O’Connor delighted at Kerry’s ‘handy’ day

JACK O’Connor was in relaxed mood in Killarney yesterday, very different from the game in Omagh against their All-Ireland conquerors and much more relaxed than he had been after drawing with Dublin a week ago.

Most of all, the Kerry manager was delighted to have his team involved in another competitive game after qualifying for Sunday’s Allianz League final. “It’s better than a month’s training,” he commented.

It didn’t bother him that they beat Mick O’Dwyer’s Laois rather more easily than might have been expected.

“We have had a few tough games. We had Tyrone above in Tyrone and Dublin here who are a very physical team, so we don’t mind having one ‘handy’ day!”

Asked if he felt it was the team’s best display of the campaign so far, he pointed out that in the Tyrone game they had played ‘great football’ for the first 35 minutes. The difference this time was that they were ‘more consistent’.

He singled out young St Mary’s star Bryan Sheehan, crediting him with an impressive performance in his first league start. “He kicked his scores with great confidence and he hit a massive free into the wind in the second half,” he commented.

O’Dwyer was philosophical to the point of saying that the result didn’t really matter. After all, it was ‘only’ the league!

“We are not down by any means. League displays to me over the years ... I’m never worried,” he remarked. “We can’t complain; Kerry are a fair side, one of the top teams.”

O’Dwyer felt Colm Cooper’s goal just before half-time was a killer blow and typical of the ‘real poacher’ that he is. “We would have been competitive only for that goal. Kerry were really sharp, eager and more competitive than we were. But, we had too many players out. A county like Laois just can’t afford to be missing top-class players. Our centre-back went off injured and he was a loss as well.”