Jack O'Connor: 'If Cork were watching, I’d say they wouldn't be quaking in their boots'

Kerry manager Jack O'Connor before the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship semi-final match between Kerry and Clare at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis, Clare. Pic: Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

Munster SFC semi-final: Clare 1-14 Kerry 2-19

There were certainly positives from Kerry’s rusty introduction to 2026 championship football at Cusack Park in Ennis on Saturday, but it was difficult for Jack O’Connor to identify them with an injury crisis continuing to reverberate around the camp.

While the Kingdom boss was satisfied with an improved second half performance, the sight of Tom O’Sullivan being forced off in the early stages of the second half compounded the reality of the All-Ireland champions starting with just six of last year’s winning team.

With no real light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the walking wounded in advance of a mouth-watering Munster final against Cork in a fortnight’s time, O’Connor admitted that it’s been a difficult period for all concerned.

“You must remember that we have quite a lot of fellas who have been out of football for a long time so it was good to get them on the field. It was good to see Gavin (White) back, Evan Looney, Paul Geaney, fellas like that,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it looks like we’ve lost Tom (O’Sullivan) there to a bit of a muscle injury, which is a pity now. There is loads of work to do, but glad that the second half was a bit closer to what we were hoping for,” added O’Connor, with David Clifford top scoring with 1-7 despite a late black card.

O’Sullivan now joins a casualty list that includes Shane Ryan, Paul Murphy, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Joe O’Connor, Sean O’Shea, Graham O’Sullivan and Dylan Geaney. At least White, and Sean O’Brien, managed to make cameo appearances off the bench against Clare.

“They’re injured, that’s it. I doubt we’ll have anyone extra back for the Cork game. That’s the way it’s looking at the moment. It would be a bonus if we did, but it’s not looking likely at the moment anyway,” added the Dromid Pearses man.

On goalkeeper Shane Ryan, who has been slow to recover from a very troublesome quad injury picked up in the McGrath Cup final, the Kerry boss simply stated: “I couldn’t tell you (when he’ll be back). He’s not close at the moment anyway.” 

Let’s get back to those positives. Diarmuid O’Connor played his first game of the year after shoulder surgery, notching three points. Paudie Clifford, who scored 1-3, and captain Geaney, got 50 minutes under their belts, and, as stated, White and O’Brien returned to the fray.

“If Cork were watching it, I’d say they wouldn't be quaking in their boots. We’ll have to up it a bit for the game in Killarney, but the name of the game was to get up here, have a decent performance, get down the road and prepare for Cork.

“We were a bit better in the second half. I thought we struggled around the middle of the field in the first half, particularly on breaks. We spoke about that and I think Seán O'Brien coming into the middle of the field helped. It just gave us a bit more physical presence there. There’s plenty of work to do.

“A lot of fellas were probably a bit undercooked. Trying to get up to championship pace after being out of football for a good while is tough going, and that showed at times. Fair play to Clare, they were very spirited and they put up a good performance.

“They were missing a couple of important players as well, like Bohannon (who came on late) and (Dermot) Coughlan. Look, we have a lot of improving to do. At the moment now, that performance wouldn’t be good enough to beat Cork.” 

For Clare, who now must head to the Tailteann Cup, losing by eight points was no moral victory – not in the slightest. Manager Paul Madden was gutted at the end result, because he felt that a place in the provincial decider was within their grasp all afternoon.

“At half-time, we felt the game was there for the taking, to be honest. Obviously, we know their pedigree, and we know that they’re going to have purple patches, and so you have to curtail the damage during their purple patch,” said the Éire Óg man.

“I thought, over the whole course of the game, bar six or seven minutes there in the second half, I thought we were as good as they were. I really did. If you can park that for a second, which is hard, you’d have to take a lot of positives out of the game.” 

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 1-7 (2tpf), P Clifford 1-3 (1tpf), D O’Connor 0-3, M Burns, K Spillane 0-2 each, K Evans, D Casey 0-1 each.

Scorers for Clare: M McInerney 0-6 (2tp, 0-1f), A Griffin 0-4, A Sweeney 1-0, C Meaney 0-2, B McNamara, C Murray 0-1 each.

KERRY: S Murphy; T O’Sullivan, J Foley, D Casey; T Morley, M Breen, A Heinrich; M O’Shea, D O’Connor; M Burns, P Clifford, C Trant; D Clifford, P Geaney, K Evans.

Subs: S O’Brien for Trant (ht), E Looney for O’Sullivan, inj (39), K Spillane for Geaney (51), T Brosnan for P Clifford (51), G White for Heinrich (55).

CLARE: T O’Callaghan; A Sweeney, R Lanigan, M Doherty; B Rouine, C Rouine, F Kelleher; B McNamara, C Brennan; C Meaney, I Ugwueru, G Murray; M McInerney, E Cleary, A Griffin.

Subs: C Murray for Cleary, inj (34), J Rafferty for Sweeney (45), D Walsh for Meaney (51), J Vaughan for G Murray (53), D Bohannon for Doherty (61).

Referee: T Murphy (Galway).