Peter Crowley
By John Harrington
Peter Crowley’s reputation as a no-nonsense defender has been enhanced by a vivid scar that now runs across the bridge of his nose.
It’s a testament both to his willingness to go in where it hurts, and the solid nature of his Kerry team-mate Johnny Buckley’s head.
A collision between the pair in a Kerry training session before the Munster Final left Crowley's nose broken and spouting blood and ultimately ruled him out of the match against Tipperary despite his determination to play through the pain.
“Johnny Buckley has got a hard forehead,” said Crowley with a rueful smile. “It was like a scene out of Braveheart the boys were telling me, I could have been an extra out of Braveheart so it wasn't great.
“I was trying up until the last minute to play but my breathing just wasn't right. When you have a quality player like Mahony or Lyne on the bench, you're only being selfish saying you can play, you'd only be doing them a detriment by putting yourself ahead of the team.
“It's good now. I got an operation on the Monday after the Munster final so that settled it down as well. Dr Moriarty in Tralee General did a good job on it.”
Crowley’s willingness to play against Tipperary in the Munster Final despite a nasty injury is typical of the man. He’s always been a tough bit of stuff who has worked hard to make the most of his footballing talent, traits he believes were developed by the environment of his club Laune Rangers.
"I've been lucky, any walk of life or culture shapes you,” he said. “I've been lucky that with my own club at homes we've had a history of championship wins. For a long time in the county championship we punched above our weight. It's an attitude that has really helped me, the idea that the league is good and that's where you hone your skills but it's all about championship.
“That's were the real boys stand up. I can't understate how much my club has had an effect on me and the sheer stubbornness and head-strong of fellas like Liam Hassett, John Sheehan and even Mike Frank in his own way, that kind of doggedness to win. And obviously being from Kerry as well is bred into you. You have to win All-Irelands.
“You are kind of naturally moulded like that and then the players that come in. I played with Dec (Declan O’Sullivan), I'm still playing with 'Gooch', Star (Kieran Donaghy), Tomás (Ó Sé), Marc (Ó Sé), Gally (Paul Galvin), they instill value in the jersey and how important it is to treasure that and mind it as much as you can when you have it and make sure no one take sit off you.”
Diarmuid Connolly
Crowley has never allowed himself to think he has made it as a Kerry footballer despite the fact he has an All-Ireland medal and All-Star to his name already.
One All-Ireland medal isn’t regarded as all that much of an achievement anyway in a County where they are as plentiful as loose change, and Crowley finds it very easy to buy into the Kerry mindset that you must keep challenging yourself to keep improving and winning.
"I remember after my debut against Tipp,” he said. “I was alright. We played down in Tipp. It was my first championship, we had played a few league game sup to that. Came in on a Tuesday night after Murph (Diarmuid Murphy) pulled me aside and said, you realise you are a Kerry player now, you have to go out and show it.
“Since then you are always under pressure to prove yourself. No better example of that than myself, I've been dropped a few times. You can never get too far ahead of yourself. Practically everyone has missed games since Fitzy has come in. I don't think anyone has played in every game. Maybe one or two. You always get your sobering experiences. You can never take it for granted.
"Allstars if you get them you're happy to get them but the real credit is always from your own team-mates. That's where you get your praise. I think until you get your couple of All-Irelands that's when you really get to validate. People might start arguing that maybe '14 was a fluke if you only stay on one. You need to reinforce that you're a good team and move on.
"Sometimes from the outside people look for narratives. When you're in camp, every year starts with that goal of winning an All-Ireland. Good teams win one All-Ireland, great teams win two or multiple. We feel we can get there. We need to shore up where we fell short last year. The Dubs are leading the way at the moment, taking up from our team of the noughties and that's something we want to address.”
When Crowley spoke for the purposes of this interview he still didn’t know that Kerry would be playing Clare in Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final. They’ve already beaten Clare comfortably in the Munster semi-final and the common perception is that they’ll do so again and set up a heavyweight semi-final against Dublin.
That sort of complacent analysis didn't sit well with Crowley though, because he insisted Kerry would be fully focused on the quarter-final regardless of the opposition rather than have one eye on avenging last year’s All-Ireland against the Dubs.
"Naturally everyone is talking about a rematch from the end of August,” he said. “We're just literally focusing on the next game because the thing about it is in 2010 Kerry were in the same situation where they were focusing on getting Cork again and were beaten by Down.
“That's the last thing you can do in Kerry. It's not acceptable. You can be looking down the line and get caught and wouldn't even get there so that would be a regret.”
