Kerry are ready to shake it up

DECISIONS, decisions.

While Cork coach Conor Counihan may only fine-tune his side for Saturday’s Munster SFC replay against Kerry, Kingdom management could be tempted into a significant shake-up of their starting formation for the Páirc Uí Chaoimh clash.

Does David Moran merit a start, can they afford to draft Marc O Sé out to the centre half back position, is Darragh O Sé better started or introduced, should they persist with a target man at full forward? And what about the re-emergence of Bryan Sheehan, who scored five points in 22 minutes on Sunday, including the decisive, levelling free deep into injury time.

The Caherciveen man has been off the pace with Kerry since last year’s All-Ireland final, and appeared to be well down the pecking order heading into Sunday’s duel with the old enemy. However at a point of the game when Kerry were floundering, Sheehan stepped up. Even afterwards he was loathe to discuss his own situation, preferring to stay focused on the collective.

Maybe, that’s the key – the focus is back in his game.

From his unwanted vantage point of the dug-out, he watched frustrated in the first half as Cork set about their hosts, sending them into a green and gold tailspin.

“We knew Cork were going to hit the ground running,” Sheehan said yesterday. “They won the Division Two final comfortably against Monaghan, who are no bad side, and they’ve had a Championship game under their belt too.

“But we started sluggishly, and we were cleaned out for breaks around the middle of the field. Paul Galvin was the only fella to win a couple of breaks early on. We were hoping then to get a foothold and capitalise on our periods of dominance but unfortunately we missed the penalty which could have turned things around for us just before half time.”

Thirteen minutes into the second period, Sheehan got his chance to put the disappointment of Croke Park last September behind him, especially that missed ‘45’ which resulted from Declan O’Sullivan’s goal chance and reflex save from Paschal MacConnell.

If there was any sense of deja vu on Sunday in Killarney from that occasion, it didn’t show. “It’s not there for me (the memory of last year’s All-Ireland). You miss, you deal with it, the finger is going to be pointed at you, but that’s life. In the county final a couple of years ago against Dr Crokes, I pointed in the last minute from 60 yards to win the game. You take the pat on the back for that, and when things don’t go your way, you have to put your hand up and accept responsibility. I knew my job on Sunday was to put that ball over the bar.”

Sheehan’s first task was getting into the action on Sunday, and he believes that despite the lengthy injury list Kerry have, there’s still plenty of depth in Jack O’Connor’s bench.

“That’s why you build up a panel over the League,” he said. “We’ve used five subs in every game this season, so it does run deep, though it is being tested at the moment. But just look at Barry John Walsh who has only really come into the panel and he is flying already. He showed that when he came on for the last 10 minutes. He is pushing fellas all the way.”

Darragh O Sé may have had a greater expectation of being used against Cork, but he hardly anticipated coming in inside the opening 20 minutes. The Gaeltacht veteran looks a strong bet to start the replay on Saturday, but for a long time on Sunday, his fear of a “gammy” draw in the qualifiers looked like being realised.

“We want to win the Munster Championship as much as anyone,” he said. “It isn’t just about avoiding the qualifiers. Some of us have been around a long time, so in difficult situations you learn not to worry about the scoreboard or the clock and keep chipping away. We were lucky enough to get back on terms with Cork on Sunday, but we mightn’t be so lucky the next day if we leave it that late.”