There was a strong reaction to the documentary about Irish football’s “golden generation”.
On Friday night, Eir Sport premiered Kerr’s Kids, a documentary looking at Brian Kerr’s time in charge of the European Championship-winning Ireland U16 and U18 teams.
During his tenure, Kerr managed players like Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Richard Dunne, Stephen McPhail and John O’Shea and had a huge influence on their careers.
We’ve sang Kerr’s praises to the hilt on JOE before – go check that tribute piece out right here – and this time it was the turn of his former charges to pay respect.
One aspect of the documentary focused on a close defeat to England, and how Kerr managed to keep group spirits raised in such a fashion that bemused their rivals.
“When we beat Croatia, we all sat down and we all sat in the pool and everyone thought; ‘Ah, who do these think they are?'”, remembered Richard Dunne.
“When England beat us, we did the exact same thing.”
Robbie Keane then explained how Kerr brought the players to the pool for a couple of beers and a sing-song.
“All the English players were looking out in the balcony in disbelief at us thinking, ‘They’ve just lost the game'”, Keane recalled.
Kerr’s tactics led to a genuine sense of camaraderie developing in the camp, effectively rendering that defeat meaningless as they went on to glory.
His friendly approach led to “a real brotherhood” emerging, with the team coming out for the breakfast the following day ready to have another go at what lay in front of them.
"It was a real brotherhood. The next morning, everybody's mental attitude had changed"
How to deal with defeat to England, Brian Kerr style 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪 #KerrsKids pic.twitter.com/Af3j2hFqBQ
— eir Sport (@eirSport) November 23, 2018
Richard Dunne noted that the Eurosport television advertisements at the time presented the foregone conclusion of Germany against England in the final, which gave Ireland the extra motivation they needed to kick on.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Kerr reflected on the importance of the mental strength present in his players.
“We never talked about being on the back-foot,” he said.
“We talked about. ‘Let’s get on it, let’s play and let’s get at them'”.
Some man.
