Cracking Jack
THIS summer, tactics in GAA circles is almost considered a dirty word. Jim McGuinness’ all-out defence, the blanket defence and excessive hand-passing have, in particular, come in for close scrutiny. The doyen of managers Brian Cody would have us believe that he doesn’t do tactics. Win your own ball, work hard, express yourself and everything else will take care itself seems to be his plan.
Yet, in the recent All-Ireland hurling final there was plenty of tactical manoeuvrings. First and foremost Cody got his match-ups at the back right. Tommy Walsh was much more measured in his distribution and the placing of Eddie Brennan on Padraic Maher was also a huge success. When people think of tactics they should not envisage complicated military-type manoeuvres but think more along the lines of a solid game plan. In any game it is important that players have a clear idea of what is expected of them, never more so than in an All-Ireland final.
Jack O’Connor has a great record in All-Ireland finals. As a manager he has won three out of four. Add in two more as selector and it makes for impressive viewing. One of his hallmarks as a manager is tactically getting it spot-on for finals. He is good at presenting something different on the big day and surprising the opposition.
When considering what way to attack the opposition he weighs up their weaknesses and their strengths. He likes to attack a combination of both. In 2004 when thinking about Mayo he correctly analysed the Mayo full-back line would not be comfortable over their heads. He reasoned that with the type of football Mayo played and with the type of player they possessed they would seldom, if ever, kick high ball into their full-forward line in training matches. Our instructions were simple going out that day — bombard the Mayo full-back line with long high balls. With Johnny Crowley, Dara Ó Cinnéide and Colm Cooper all strong over their heads, Jack was sure we could get joy from this tactic. And so it played out.
By 2006 this tactic had been refined. Kieran Donaghy was now at full-forward and players like Seán O’Sullivan and Paul Galvin were given ball in wide areas to float high diagonals to Donaghy that he could attack. Even though this time round Mayo expected the aerial bombardment they were surprised by the measured and accurate nature of the deliveries. Again it was a major success and again Kerry won comfortably.
For the 2009 final, I had crossed the fence from player to selector. This time rather than being presented with a particular facet of a game plan, I was going to be shaping the tactics. I learned an awful lot of things in my two years but one of the major things I learned from Jack was to be patient when shaping a game plan. Often human nature dictates that we like to make quick decisions. I learned that sometimes it pays to take more time. Eventually you will come on the right decision. An example of this was in the lead up to the 2009 final against Cork as we finalised our match-ups at the back. All week in the lead up to the game we debated whether to put Tomás Ó Sé on Paul Kerrigan and Killian Young on Patrick Kelly or vice versa. We were patient and did not rush into a decision. We let it ferment in our minds and came back to it again. And again. Eventually by Thursday evening after speaking to Tomás and Killian we were happy to go with as first planned. The fact the lads were part of the decision was also a good lesson as they both dominated their opponents that Sunday. Incidentally, this idea of placing a back on a certain forward and leaving him there has worked very well for Jack down the years. As far back as 2000 he was prominent as a selector in giving us specific men to mark in that year’s replay. Getting these match-ups right on Sunday will be once more of paramount importance.
For the 2009 final we tried lots of different things and thankfully most of them came off. We targeted Alan Quirke’s kick-outs as being key to Cork’s success at midfield and we successfully disrupted them. This requires a high level of concentration from the players but everyone was tuned in that day and delivered. We felt that Graham Canty driving from the half-back line inspired Cork so we gave Tadhg Kenneally the job of running Canty into the ground. Tadhg kicked two points and Canty was burning all his energy defensively. This took away much of Cork’s go forward momentum. We also put Declan O’Sullivan at full-forward. We figured this move would mess up the Cork match-ups at the back. Declan is very hard to stop close to goal. Kieran O’Connor started on O’Sullivan at full-back where he looked uncomfortable. Eventually John Miskella had to go back there and that removed another one of Cork’s attacking half-back line that had been so successful all year.
It is very satisfying to see a well thought out game plan play out in front of your eyes. From Jack’s perspective he is lucky that he has fantastic players at his disposal that possess the required levels to implement any game plan.
Undoubtedly Jack, Ger O’Keeffe, Diarmuid Murphy, Alan O’Sullivan and Donie Buckley have put a lot of thought into Sunday’s opposition. They have watched plenty of video footage over the last few weeks. They will be primarily concentrating on getting Kerry’s game right first, but then they will be looking for chinks in the Dubs’ armour. They will need to get the defensive match-ups right again. Marc Ó Sé will pick up Bernard Brogan, with Killian Young probably taking Alan Brogan. Tom O’Sullivan will face up to Diarmuid Connolly. It is harder to predict what they will do in the half back line but the lads will adopt a horses-for-courses approach. Kerry will again go after Stephen Cluxton’s kick-out. We did a lot of work on that in 2009 and it worked very well for us. Much thought will also go into how best to defeat Dublin’s blanket defence. Moving the ball at pace will be very important. It will also be critical for Kerry to keep a solid shape at the back to deny the Brogans and co the space that they thrived in against Tyrone. Anthony Maher could be crucial here as he has excellent defensive awareness and is a good tackler. There are so many intriguing sideshows and duels to look forward to. As for Jack’s trademark surprise tactic we will just have to wait until Sunday.
- PS: My own club Finuge are running a fundraiser in the lead up to the final. Be in with a chance to win 2 All-Ireland Stand tickets. To enter answer the following question: What county does Paul Galvin play for? Is it (a) Kerry (b) Dublin or (c) Donegal. For your chance to win text REF followed by your answer and name to 57802. Lines close at 4pm today.
5 They played the DVD of ‘95 in Fagans one more time.
4 You have to walk down – where’re all the taxis?
3 That many Dubs in one place, they naturally start drifting away from grass.
2 I blame the refugees.
1 They’ll wait forus, won’t they?
5 There are games before the All-Ireland final?
4 That costs cash money.
3 You step over the border and you turn into a pumpkin.
2 I’ve been to semi-finals. You can LOSE those.
1 They’ll wait for us, won’t they?
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