Not the start O’Connor wanted

IT was the type of issue Jack O’Connor would have sought to avoid in Kerry’s 2011 championship opener but the dismissal of Tomás Ó Sé was the key talking point after yesterday’s Munster quarter-final.

“I think it’s within the time scale of 48 weeks and there’s a good chance he’ll be out now for two months. Obviously there was a bit of needle between the two of them. I didn’t see it but the linesman did see something. He said it to the referee and that’s the end of it. All I asked the referee at half-time was what had Tomás done as I hadn’t seen it. It’s very disappointing.”

At half-time, Kerry were in a spot of bother but O’Connor gathered his charges in the dressing-room and sought improvements from the 14 men he was sending into action. The second-half performance answered the call.

“We were lethargic in the first-half and allowed Tipperary play a lot of football. We looked in big trouble at half-time, playing against a strong wind and with a man down. But we regrouped and showed real spirit to tear into it. Tipperary were just showing more aggression in the first-half on breaking ball from kick-outs.

“A lot of fellas stood up in the second-half which was encouraging. The most important thing is we showed a bit of heart. It was critical that we got in early in the second-half with a score. Facing the wind, it would have given Tipp a lot of momentum if they got an early score. So Bryan’s penalty was important and in the end it was comprehensive enough.”

Securing possession from kickouts was a key area that O’Connor targeted in the second-half.

“We need to get to grips with kickouts. I don’t have the stats but I’d safely say on the Tipperary kickouts, we were well beaten in the first-half. Mike Quirke settled that when he came on and obviously Donaghy did very well when he came out there against the wind as well. We didn’t get that many frees. Amazingly enough we didn’t get any free from a scoreable position in the first-half. Maybe that mustgo down to good Tipperary tackling, I’m not sure.

“But we’re a work in progress. Anthony Maher had the flu and we lost him beforehand. It was going around the camp. Padraig Reidy was also out with it. Seamus got a very bad cut as well, there was a lot of blood. But sometimes these things work in your favour, Mike Quirke was able to come on and Paul (Galvin) came on as well to get some game time. That was all badly needed.”