Timmy from the Kingdom A Player's Player Credit the sub-editor or was it the photographer himself who coined the caption which appeared under the best photograph to appear in the Irish dailies on May 25th last. " Gripping Stuff", remarked the caption, referring to a shirt-pull by a Cork player on Kerry's Timmy Fleming. A case of déjà vu perhaps? For the last four years, defenders of every 'ilk have been trying to get to grips with the flying Muckross native who has made his mark in no uncertain manner on the senior inter county stage in that space of time. A type of footballer who has Kerry instinctiveness, Kerry pride and Kerry skill running through every sinew of his athletic frame, Fleming can only get better and better. One of the brand new breed of footballer in the Kingdom who are doing so much to whip up the scare stories among rival counties which were ever-present in yesteryear, Timmy Fleming has every reason to be well contented with his progress playing at the highest level of football. This summer Fleming's rise soared to new heights. As the man on the '40 for the Kingdom against Cork he perfected the art of centre half forward play. That said, fans of his, and they're many and wise, reckon there's even better to come from the 23 year old attacker. Invited in to the Kerry squad in the Autumn of 1988 by Mick O'Dwyer, the Killarney-based sheep farmer earned a senior league debut on his home patch against League specialists Armagh later that year. It was an inauspicious first competitive game in the Kerry senior colours for the soft-spoken player but it provided him with a taste for more of the same, under O'Dwyer, O'Sullivan or whoever else would happen to appreciate the skills of the forward 'cum midfielder. He may have been "sprung" from underage ranks a might early in hindsight, he would suggest, but there's no doubting that he has come on, has progressed in leaps and bounds since quitting underage grades. He is, as one scribe would say, "ahead of schedule" In Killarney, the football folk talk excitedly and expectantly about the lad who could have been a top class basketball player, was his county's high jump champion but instead chose the sport that truly is a religion in Kerry. How must all of Cork have regretted that decision to give his allegiance to gaelic football. The scorer of one splendid point in the Pairc Ui Chaoimh upset and the man credited with " an assist" on several more, he's started the summer season on a high and few would disbelieve him when he says that he intends to keep it that way. "Thankfully, my form is holding up well. It's as good as it's ever been and I'm enjoying the responsibility that goes with playing at centre half forward", admits the former Killorglin Secondary School pupil. Indeed, there's little doubt but that he's tailor made to act in the pivotal role in attack, but the Laune Rangers star quietly concedes that some day in the future, he would like a chance to establish himself in the boilerhouse that is midfield. For the moment, he says he's grateful just to be part of a team described by old hand Ambrose O'Donovan as one that "is only now coming of age" At a score and three more years, Timmy Fleming still has a lot to learn. Already he has a Munster minor medal dating back to 1986 tucked safely under his belt plus two Provincial under 21 winners medals and best of all, an All Ireland triumph at the last named grade notched just two years ago. A graduate of Pallaskenry Agricultural College in Limerick with whom he won an All Ireland Colleges title and was voted the player of the competition that same year, Kerry's attacking lynch-pin really came to prominence in the course of the 1989 Munster under 21 final. The local Kerry and Provincial newspapers heralded the coming of the former Laune Rangers Minor Player of the Year Award holder. With the tide increasingly turning nasty for the Kerry lads midway through the second half of their tussle with Cork, the Kerry management cleverly made the switch that was to alter the course of proceedings that day. Switching Fleming from his position up front to the central middle of the park berth, the Kerry mentors gambled on a turn around. It worked and Fleming deserved the post match plaudits for doing his bit for the Kingdom. At club level his star continued to rise also. He captained the Rangers to the county under 21 championship crown in 1990 but significantly the win was to help prompt a critical and highly important sporting decision by the versatile and totally committed all rounder. Between the period spanning the Autumn of 1990 and the Summer of 1991, Timmy Fleming, the footballer was over-worked. Playing club and county underage football, representative football and football at every grade that he could be fitted into, plus the after effects of a budding county hurling underage career rattling in his bones, he wisely decided to take a time out from football altogether. On the verge of being burned out, fitness levels were maintained and the characteristic spring in his legs oiled by toiling in the sport of basketball with a local club. A brave and wise decision and one which, in truth, would make for an interesting exercise if made an option to youngsters across and up and down the country. Married just last September to Mary O'Sullivan, a local lass. Timmy Fleming is a son of Michael from Fossa and Mary from Killorglin. Neither his father nor his brother Michael ever rose to the heady heights currently occupied by Timmy but their interest in football is typically "Kerry-ish". A county senior championship winner with Laune Rangers in 1989, Fleming the footballer is a guaranteed product of the underage nursery resident at J.F. O'Sullivan Park, now resplendent with spanking new dressingrooms. That senior victory three years ago against John Mitchells allowed Fleming and Co. to try their luck on the provincial club front. Sadly for the Rangers, a Larry Tompkins powered Castlehaven ruled the roost. Timmy remembers that day well. He just happened to be marking Tompkins. Alongside players like Billy O'Shea, Billy O'Sullivan and Joe Shannon, Laune Rangers still remain one of the top teams in the Kingdom. A week before Dr. Crokes clinched the All Ireland club final in 1991, the Rangers actually eclipsed the county champions in the League thus reinforcing their lofty pedigree. No, contrary to wild speculation, Timmy Fleming won't be club hopping for an undisclosed sum to Kilarney's Crokes or 'Legion. He's happy to be a Ranger. A senior debutant with his beloved club at the tender age of 16, the then not fully developed teenager fitted in amazingly quickly on the same team as established stars like James Sheehan, Joe Shannon and Tom Johnson. In the rarified atmosphere of top class Kerry domestic action, Fleming displayed the required steely attitude and mental fortitude which marked him down for a long term stint in the fast lane with Kerry. A player in the mould of Templemore's Tom Spillane, curiously the Killorglin lad's most vivid and earliest memory of watching Kerry play at their peak concerns the peerless Pat Spillane. Distantly related to the Spillanes, it was a dream come true for Timmy to have played alongside the Templenoe star, a player whom he remembers turning the tide against Tyrone in the All Ireland final of yesteryear. Turning the scales at bang on 12 stone and standing nearly 6 foot, the one-time student of the Jerome Conway Bord na nOg school of football, Timmy is no soft touch in the tackle. Unusually brave in the clinches, a good ball winner and an even better distributor, he nevertheless admits that he'd "like to get into the habit of scoring more". Fleming may, however, be over-shattering his proclaimed shyness in front of goal. Scoring or not, he's always been a thorn in the side of opposing defences, burnt out or nay. Kerry fans will be more than contented if he continues to lay off defence - splitting passes, to throw a couple of side-stepping dummies per game or stand face to face, toe to toe with the opposition's hitman. For Fleming has it every way but loose! Looking ahead to the clash with Limerick can bring a prospective giant of the game down to earth fairly rapidly however. Timmy is quick to remind all and sundry that he's hoping to last the full 70 minutes next Sunday. "Last year I was substituted in the second half and there were no excuses, no injuries. Nothing just went right for me but I'm hoping for better things this time around", declared the galloping self-employed farmer. And his assessment of John O'Keffe's charges? "They're bound to be hungry, fit and home advantage is going to help their cause so we'll have to knuckle down to get the better of them. It won't be easy. They're no longer what you might call a Cinderella county. Remember how they nearly caught us on the hop last year", explained Timmy. Timmy Fleming will probably line out on the '40 once again this coming Sunday but he can be expected to roam all over the place, setting up others unselfishly for scores, making space for Jacko, Billy and Mo. A player's player alright. That's Timmy. Taken from Hogan Stand Magazine 19-06-92 Written by Kevin Carney Tweet

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