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Barry O’Shea
IT’S well documented that Cork haven’t beaten Kerry in Killarney in 20 years but – barring odd the one or two – all those games have been tight.
With the history between the teams, there has been very few hammerings. Most of the games have been tough battles, but more often then not we’ve had that little touch of class that has swayed it in the end.
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Barry John Keane scoring his goal against Tipperary in the Munster SFC semi-final. He has earned his spot on the starting team for the final. Photo Dermot Crean.
All the media hype and talk of certain articles in the press that have criticised Cork, I think in a funny way that will help Kerry because it will refocus them and sharpen them up a little bit more mentally.
I had an idea Colm Cooper wouldn’t start, I was talking to him myself at work in the AIB in Killarney on Monday and I just got a vibe.
Then I just thought to myself the way Cork are such an attacking team, from the half-backs up, it makes sense to go with the half-forward-line of Stephen O’Brien, Johnny Buckley and Donnchdh Walsh who are a bit more defensively minded.
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As supporters, we all want Colm playing, because we know what he can do, but we don’t see him every night in training.
We have to trust Eamonn Fitzmaurice and the selectors because they have been getting the calls right, they have this ethos in the camp now that the guys who are in form in training will be picked.
The ordinary punter on the street maybe thought it was a toss up of who would start between Bryan Sheehan and David Moran, but it ended up with both them play and Anthony Maher sitting on the bench.
It also looked like a 50/50 call between Barry John Keane and James O’Donoghue, but they both start and Paul Geaney is the man to miss out.
The team is picked on current form in training, but look, Colm will have some say in the game on Sunday and he very well could be the man that makes the difference in the end.
Barry John Keane starting is even more of a reason for me that players are being picked on current form, because all the word coming from the camp is that Barry John has been absolutely flying. He is apparently racking up big scores in the A v B games and is in great form.
With Barry John, were the management going to hold him back and bring him on as a sub? Or were the management thinking, if he’s ever going to get a game it’s now because he’s at the peak of his powers. He’s getting his chance and best of luck to him.
It’s a great situation to be in as a manager. It shows to the players that if a guy is chomping at the bit he’ll get his chance. The word is it’s the same with David Moran.
David didn’t play against Tipperary because of a shoulder injury and both the midfielders played well in that game. To get back in there he has obviously showed serious form over the last three weeks.
For the guys who missed out, the likes of the Paul Murphy and the two Geaneys, they will get a chance to get back in there. This time last year, David Moran was a sub and he ended up with an All-Star at the end of the season.
A lot of people are pulling up our full-back-line as a weakness, but having played in that position I just don’t buy into the idea that the full back line is that weak.
Any full-back-line can be exposed if the rest of the team is not playing well. When the Kerry full-back-line was breached three times in the 11 point defeat to Cork in the league, the team in general wasn’t playing well.
With the ball coming in constantly, if you’re marking any half decent player he’s going to give you trouble, you will not be able to hold back the tide if things are not working out. So, the full-back-line will do fine on Sunday as long as the rest of the team are doing their job defensively.
The Kerry half-forward-line is picked with players with that in mind. Because from two to six, the Cork backs love to attack. Micheal Shields, Eoin Cadogan and James Loughrey are guys who love to get forward.
If they’re coming at you in droves I don’t care who you are, you’re not going to be able to counteract it because all they have to do is slip a ball left or right and you’re in trouble.
I just don’t see how people are writing off Cork so much, if we cast our minds back 12 months, Cork were raging hot favourites. Kerry were totally written off and we went down and destroyed them by 15 points in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Now Cork won’t come out and destroy us, but Cork is a proud county, they have footballers and they are not going to come out and just lie down.
Kerry will have to play well. Eamonn Fitzmaurice has said that if we’re not on our game anyone could beat us and we saw that throughout the league.
Cork, have four really good forwards, Paul Kerrigan, Donnchadh O’Connor, Colm O’Neill and Brian Hurley. They are a dangerous outfit so Kerry can’t be taking them for granted and I don’t think we will.
I do fancy Kerry to win the game, but I just dont think it will be the cake walk that some people think it will be.
