Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Cranky Seán O’Shea the leader Kerry need to drive high standards

Sean O’Shea celebrates scoring the first goal against Clare at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Saturday in Killarney was a classic Munster Championship situation for Kerry.

Regardless of the nature of the performance or the result, it will be explained away. Win well, and Clare were useless. Win without shooting the lights out, and Kerry were off it. That is why it is so important for the inner circle to shut out all that noise. The only thing that counts is winning, advancing to the next round, and honouring the standards of the group.

From that point of view, there will always be positives and negatives for Kerry. More about that soon.

The thing I enjoyed most was Seán O’Shea’s performance as he moved between 11 and 14. His excellent league form has continued. He scored 1-7, tackled, linked, but most importantly for me, he led. Late in the game, he was letting one of his team-mates know in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t happy. He wanted more. He wanted better. He was cranky.

The game was done, but he was still driving the standards. This is what Kerry need. In my last year in charge, it was Seán’s second year in the squad, and he had established himself on the team. I also asked him to be a member of the players’ leadership group to ensure the younger cohort had a voice. At a meeting that summer between myself and the leadership group, he held one of the senior members of the team to account in a situation where that player had been offside. 

I struggled to conceal my smile. ‘Here is a leader,’ I thought to myself, and it is great to see that continue to develop. We have plenty of footballers in Kerry — but to beat Dublin, we need all of them to be leaders also.

Seánie is certainly showing the way in that regard.

For any underdog to stand a chance in any match, they need to start well, to do the basics well, and to tear into the opposition with ferocity and physicality. Unfortunately for Clare, none of these attributes were evident in their first-half performance. Kerry scored straight from the throw-in, and a nervy Clare just could not get going.

They didn’t get their first score until the 17th minute. They were authors of so much of their own downfall. They came under pressure on their kickout, but more significantly, they repeatedly turned over the ball, allowing Kerry to pick them off on the break. Many of these turnovers were basic, unforced errors and led to three of Kerry’s first four points and Seanie O’Shea’s goal shortly before half-time, to all but kill off Clare’s challenge.

This is what Colm Collins will have been most disappointed with. He knows they are better than that — and to compete against teams at Kerry’s level, you can’t be helping them like that. At times in the game, particularly in the third quarter, they rallied and gave a better representation of what they are about. Their failing in that period when they came at Kerry was some uncharacteristically poor wides from good positions from their most accurate sharpshooters, Eoin Cleary and David Tubridy.

It is extremely tough on them that their year is now over. For them to develop, they would benefit from reviewing that performance this week, looking to improve for the qualifiers, and they are the kind of team no one would have liked to have got, particularly in Ennis. While they have had an enjoyable season, getting plenty of exposure, it is a shame that they are now gone.

While appreciating that the pandemic means we have to accept the championship for what it is, it’s very hard to escape the thought that we have missed a great opportunity. This was the year to be completely radical for a one-off championship. It was a chance to leave out the provincial championships for a season and come up a unique format that would have given all counties more football throughout the summer.

For Kerry, this was a case of job done, move onto Thurles. Some of the analysis on Sky was measuring and comparing them against Dublin and pointing out that they were some way off that level. Maybe, but the job on Saturday was to beat Clare, not Dublin. There is 10 weeks and three more games to that encounter, if it materialises. Plenty of time to be improving and to be keeping the graph going in the right direction. 

They will be happy to be up and running and to be into championship mode. It is hard to explain what it is like coming up to the first championship match of the season to someone that has not gone through it. Regardless of the venue and the opposition, there is huge anticipation and an amount of emotional energy is invested in it.

In Kerry there is an explicit understanding that it is all about championship, and that everything beforehand is merely window dressing. Kerry are up and running now, and the championship tends to flow from here. 

From the performance perspective, the attitude from the off was excellent, as evidenced by the body language and intent in the tackle. They worked hard for each other and shared the ball. They scored 3-22 and, significantly, only conceded 12 scores, albeit one being a goal. The debutants and inexperienced championship players all did well, with Paudie Clifford again excelling. The bench impacted and affected the game, but they know they have plenty to work on. 

The kickout came under pressure, particularly in the third quarter when Clare came into it. This will have been a good learning experience for Kieran Fitzgibbon, and he will be the better for it. The deeper into the championship a team goes, the more important this will be.

Having defended excellently for most of the game, they will be disappointed with the manner of the Clare goal and will look to improve on defending against strong runners attacking the goal. There was also a bit of loose play at times, a few stray handpasses and kickpasses, a share of bad wides, and the forwards were blocked down on a couple of occasions.

Basically, the championship sharpness that players can only get by playing championship was missing. It will be there from now on.

With a fortnight to the Tipperary match, Kerry will nurse the couple of knocks, hope that David Clifford’s injury is minor, and work on the few bits and pieces. As a player or a coach, this is exactly where you want to be.