Moynihan ends Kerry career: Ian O'Riordan on the titanic effort put in by the great Kerry defender to go out at the top

In the days after the 2005 All-Ireland final, closing time on the season and a natural a time for reflection, Séamus Moynihan sees his whole career as a Kerry footballer spread out before him, and all that he can't leave behind. He senses the mood of those around him.

That he owes Kerry nothing, has nothing left to prove, can walk away now with his head held high for the rest of his life. Probably should walk away. Moynihan thinks deeply, feels halfway undecided.

"I'll have to give it one more year," he says. "Try it at least."

That one more year has just passed.

Moynihan is sitting in his new home in the peaceful solitude of Shronedraugh, a beautiful part of Kerry more generally known as Glenflesk. His five-month-old son, Jamie, sits in his arms and his fiancée, Noreen, smiles at them both from the chair opposite.

He's been talking about last Sunday's win over Mayo, possibly the most perfect and effortless game of his career. He reckons he's fitter and stronger than he's ever been in his life, that the future of football in Kerry has rarely looked brighter.

"I've played my last game for Kerry," he says. "It's definitely finished for me now."

Moynihan lives in a part of the world where deep thinking comes with the landscape, and there's no way he'd relay this information unless he'd gone over it a thousand times in his head.

"I'd made my mind up about that a long time ago really, just didn't want to go public with it. There's no way it's going to get any better than this. I am as satisfied now as I'll ever be. To be honest, I said a long time ago that four All-Irelands was my target. I said that well before this year. That was always my target in football, and I've achieved that now.

"I'm 33 in October, getting married next July, and there's a lot of other things I'm looking forward to now, channelling my energy into other things. I know I'm lucky to able to walk away on a high like this, injury-free, and still able to enjoy my club football, which I hope to do for a few years yet."

Most things about Moynihan's football career don't need to be relayed by the man himself: his enduring, pivotal presence on the Kerry team, his constant inspiration to those around him, in victory or defeat, which stretches all the way back to his first trial with the senior team as a 17-year-old in 1991.

That one last year involved a sequence of events that now run like destiny and leave Moynihan more content than he's ever been, "his world at peace again". It's like a Shakespearean tragedy in reverse, where things first fall apart and then come together in perfect harmony.

"I suppose this particular story starts with Kerry's quarter-final last year, against Mayo. I went through that game not able to bend down at all. I was having serious trouble with my back and somehow I got away with it. If any sort of low ball had been coming into me that day I would have been totally found out. There was nothing I could have done."

The following day, at the first birthday of his brother's son, he confided in an old family friend, Fr Kevin O'Sullivan, who had both followed and respected Moynihan's career since his school days.

"We were chatting in the kitchen, and I remember telling Fr Kevin right there that I was seriously thinking about throwing in the towel. I was just telling him I was absolutely in bits. There was no way I could see myself improving again the way I needed to."

Fr Kevin cared too much about Moynihan to allow him slip out like this. Another old friend, Ger Keane, a Castleisland native, had recently completed a career change from music teacher to sports-injury therapist and was working with Ger Hartmann's clinic in Limerick. Fr Kevin politely asked Keane if there was any chance Moynihan could pay a visit.

"In the space of a day Ger Keane got me in there and in fairness, Hartmann got me as good as he could. But he said it was damage limitation at that stage, just to get me through the last two games. We got through against Cork in the semi-final and then lost the All-Ireland final to Tyrone.

"In the end I was taken off, and I was disgusted about that. I met the brother Donal a short while after the game and I told him that was it. And I was telling Ger Keane a while afterwards that I think I was genuinely depressed after that for a while. I went away and chatted to a few people but I still couldn't see a way back. A few weeks after that I was chatting to Fr Kevin again, and he suggested, look, it might be an idea to get out of the box for a while, but not to walk away.

"I think the disappointment of losing to Tyrone, being taken off before the end, and knowing inside you weren't doing yourself justice, I didn't want to leave it like that. I didn't want to finish on a low like that, on a losing team. Then with the baby coming along, and the thought of winning another All-Ireland with him there to witness it, sure that was a mighty driving force really. I knew there were no guarantees, but I wanted to give myself every chance.

"And another reason was that the year before, when Kerry won in 2004, myself and Darragh Ó Sé were only on the periphery of that final. Darragh broke his ankle, and I had bone bruising in my ankle, and only came on as a sub. I remember us both saying that whatever else we do we'll have to win one more playing anyway, on the starting 15. All of that was the driving force really."

With all that driving around in his head Moynihan ended up back at Hartmann's clinic in the middle of November, trying to get some long-term relief for his back problem. Hartmann took one look at him and said there was no point in treating him anymore. The only solution to the problem lay in its source.

"His support muscles were not strong enough," explains Hartmann. "Séamus had done a lot of weights over the years, had a lot of good muscles on the arms and shoulders, but with very little stabilisation, and the back structure was all off balance.

"Between the twisting and turning of playing, the lower area of his spine was badly damaged."

Hartmann laid out a programme of core strengthening work, which he'd already applied to the likes of Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Ronan O'Gara. It would mean the player standing right back from the Kerry training. Kerry manager Jack O'Connor gave his full approval and Moynihan set out on that road of rediscovery.

Moynihan's ability to embrace hard training is something he learnt at an early age. Yet now, at the age of 32, he was facing the greatest test of that resolve. But there was more: after two previous applications he'd been granted planning permission to build a house on a family site in Shronedraugh, and the idea was to be moved in before the baby arrived in April. He also had his day job as a company representative, which can involve a lot of tiresome driving around the county.

Still, at least once a week he'd meet up with Keane for a core strengthening session in Castleisland, and maybe every fortnight make it to Hartmann's clinic in Limerick. Some nights he'd arrive home at eight or nine, and start working on the house.

There was one night he decided to paint the sittingroom ceiling, and in his inexperience, didn't realise he was supposed to dilute the paint with some water.

"It was like trying to spread glue on the thing," he says, though of course he got it done.

"In my own mind I'd decided I'd at least try this core programme, not really thinking about getting back with Kerry. I was thinking more about getting back and enjoying club football. With the baby on the way as well, and I wanted to be able to enjoy that. And looking back now one of the joys of it was trying to survive.

"I mean I remember after Christmas when we came back from the team holiday in New York I got a serious wake-up call, saying to myself 'what's going on here?' But I just settled into a routine. Obviously I was very lucky that Noreen is so understanding and supportive. Without that support there was no way I could do it.

"Those core strengthening sessions were tough, especially the ball work. You're lifting your whole body weight most of the time, and that's 13 stone right there. But you're still only talking about 35 minutes. It's done then, and that's a small price to pay. It gave me the chance to be more proactive about it as well, rather than constantly going around looking for someone to help me."

He approached it all like he did his old schoolboy routine at St Brendan's in Killarney. Anyone who remembers Moynihan in those early years recalls a youngster with the schoolbag over one shoulder and the training bag over the other, hitching a lift home. His two older brothers were his first inspiration but his love of football came from within.

"And I always enjoyed it," he says. "I'd say inside in St Brendan's, where we trained religiously Monday, Wednesday and Friday, that was where this routine was put in place very early on, and no matter what else was going on, there was going to be training on those days. It became second nature after that, and always enjoyable."

Part of the enjoyment came from the early taste of success. Moynihan won an All-Ireland Colleges title and got his first trial with the Kerry seniors as a schoolboy in 1991. He was then famously given his first start in the Munster final of 1992, the game that ended in a shock victory for Clare. Although he had to wait until 1996 for his first real success with Kerry he looks back on the formative years with special fondness.

"I think getting that chance so young meant I always wanted to make the most of it. And talking with Jack O'Shea or the Bomber Liston over the years they'd always tell me there's no better buzz than playing. And I feel very lucky to have had that for as long as I did.

"Those early years, though, I have great memories of. Playing with Jack O'Shea in 1992, then the Bomber came back in 1993 and I got to play with him. When I got my first trial in 1991 against Laois, Pat Spillane was still playing, and I remember coming up in the car with himself and Mickey Ned O'Sullivan (then manager). I'd have abiding memories of that kind if thing.

"And even though we were winning nothing around that time it didn't matter to me because I could always say I played with those players. And I learnt an awful lot from those first few years. Ogie Moran came in as manager in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and he was another big influence, a real gentleman. He was just unfortunate that the players weren't quite strong enough at the time, because it certainly wasn't through lack of effort.

"Things just took off from 1996 onwards, Maurice Fitzgerald opened up completely, and the likes of Darragh Ó Sé, Dara Ó Cinnéide, William Kirby, all came into a very solid team. When we won our first Munster title in 1996 with Páidí Ó Sé we were delighted, except Mayo hammered us in the semi-final. I remember we were back in training four weeks later, and made a massive effort in 1997 where we won the league and the All-Ireland."

That year, Moynihan won his first All Star, adding to his four Sigerson Cup medals. Kerry had a couple of off years in 1998 and 1999 yet Moynihan's career continued to flourish, including four years with the Ireland team for the International Rules series with Australia, plus one of the real highs - winning the county title first with East Kerry, which rewarded him with the Kerry captaincy for 2000, promptly followed by the same success with his club Glenflesk.

Yet Moynihan probably needed to taste some real lows as well to keep his desire alive. They arrived in the form of Armagh in the All-Ireland final in 2002, and Tyrone a year later in that infamous dog-fight of a semi-final. The image of Moynihan trapped in front of the Hogan Stand tunnel by the swarming Armagh supporters as Kieran McGeeney delivered his All-Ireland-winning speech is etched in the mind of many Kerry supporters, in his own mind too.

"Sure that kind of hurt stays forever," he says, "will always be there. It was the worst feeling in the world and you never get over it really. That was the most lonely place I've ever been. The fact is I met Ciarán McDonald there on Sunday, shook his hand, and could really feel for him. I just know the only thing for me to do was get back into the training and playing. If you sit down and do nothing about it then it's even worse."

When Moynihan made his mind up about giving it one more year, he'd continually remind himself he'd walk away at the end of it knowing he'd given his all. That meant revisiting some of his old training haunts, running the hills around his house and stretches of north Kerry beaches. He even revisited one of his cycling routes, about 18 miles through the mountains, "on an old wreck of a thing".

"I definitely increased the aerobic training. I think living on a farm I was naturally strong, and while the weights had their own benefits over the years, I felt I played some of my best football off an aerobic base, and wanted to look at that again.

"The plan was to sit out the league completely. I was always talking with Jack O'Connor, and as long as he heard I was training hard he didn't mind. But I know he was anxious I did come back in sooner rather than later, and in fact I did come back in for a challenge game against Kildare under lights there around March. It was a fierce cold night but I came on at half-time and tweaked the hamstring. That was a bit of a setback. I was very annoyed about that, knew I shouldn't have gone in, but it was a blessing in disguise, because it gave me the chance to go away for another month or so, that bit of space, and finish off properly what I wanted to do. And come back in an even stronger position."

Hartmann soon began to see the progress. As the championship approached he had Moynihan up for a session in Limerick, and was particularly impressed: "His ability to do the core work is as good as anyone I've said," he says. "I've always said the best man I've seen do it is Craig Mottram (the Australian distance runner), and Séamus is right up there with him. He was phenomenal. The belief he had though, that if he followed it he would come out on top, that to me was the real genius of Séamus Moynihan, how he masterminded his own return, and then looked out for the other guys as well."

The Wednesday before Kerry's final league match against Dublin he got a call from O'Connor. Mike McCarthy had injured his hand, and there was a vacancy in the defence if Moynihan wanted to test himself.

"I said I'd go in and find out where I was at, and it worked out well. I knew I was coming back into shape, so naturally then I felt I could give it one more go with Kerry. It all fell fortuitously that Mike broke his finger, because it gave me a chance to come back into the team straight away. I could have been sitting on the bench for a long time, and I knew I would have had to wait my chance, and earn it. But I was prepared to do that. I would sit and wait as long as I needed to, and keep working until I was picked on merit."

Yet his path to redemption would present a couple of obstacles more - the most daunting of which looked to be the Munster final replay defeat to Cork: "Look, it wasn't as if we set out not trying to win Munster. You can't come at it that way. But in one way, losing there was a big pressure release. The main target was still ahead of us. And we got the kick in the backside that we needed.

"The changes we made after that, obviously with Kieran Donaghy coming to full forward, and also Mike Frank Russell, Seán O'Sullivan, Tommy Griffin, all coming back into form. All that renewed our hunger and enthusiasm."

Yet Moynihan's own enthusiasm was now proving infectious. He wanted the best not just for himself but also for those around him, and when concerns about Colm Cooper's form began to surface he took him down for a session with Hartmann in Limerick. Before the summer was out Eoin Brosnan and Darragh Ó Sé had also paid a visit.

"I just felt it wasn't going to do Colm any harm. It's not that he was carrying a major injury, but I felt he was a little dazzled, and without him at his best we weren't going to win an All-Ireland."

For Moynihan, it was just as important that everyone else was up to scratch, and by now he fully sensed Hartmann's ability to empower the mind as much as the body. When it came to All-Ireland weekend, Kerry's passage now secure partly through Moynihan's man-of-the-match performance over Cork, the confidence of the whole team was exactly where it needed to be.

"You have to go in there with a fair bit of confidence anyway. But I just felt the whole team was ready, couldn't have done any more. We'd no injuries, and everyone was going in there ready and able to give it their all. That's really where you get the confidence from.

"I remember we stopped for a kick-around on the Sunday morning and I could sense all the lads jumping out of their skins, looking forward to the game. I felt everyone was on top form, it was all perfect. Obviously, we had a fair warning sign with their performance against Dublin. On top of that we all felt there'd be a serious kick in these guys after we beating them in 2004 and 1997, so there was no complacency from our point of view."

In the end Kerry's 13-point victory provided Moynihan with the sense of total fulfilment he had pursued all year. When he reached the steps of the Hogan Stand with his team-mates, with Jamie in hand, Hartmann and Keane were watching from nearby. Later, Keane remarked on the sight of Moynihan laughing with total abandon.

"Sure that had to be the greatest feeling in the world. When the final whistle went, I knew Jamie would be there at the top of the stand, and that was a massive sense of satisfaction, that he was here to witness this. I don't know if I ever felt as satisfied, knowing it had all completed the way I wanted it.

"I honestly feel I was physically as good as I've ever been. I was able to go full throttle all year. It was like there were no brakes on me at all.

"Obviously a year ago nobody was coming up saying it to me personally, that I was finished. But you can imagine easy enough what's going on out there. I imagine there were a lot of people even this year saying I was mad to come back. But I believe you know your own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone, and I knew I had my homework done over the winter, and had given myself every opportunity."

He has no idea how many games he's played for Kerry. Two numbers he does care about are zero (the number of times he's been sent off) and four (the number of senior All-Irelands he's won).

"You can't compare the four though, no, because they're all so special. I certainly couldn't put one over another anyway. Maybe in the years to come though, 2006 will possibly seem the sweetest."