Former Dublin Gaelic footballer winning the ball in the air while playing for Manchester United. INPHO/ALLSPORT
Kevin Moran Kevin Moran says he is surprised that the current Dublin team managed to eclipse the great Kerry team of his era. Moran won two All-Irelands with Dublin in the 1970s, though that era was largely dominated by Kerry who won eight All-Irelands between 1975 and 1986. But Kerry failed in 1982 to win the elusive five in-a-row, something Dublin did last September.
Moran said: ‘‘I must admit, I never would have thought there was going to be a better team than the Kerry team I played against, never. What that Kerry team achieved, to me, the manner in which they achieved it and the way they did it as well, I thought nobody's going to touch them. But you have got to hold your hands up to this Dublin team, they have done that and surpassed that by winning the five-in-a-row and as you well know, the only way you engage people or judge people, or judge a team, is by what they win.
“It has not been easy for Dublin to do it, to muster it up again, the enthusiasm to do it again and again and again,” said the star who played with Manchester United from 1978 to 1988. “It just shows you how good they are and you just don’t do that with pure commitment, you have got to have a lot of ability, a lot of skill and the main thing as well they have had, you have got to have the manager at the top and Jim Gavin was superb.’’
Moran was asked which was the biggest thrill for him winning an FA Cup medal in 1985 with Manchester United or his first All-Ireland with Dublin in 1976. ‘‘I have always sided on the fact that your first experience is always the one you hold closest and dearest in many ways and being from Dublin, being raised in Dublin and playing in front of your own, for me, priority number one has to be the ‘76 win over Kerry in Croke Park,’’ he said.
