Mark Griffin pictured at the Munster Championships launch.
By Cian O'Connell
Mark Griffin understood the importance of remaining patient. The Championship summer of 2015 was spent mostly in a watching brief so this year’s Allianz Football League mattered hugely to him.
While it ultimately concluded in Croke Park disappointment, Griffin was encouraged to be involved. “Yeah, I had a good league in fairness,” Griffin admits. “Happy the way it went. Happy to push on. I wouldn’t say establish myself in the team just yet, I still have a long way to go in the Championship. But overall, I’m happy enough, but disappointed the way it finished.”
Griffin acknowledges that it was tough looking on during Kerry’s run to the All Ireland final last summer.
“Yeah, it was disappointing enough,” Griffin said. “My form wasn’t where it needed to be. When you think of it, we do have Aidan O’Mahony around as well and he was playing exceptional football.
“So it was very hard to displace him, with the experience he has. Obviously, it was disappointing enough, but that’s all part of it. But I’m happy this year that I’m consistently performing.”
Now, though, Griffin is feeling comfortable in the Kerry shirt. “Absolutely. One thing that I felt going into this year was to enjoy every moment of it.
“And it has helped me perform a lot better day in day out in every game. I feel a bit more in command in that full-back berth. A lot of responsibility comes with that jersey. And this year it has just come more naturally, I suppose.”
Griffin is thrilled to be working under Eamonn Fitzmaurice. “Eamonn is very fair,” is Griffin’s assessment.
“We have an extremely talented squad of players and any day that you’re not playing well, there’s a chance you won’t make it. So you have to consistently perform, because the team that’s playing the best in training - you see it our teams change quite an amount from game to game. That’s down to if you’re playing well, you will be on the team. You will be on the squad.
“One thing, being a full-back, if you’re not starting a game, it can be quite difficult to include you in the matchday squad, because you’re taking a chance on a squad position that you could be giving to a more dynamic player, that’s going to come on more regularly. That’s just the way it is.”
Griffin accepts that his playing style has altered during the past few campaigns with Kerry. “Absolutely. Before I probably would have been a bit conservative in my play.
“But over the last couple of years, while training with Kerry, your football will develop and you’ll learn things off players around you. That’s something I identified last year. I had to be more flexible and had to be able to perform well in all positions in the backline.
“Against Cork this year I ended up at wing-back. I hadn’t trained there or played there before, but it was something I had to fall into and I thought it went pretty well for me.”
Being versatile and able to deal with different approaches is part and parcel of the modern game now according to Griffin. “Oh yes, positions are counting less and less all the time. You have to be able to do an awful amount.
“And a lot of teams - look at Dublin - a lot of their attacks stem from their backs driving out. It doesn’t matter who they are. Their corner-backs, full-backs driving up the field, setting up attacks. It’s definitely the way football is going.”
Mark Griffin in action during the Allianz Football League Division One Final at Croke Park.
How did it feel playing against Dublin compared to others this spring? “You know what you get from Dublin when you go out there. They don’t hide what they’re good at.
“They’re very good at what they do. Their intensity is very high. Their forwards make very hard runs.
“And they make a lot of hard runs. It’s not just a case of covering one or two runs. They’ll make multiple runs and it could be the third of fourth time that they’ll get on the ball.
“They wear you down until they can get on the ball and then they’ll have runners coming through. And it can be very hard to live with them in that sense. It’s just their intensity is very high. They’re at this a couple of years, the system they are playing, they’ve perfected it nearly and it is quite difficult to stop it.
“I played them in the 2013 semi-final. That day was my first day out against them. Their intensity did surprise me that day. It was quite hard going.”
Griffin is adamant that Dublin are the team to beat in the Championship. “I suppose they have developed,” Griffin reflects.
“Defensively they are probably better now. But they were still very strong back then, but I suppose they are more comfortable in their system now. There’s no denying they are the standard bearers at the moment and by a good shot.
“It’s a challenge. The way I look at it, it’s a challenge to get up to that level. They’re setting the standard for the other counties to meet and that’s where we need to be to get there and to beat them. There’s no pressure involved. It’s great for football really that they are setting a high standard and raising the bar.
“It’s something Kerry did in the mid-noughties along with Tyrone and there's always a new team coming and doing it.”
