He urged the county's young fans to travel to Pairc Ui Chaoimh en masse, to swell support for a Kerry team he had taken over that winter.

Munster final morning dawned wet and soggy but still they journeyed across the border in numbers. This was the new generation of Kerry fan; starved of success, unaware of the road to Croke Park and too used to stumbling on the Cork hurdle.

It was 10 years since their team had won an All Ireland final and worse still, 10 years since they defeated Cork in a provincial decider. Kerry had a single Munster title in a nineyear spell. Cork ruled the south, hands down. And through green and gold eyes, one man had masterminded the downfall of Kerry. He was named Billy Morgan.

On the way to Pairc Ui Chaoimh, those Kerry supporters expected little but hoped for much. Perhaps it was the Paidi factor that drove the crowd, but almost 10,000 more attended the game compared to 1994. Those who made the effort were duly rewarded. The game ticked on, the sides were level. For three years running, this was Cork's period of dominance.

They controlled the final quarter when they met Kerry. But this time it was different.

Kerry got a free kick with minutes left. A stiff breeze and Maurice Fitzgerald strode towards the dead ball. A red flare lit in the Cork end and Fitzgerald splits the posts.

From 65 yards out. This is the moment when the new generation finally came to expect rather than hope. On the Kerry terrace they returned O Se's battle cry. This was the year of the European Championships in England, the year the old aristocrats of soccer expected success on their own soil.

Those Kerry supporters stole a song from the stands of Wembley. Football's Coming Home is how it went. And ever since that day it has. Kerry now own Munster. Seven Munster titles since 1996 makes that statement an undeniable fact.

The background to that Munster final of '96 is simple.

Kerry were going through their leanest spell in living memory. It was the gloomiest, most pessimistic period in the history of Kerry football. With Cork securing three Munster titles on the trot, Kerry manager Ogie Moran had received an unprecedented amount of criticism for a Kerry manager.

As Cork had narrowly defeated Kerry in '93, '94 and '95, the fitness and mental strength of his team was called into question. But simply, Moran didn't enjoy the same pick of talented players that other Kerry bosses were used to.

When he parted ways with Kerry following a devastating defeat in Killarney, Paidi O Se came in. His first task was to end the reign of Cork in Munster.

"Before the game against Cork there certainly was a lot of tension, " says Dara O Cinneide. "We felt we had to deliver the goods this time. Paidi wouldn't have mentioned Cork's success in Munster as such. There was always a grudging respect for Cork but we weren't going to give them the credit. You always looked at in the sense that Kerry weren't going well. Before the game Paidi would have told us it was time to forget all about the past. Forget the golden years. Forget the negative talk. Just win."

In the preceding years, Cork had ruled Munster by ruling midfield. The partnership of Danny Culloty and Liam Honohan had the edge on Kerry and though Culloty was coming to the end of his inter-county career, his presence at midfield was still considered hugely influential. The week before the game, though, Culloty received an injury and failed to make the starting 15.

Darragh O Se, on the other hand, started his first Munster final for Kerry at midfield and contributed to his side's success. It was a look to the future and Cork's stranglehold on the most important sector of the pitch had been broken.

There were other factors.

Kerry picked up an under-21 All Ireland in 1995 and the positive effect was being felt in the senior ranks. In Dara O Cinneide Kerry had a front man to take some of the heat from Maurice Fitzgerald and in the league quarter-final of '96, O Cinneide was responsible for the first chink of light to shine on Kerry. He kicked nine points in a game that went to extra time. Cork ran out winners by two points, but slowly Kerry were realising they were at least on a par with Cork.

"Billy Morgan was seen as having a 'thing' over us at that stage, " says Dara O Cinneide.

"But we felt we had the measure of Cork in the league and to be honest, that was the first time in a long time we would have felt that. In the '95 Munster final we might have been the better team against Cork but we still couldn't beat them.

It was psychological almost.

So that league game was important."

Cork captain Mark O'Connor started the Munster final on O Cinneide that day.

Though his team were looking to copperfasten their dominance over the province in general, he says the most important aspect was to prevent a Kerry rising. "In '96 it was a case of 'keep Kerry down', " says O'Connor. "Kerry had kept us down for years and years and once you had the upper hand you wanted to keep it that way."

It never happened and the defeat heralded the end for Billy Morgan. "The most important thing about that game was the Billy Morgan factor, " adds O'Connor. "He'd been manager for a decade and he'd been Mr Cork Football for the previous 25 or 30 years.

"After the game, it was never said among the players that it could be the end but having lost the All Ireland in '93 and lost to Dublin in '95 you could sense a feeling of change. Billy probably felt it himself but it wasn't until that December that Larry [Tompkins] took over."

Under Tompkins, the power shift in Munster truly took place. Kerry defeated Cork in the league final in 1997 and Cork didn't even reach the Munster final that year; Clare took care of that.

"Ninety-six was huge, " says O Cinneide. "It was like winning an All Ireland final. There wasn't a lot of confidence in the county at the time but Paidi just breezed in and won two All Irelands and six Munsters and it's still going strong.

Paidi definitely put the soul back into us. It seems like a distant memory now, but it was so important for Kerry football."

The weight of 1996 wasn't felt that day. Nobody could have predicted what would transpire, least of all Billy Morgan. That year was just his third loss to Kerry during ten years in charge. Today, he's staring at his third straight loss in Munster to this greatest of rivals.