Kldare boss first to spot Cooper

PÁIDÍ Ó SÉ has former mentor Mick O’Dwyer to thank for first alerting him to the potential of Colm Cooper, the acknowledged young ‘footballer of the year’ and Kerry’s man-of-the-match in Sunday’s comprehensive win over Cork in the first of the Bank of Ireland championship semi-finals.

"Micko was the first person to tell me about him. I didn't really take any notice of him until he had a word in my ear a long time ago," Ó Sé said yesterday. "After that I kept a close eye on him. What really brought it home to me was his display in the Munster Under 21 final in Ennis."

Nevertheless, while acknowledging that Cooper's temperament complements his skill and mobility, he says he is "very conscious" of the need to protect him from the media spotlight. "He is still very young and has a long career ahead of him. But he is a player who has to be minded. We'll have to protect him from all of the angles.

"Colm is a very balanced young lad and has a good temperament but I would be very conscious of his age. He's on the big stage now and we're certainly going to ensure that we will give him every possible chance to mature properly and get into the big time in the right manner."

In the meantime, Ó Sé is declining to make any predictions about the winner of the second semi-final next Sunday, specifically as to whether he would prefer to be meeting Dublin or Armagh in next month's decider.

Admitting that it will be difficult for the management to focus on the game until such time as they know their opponents, Ó Sé merely remarked that he is awaiting the game "with interest" and prepared to accept "any hand that we are dealt".

More to the point, he is adamant that the management will have no difficulty in bringing the players back down to earth, bearing in mind that the only trophy they have to show for their efforts so far this year is the Division 2 Allianz National League trophy.

"We'll be getting together tomorrow night and by the time I'll be finished with them, there'll be no problem with that," he said.

Reflecting on Sunday's win, Ó Sé admitted that he had a good feeling about the game, being totally satisfied about the thoroughness of their preparations mentally as well as physically. "I had a feeling that Kerry were 'up' for this game. We had more going for us really, in that we had a point to prove. We had more of an incentive than Cork had.

"Even though they didn't beat us in Killarney, they scored a 'moral' victory. Then they beat us second time round. A big effort was needed from Kerry this time an extra effort and it was easy enough to motivate the players."

Reiterating the view that the conditions had been ideal for playing football, Ó Sé agreed that their good start to the game had been important in the context of giving them a psychological advantage. "We seemed to get into the game immediately. We just picked up three or four very fast scores. It was just one of those days that things kind of clicked for us."

His response prompted the obvious question: why wasn't the team capable of playing a similar brand of football in the Munster championship? His initial response was that it wasn't an easy question to answer. However, on reflection, he accepted that the changes made over the period of the qualifier games undoubtedly made the difference. "They had a settling effect, there's no doubt about that. For instance, we had been chopping and changing at midfield all the year. There's a certain understanding there all the time between Donal Daly and Darragh Ó Sé, even though both of them died a death for a good part of the second half."

And while the quality of their forward play was obviously very satisfying to the management, Ó Sé says that he is hoping for further improvement. "What would really please me a bit more would be to see three or four more players pushing for places for the final. We won't have any county championship games between now and the final, so the next couple of weeks are going to be very important for us in our lead-up to the final.

"While we will be meeting tomorrow evening, it will possibly be difficult this week to tune in. And it's hard to plan without knowing who our opponents will be. After Sunday we'll be getting down to business."

The final will see Kerry play their ninth game of the campaign, which is history in itself. Taking account of the team's current physical condition, it highlights the significance of trainer John O'Keeffe's role behind the scenes. "In the earlier part of the year it was important to do all the heavy work. Where Johnno's training stood to us was where we were having games so quickly after one another. The fact that we had a good base of training and that our recovery rate was very good is all down to Johnno's stamina and strength training during the winter.

"Right now, we're just happy that we're back in another All-Ireland final. It's due in no uncertain terms to the players' attitude changing and working harder. We all did. We all rallied."

Ó Sé declined to make any comment in reaction to criticism of the referee voiced by Cork captain Colin Corkeryafter the game, to the effect that he complained about "some of the tactics" of the Kerry backs. When it was put to him that what Corkery was complaining about was his jersey (and possibly others) being pulled from behind by Seamus Moynihan on occasions, Ó Sé said "he didn't really encourage any pulling of jerseys".

"It was possibly a frustrating day for Colin. I could see where he was coming from. It was more frustration than anything else," he said.

"He's a fine footballer. It was just unfortunate that circumstances led to him being sent off. We have great time for him, and Fionán Murray and Tom O'Sullivan. The three of them are footballers.

"What happened probably spoiled the day really."