break was money well spent.

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