‘It’s time for a new era now, a fresh voice, but it’s something that we are going to miss terribly,’ said All-Ireland winning joint-manager Declan Quill on Sunday evening
The joint managers conducted a zoom call with their players on Sunday evening to tell them the news, and they leave the Kerry management role having garnered the National League titles at Division 1 and Division 2 levels, as well as contesting three All Ireland finals in-a-row with the crowning glory coming in their victory over Galway last August.
“We’ve had a fantastic five and a half years with the Kerry senior team, and I suppose six years in total as we were with the Kerry minors as well,” said joint Kerry ladies manager Declan Quill in an exclusive interview with The Kerryman.
“It was a very tough decision, one of the biggest decisions that we’ve made over the past number of years to step down officially as the joint Kerry management team.
“It’s something that we’ve contemplated since the All-Ireland final and it was an extremely hard decision to make, but we’ve our minds made up now. We have to be very happy with what we’ve achieved over the last five and-a-half years.
“We’ve made great friends along the way and have had great success and we’ve brought Kerry football back to number one in Ireland, which is a hugely proud thing for myself and Darragh and the rest of the management team.
“The hours and hours that have gone into this over the last five and-a-half years has been phenomenal. We couldn’t be more grateful to all the great people that have been involved with us.
“It’s time for a new era now, a fresh voice, but it’s something that we are going to miss terribly, but I suppose when a decision is made, it’s made,” said Quill.
So how did the joint managers come to make the decision to step down? Darragh Long says that it took a lot of soul searching.
“It’s probably something that we’ve really only been talking about from the last seven to ten days,” he explained.
“Up to that we were just enjoying the celebrations around the county and watching the girls bring the cup home to their clubs and that kind of stuff. That was a hugely proud moment for myself and Dec and something that we always strived to do.
“I suppose it was just a natural conversation that we had to have at some stage and when it started it kind of snowballed and we’ve been over and back about it the whole time. We’ve put six years of our lives into this.
“Young Tommy [Quill] wasn’t around when we started it. My eldest Conor and Dec’s middle fella Matty were one and two years old, Adam was three or four. They’ve grown up with this.
“We’ve missed a lot with them over the last number of years. We’ve been at as much as we can, but we went all in with Kerry ladies, and I suppose that was a big factor.
“It was time to give back more to our families and kids and to be around them a little bit more and that was a huge factor for us. Like Dec said it’s time for a new voice.
“I’ve always said the Jose Mourinho effect – three years come, but maybe we’ve squeezed five and a half years out of this senior group and to be fair to them they hung on every word of ours for that length of time.
“We think that we’re handing over something that we built and something that we are really proud of to someone now and we’re leaving it in a brilliant place and hopefully they can go on and achieve great things under a new management, and we wish them the best.”
The work-rate at inter-county management level is well documented, Darragh Long and Declan Quill’s commitment to the Kerry cause was no different.
“There was very rarely a day after I finished school at 2.30 that I wouldn’t be on the phone to Darragh at 2.45 or 3pm. We might get to 4 o clock if I’d a meeting after school or something.
“It was a seven-day-a-week job, and we’re not complaining about that. It was thoroughly enjoyable, but the real work was being done on the field on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday,” said Quill.
“You’re checking in with Sophie [Houlihan, physio] to see how the injuries are. You’re checking in with girls. Some are disappointed that they’re not playing, some are cock a hoop that they are playing and you have to kind of find the right balance within the group and treat them all equally and try and get around as many players as you can during the week.
“Trying to look for pitches and make sure the dressing rooms and showers are up to scratch and that food is coming to the right places so there was an awful lot outside of just training the team so there was rarely a moment that we weren’t thinking about the Kerry ladies and that we weren’t doing something for Kerry.
“That probably sounds a bit excessive, but that’s the truth of it. We both know that that is what was needed to get success.
“When you are at home you are there, but like my wife said, I was present at home, but I actually wasn’t there. My mind was definitely elsewhere. All of that takes its toll. Between us we’ve five kids and they’re all young. They’re all under eleven years of age.”
Quill said that he and Long developed a special bond with the players over the years and that the respect was mutual on both sides.
“We are still in awe of these girls and what they’ve done. Myself and Darragh did what we had to do but they did so much more. They put in the time, the effort, the hard training, the psychological effects of the game.
“Myself and Darragh could go out for a pint on a Saturday night, but the girls lived like nuns for those five years and we are so grateful that they did that.
“We are in total awe of this group and so proud to have managed them. That bond will be there forever and we are extremely thankful that we had the opportunity to not only work with such a fantastic group of people but to guide them to the reward that they truly deserved.”