O’Keeffe: Kerry will do talking on the pitch

Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe refused to be drawn by his former team-mate Pat Spillane’s criticism of the team.

As the countdown to their eagerly-anticipated round three qualifier against Tyrone in Killarney continues, O’Keeffe is content to let pundits express their views about the side.

But he insists the camp are paying no heed of what they are saying.

In yesterday’s Irish Examiner, Spillane was scathing of Kerry, saying they were on their last legs and the younger players weren’t good enough. Although he stated Kerry have only scored five points from play in each of their three Championship games so far, they actually managed nine against both Tipperary and Cork.

However, O’Keeffe is not interested in getting into a war of words with a man he won three All-Irelands title playing alongside.

“Everybody is having a say and offering their view on how Kerry are playing,” he said.

“Martin Carney and Pat Spillane have their views, they’re paid to give them and that’s their job.

“We don’t take any notice. We don’t react to pundits’ comments.”

O’Keeffe also said there is little discussion among the players and management about attempting to make up for Kerry’s three previous Championship losses to Tyrone on Saturday.

“Revenge is like talking about the pundits stuff — it doesn’t matter to us in the slightest.

“This was always going to be a knockout, whoever we were going to be meeting, and we have to be prepared for that.

“It’s all duck or no dinner and we just want Saturday to roll on. We have to be up for it because if we’re not, we’ll be sent packing. Whoever loses is out for the year and nobody wants that. We hope we’ll have good support to give us an extra edge and to give them something to cheer.”

O’Keeffe said Kerry won’t be making a call on Darran O’Sullivan’s fitness until they know for certain the condition of his right hamstring.

“We’ll know later in the week. Right now, we don’t know. Hamstrings are tricky things and we’ll have to see if he has done any further damage to it after Sunday.”

Substitute O’Sullivan’s goal triggered Kerry’s revival against Westmeath in a game in which they looked lethargic for long periods.

“Six points down, things weren’t looking good but we were happy with the way the players reacted,” recalled the Austin Stacks man.

“The unfortunate thing is we didn’t get the momentum going until the end. We were happy with our second half but not with the first half, when we had the wind. We simply didn’t play well and have to believe we can take the good parts in that game and try repeat them for 70 minutes.”

O’Keeffe doesn’t need to be reminded of the nugget that goes with winning Saturday’s qualifier.

“From a GAA point of view, it’s a plum draw but it’s a difficult game for both teams, even though we have the home venue. Whoever wins this will get huge pluses from it because it’s a big game and it’s winner takes all.”

Meanwhile, Tyrone midfielder Colm Cavanagh believes Kerry will put their dismal form behind them on Saturday. The Moy man predicts a “war” in Fitzgerald Stadium as two of the game’s giants go head-to-head for Championship survival.

“This is Kerry. They may have had a bit of a rough patch, but they are still one of the best teams in the country, and we will have to be up for it,” he said. “It’s going to be a war, a very tough game for us, especially with Kerry having home advantage. Kerry are the team that everybody wanted to avoid. It’s going to be a very tough game for us, but we have to get on with it.”

Cavanagh sees home advantage as a massive advantage for Jack O’Connor’s side.

“It is a huge advantage to and there will be a big Kerry crowd there, getting behind their team.

“It’s going to be an intimidating atmosphere, but we just have to deal with it.”

Tyrone have the measure of Kerry over the past decade but Cavanagh dismissed past results as irrelevant.

“We have a good record but this is a new era, there are different players there now, and the past counts for nothing. Any team can beat any other team on any given day.”