Donaghy needs direction, says Burns

Former Kerry defender Killian Burns believes Kieran Donaghy has been given much-needed direction by Jack O’Connor. The 1997 All-Ireland winner insists the 2006 footballer-of-the-year’s brief was too wide and vague over the last couple of seasons.

However, he saw Donaghy return to form playing his accustomed full-forward against Tyrone last Saturday.

“Donaghy seems to be given direction. He seemed to be at sea a little bit and that (his return to form) is down to clear direction from management. Maybe Jack is trying to figure out. I felt, and I think Kerry fans felt, he was in no man’s land for the last 12 months.

“He seemed to be given this free reign but he actually needs to be given direction. He works best with his style of player, and that’s the Gooch. They seem to be on the same wavelength.

“They have a kind of a basketball edge to them. He knows how to pat down the ball, he knows where the Gooch is going to be.

“If they can re-ignite that magic that they had that’s a really potent force for us and a real worry for the future teams to look at.

“They’re going to say, ‘Jesus, this duo are back again and we need to focus on them’ and then luckily you have Paul Galvin playing well, he’s got his scoring boots on, and Declan (O’Sullivan) is an immense player.

“Now the defences of the opposition have got an awful lot to think about.”

Burns is friendly with a number of Kerry’s current players and reveals they saw last week’s draw, a home game against Tyrone with the winners facing Clare this Saturday, as the handiest course back to Croke Park.

“I just think everyone would agree Kerry don’t like going halfway up the country, they either like going to Dublin or not. They have respect for all teams and approach them all with professionalism.

“However, a team that’s on the road as long as this one, they actually need something, and the need to be a top three or four team to really wake from their slumber.”

Expecting Clare to be turned over in the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening, the Sneem native feels other teams are now concerned about the prospect of facing Kerry in the latter stages.

“I think it’s thrown it wide open because Kerry think they will get over Clare. We could get Cork after that, then it will turn back on Cork.

“It’s actually going back on the other teams now when we consider where Kerry are at.

“I think a lot of people fell into the trap of saying are they on the way out? and in fairness I’ll be honest, we haven’t come quite full circle yet, there are lads in their late 20’s and they are still brilliant players.”

He added: “Kerry need to use psychology at this stage. Their lifespan as a team, because it is still the core team that is there for the last 10 years, there has only been a splattering of young lads coming up.

“So they need to do the psychological thing – ‘lads we are back in Croke Park’.”