Former Kerry star, Barry O’Shea, expects Kerry to win on Sunday, but don’t expect a drastic change in tactics from what we’ve seen in the past few months…
Barry O’Shea
THE defeat to Dublin in the league final feels like a long time ago now.
There’s been a lot of soul-searching since. Some Kerry supporters will have written off the team and will have resigned to handing Sam over to them now.
I think Kerry realise what needs to be done. Every aspect of their game was tested in that league final – strength, power, aggression, skill, everything.
A number of U21s have come into the panel but I’m not sure how many are ready for senior championship football yet – I would think probably none of them.
They will have worked very hard since to get back up to a high level, but they will be timing for August and September, not the visit of Clare to Fitzgerald Stadium this Sunday.
Traditionally, Kerry have been slow starters as the summer football begins to move into action. There’s no substitute for game time, but this is just one of those games that they will be expected to win and move on.
If Kerry go out and play great, putting up a big score, people will say “shur it’s only Clare”. If it ends up being a tight battle people will be wondering what’s happening.
Clare beat Kildare in the division 3 final, they will be a division 2 team next year. They have some very good players, most notably dual star, Podge Collins and midfielder Gary Brennan.
Maybe in the past they may not have been prepared well, but I know under the present management of Colm Collins, they will be prepared and well focused.
Clare football is at a reasonably good level at the moment, but the gap between playing division 1 and 2 is a big one.
Kerry are the same level above Clare in championship as they are in the league and I think we will see that on Sunday.
I think it’s all there for Kerry to go again this year. Same as last year, I don’t think they’ll be all that far away. They need to improve and no matter how good Dublin are, if Kerry don’t win an All-Ireland it’s seen as a failure.
It will be interesting to see what Eamonn Fitzmaurice and his management team can come up with. There is so many facets of the game where they have to bridge the gap, but it’s not a huge one.
Football in a lot of ways is a simple enough game, when you boil it down there is still an awful lot of man-to-man. Players still engage in individual battles. It’s very difficult to play this ultra-defensive game and also keep an emphasis on attack.
We need to find that type player who can go from defence to attack, covering the ground quickly, if we’re going to play that game.
In the league final, when we do go back into defensive positions we found it very hard link defence and attack.
It frustrated the full-forward and left us with the sight of Colm Cooper and Darren O’Sullivan drifting back into defence and away from where they can do damage.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice, doesn’t need me telling him what to do. He knows all these things, he knows where the side is weak and where it is strong. I’m sure they have been working on all aspects of their game.
He knows that something will have to change and I’m sure we will see something new this season, but it won’t be on Sunday.
