O’Sullivan believes it will be third time lucky for Kingdom

Kerry boss William O’Sullivan is confident his team can negotiate the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies SFC semi-final hurdle at the third time of asking.

The Munster runners-up beat 2010 champions Dublin in the quarter-finals and their reward is a last four showdown with Connacht champions Galway in Birr this afternoon (TG4, 4pm).

But Kerry have been down this road in 2010 and 2011 – losing to Tyrone and Monaghan respectively.

O’Sullivan conceded: “Having been here twice before, the girls are going to be thinking about that. We can’t avoid those defeats but it doesn’t mean anything to this year’s game.

Galway, meanwhile, are contesting a first semi-final since 2005 and manager Gabriel Naughton said: “It’s a fantastic position to be in.

“Whether you’re a player or involved in management, these are the games you want to be involved in. And winning the Connacht final was largely unexpected.”

Galway had lost heavily to Mayo in the Bord Gáis Energy National League Division 2 final but the tables were turned emphatically when the teams met again in the provincial decider. And Galway’s comfortable quarter-final victory over Clare has taken them to within touching distance of Croke Park on All-Ireland final Sunday.

Naughton is an admirer of the Kerry team and has pinpointed the key areas where the Kingdom are particularly strong.

He said: “They have a number of strong, athletic girls who seem to have got very good at minimising the number of scores that the opposition get. In their last couple of games, they restricted Westmeath and Dublin to ten or eleven points and that’s very decent defending. They’ve done a huge amount of work on their defensive strategy and that’s carrying them along very well at the moment.”

And O’Sullivan is a fully paid up member of the mutual appreciation society. He added: “Galway are a good outfit, particularly strong up the middle with Emer Flaherty at centre back and Aoibheann Daly in midfield.

“Deirdre Brennan is a strong runner and their full forward line will need to be watched, with Annette Clarke at full-forward and Edel Concannon in good scoring form.

GALWAY: L Higgins; M Coyne, S Conneally, R McPhilbin; B Hannon, E Flaherty, S Burke; E Curley, A Daly; G Conneally, D Brennan, C Hehir; E Gannon, A Clarke, E Concannon.

KERRY: E Murphy; C Lynch, A Leonard, A Lyons; J Brosnan, A Desmond, C Kelly; L Scanlon, B Breen; S Houlihan, E Sherwood, L Galvin; M O’Connell, D Corridan, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh.