It has been revealed that Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice wrote a personal letter to every member of his team, which they awoke to find by their hotel room doors last Sunday morning before the All-Ireland Final. The envelopes were faithfully delivered by team fixer Niall 'Botty' O'Callaghan.
Fitzmaurice got the idea while on holiday with his wife in Sicily in 2008, where Fitzmaurice read the autobiography of the Springboks' 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning coach Jake White. One particular story from that book had a lasting effect on him. Initially surprised that the story had got out of the Kerry camp, he then told Tony Leen of the Examiner:
I just thought that the personal touch from the manager on the morning of the World Cup final, it's a nice touch.
I had no managerial ambitions at the time, but it was just something that stuck in my head. If I was ever in the same position, it was something I would do.
All 28 players in the squad received a note, which were hand-written in the days leading up to the final.
I was unsure about it. I wrote them, I bounced it off (wife) Tina, she thought it was a great idea.
I didn't want it to be gimmicky, I didn't want to be doing it for the sake of doing it. I spoke to Diarmuid (Murphy) about it on Saturday and he felt the personal touch the morning of an All-Ireland, for a player to get that, especially some of the younger lads when it was their first one, would be huge for them. That solidified it in my head them to do it.
Of the contents of the letters, he said:
They were all individual, I suppose. Different. Some of them would have had aspects of our game plan in them, the roles of different individuals. Some of them were personal, some of them were about the game.
The letters were purposely not spoken about in the aftermath of the final, which is why Fitzmaurice was slightly aggrieved that the story got out. Whether there was a breach of confidentiality or not, it was a fine touch from a fine man.
