O’Connor wants redemption for pain of 2002 and 2003

FOR two years the GAA press corps has been waiting to quiz Kerrymen about the prospect of facing their northern nemeses again and, when the question finally landed at Jack O’Connor’s feet yesterday, it did so utterly devoid of any fancy wrappings.

“So Jack, any fear of the Ulster counties,” asked one radio reporter. The bluntness of it caught everyone by surprise, not least the Kerry manager himself who responded with a brief low chuckle at the interesting wording of the enquiry.

“Well, we’ll only be playing one of them for a start,” he joked, “but it will be fascinating because there is that contrast of styles between northern and southern football. It will be a great challenge for both managers and sets of players to adapt our game.”

“We were hurting badly leaving here two years in a row, 2002 and 2003, and while we’re not looking at revenge, it’s maybe (a chance of) redemption in many ways. It’s that hurt that has driven on these players the last two years.”

Though Kerry, Armagh and Tyrone have been flagged as the three front-runners from the start of the year, there was always the prospect that somebody somewhere would throw a spanner in the works.

Kerry won’t admit it, but they’ll be delighted at the prospect of finally getting another shot at whoever wins next Sunday. Mutterings of their ‘soft’ All-Ireland last year won’t be completely quelled unless they retain their title and the prospects of that happening look good after yesterday’s filleting of Cork.

Yesterday’s was, by far, their most complete performance of the summer with a number of players raising their performances from mere lukewarm closer to boiling point. O’Connor said so himself, remarking that recent training sessions were as fierce as any the Kilkenny hurlers had served up in Nowlan Park these past few years.

“I felt there was a good performance in the team today because, when they are challenged, they respond. We knew that Cork were improving. They had improved in the Munster final and again against Galway. What people didn’t realise is that we knew ourselves that we had improved.”

The result was far less of a reliance on Colm Cooper to nail down the scores needed for victory. A dozen Kerrymen found the target yesterday though, yet again, it was the Gooch whose star shone the brightest, especially in the opening half.

“I’m not the first to say it, but this is a great man,” said O’Connor.

“He’s a team player first of all. He fights hard for the ball, he gets scores, he makes scores and he’s a great leader of the line. He’s just a joy to have in the squad.”

The worry for Kerry approaching the final will be the relative ease with which they have found themselves in the decider, having swept past Mayo and Cork in their last two games.

“I wasn’t really focusing on Cork, to be honest. Our thing all along was to get our own game in order, to be aggressive and take the game to Cork, They’ll be disappointed but they have certainly made progress this year. They’re a young team and I think they’ll come good.

“Our dream all year has been to win the All-Ireland so, while we’re delighted with the performance, there’s still work ahead but we’re really looking forward to the month of September.”