O’Shea wary of tough test ahead from Tribesmen
“We felt beforehand that whoever was left in the hat, the four provincial winners were all going to be tough draws. Obviously we couldn’t draw Cork and the other three were going to be difficult oppositions.
“All the teams are quite different in their approach and from our point of view Galway was always going to be a tough ask. They are a very good footballing side and they have had a freshness under Liam Sammon this year. They also seem to have a lot of confidence going for them. We feel it is a tough draw,” he said yesterday.
The teams met in the last round of the League, in Pearse Stadium, in a game which Kerry had to win in order to guarantee their place in the final. They managed that but subsequently lost to Derry.
“It was a good performance by us up there, but league and championship football is totally different as we all know.”
Making the point after Sunday’s third-round qualifier win over Monaghan that having been idle for the past month explained the ‘rustiness’ in their first-half display, O’Shea feels that it’s not totally ideal either to have to face the Westerners six days later.
“It will be tough to get the boys recovered, treat whatever knocks and bruises we have picked up and then get turned around.
“But, it has got positives, too. There is obviously a fatigue factor involved but there is also the cushion of being able to get out and get performing again. And there is no substitute for games. As long as you have enough time to recover the games are very, very good.”
He readily accepts that his team will need to show further improvement if they are to advance, saying that while there were ‘patches’ in Sunday’s game where they performed quite well, there were other patches where ‘they were definitely blow par.’
“We have to try and improve on the areas that need improving for next week. And while it gives us a short time to do that I hope that the game itself will have just brought on our fellows.
“That championship fervour and the quality of the game will bring on a lot of our lads. That’s the hope anyway. Every game is different. You just hope they react.”’
O’Shea is unconcerned by talk of the championship shaping up to a Kerry/Dublin decider, saying that Galway is the most important game for them right now.
“Kerry and Galway have always provided fantastic fare in the past. They are two open football counties and to be fair what I said about Liam Sammon, he seems to have gone back traditionally to what Galway football is all about. It should make for a very good game of football on Saturday.”
Note: Their last championship clash was in the 2002 quarter-final, when Kerry won 2-17 to 1-12, having also defeated them in the 2000 All-Ireland final replay by four points.
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