Ó Cinnéide coming to terms with life in the slow lane

AFTER a career playing in the top flight of inter-county football, Dara Ó Cinnéide is having to adjust to life in the slow lane with Kerry.

And, it's not easy, especially prior to a Munster SFC semi-final against Cork.

Ó Cinnéide was a key member of the Gaeltacht side which won through in the county last winter and subsequently stormed to the All-Ireland club final on St Patrick's Day. But, there was a price to pay. His club travails meant that he was unavailable for the opening two rounds of the Allianz NFL. Not surprisingly, bar ten minutes in the league final win in Croke Park, Ó Cinnéide's role has been confined to the bench. And he will be there again on Sunday.

"After we lost the All-Ireland club final, we were a bit flat for a few weeks, but thankfully we (Kerry) had achieved our aim at that stage to get into the qualifying stage. We were then pretty much part of the set-up again and glad to be."

However, the readjustment period, after their club campaign was difficult.

"We played the first one or two league games and then we were away on our own. We kept in touch and played in a few challenge games but, in the meantime, the team was building. When we came back, the boys in possession were doing well.

"At the same time, stepping out of it for a couple of weeks in the Spring and coming back into it, the gap between number 30 and number 2 on the team was very, very little. In previous years there might have been a huge gap."

So what have the last couple of weeks been like for a man who once secured automatic selection.

"I won't say that we enjoy it, but it's a different perspective sitting through games, watching fellows do well, watching fellows do badly. It is a very different game as a sub. You wonder if you will get 20 minutes or longer. You're always hoping, but there's a very positive mood from number 16 to 30. Nobody saying that he is not going to get a game. Everyone coming out is realistically hoping to play and that's a good way to have it."

What helps players to be so positive is that training plans don't differentiate between those in the team and those not. He finds the approach refreshing.

"The club final was played in March and the league final in May. We had moved on at that stage. Some of us had managed to get our places back, some of us are still trying to do it."

Their last championship clash was a unique meeting in the All-Ireland semi-final of 2002 at headquarters, when Kerry came through the qualifier route after losing in a replay in Pairc Uí Chaoimh.

"I wouldn't call it revenge. It was an All-Ireland semi-final, like the Kerry/Meath game the year before a day when things went right for us, one or two things went wrong for Cork early on. The harder they tried the worst things seemed to get for them.

"But, we didn't win the All-Ireland that year. That's not gone from our memory!"