Kennedy thrives on great expectations

Bluntly or succinctly? You call it but when John Kennedy took over Kilmurry-Ibrickane there was only one way he summed up his prospects.

“Pressure is something you can thrive on or crumble under. Wherever you are there will be expectation, especially as a Kerryman coming into Kilmurry, a team that were very successful.

“If you weren’t winning silverware you’d be a failure.

“We’re on a good run, we’ve won back-to-back county titles, we’ve two league and two O’Gorman Cups in the two years.

“But it will count for nothing tomorrow if we don’t win.”

So there you have it, but just how do the Clare champions see themselves going about making amends for last year’s defeat to Dr Crokes in Quilty tomorrow?

Almost as soon as the Killarney side had completed the three-in-a-row in Tralee last Sunday, their manager Noel O’Leary had begun the mind games — “If John Kennedy is a Kerryman he’s going to play football.”

O’Leary, who has voiced concerns about the growth of negative defensive tactics in Gaelic football, saw enough of Kilmurry-Ibrickane in Lewis Road last year to know that Kennedy’s team are a serious outfit as much as they like to play a decent brand of football. Kennedy heard the comment but he doesn’t mind offering his opposite number some reassurance.

“The Kilmurry style is that they play open and attacking football, keeping possession and getting the ball into the danger zone as quickly as possible. I can’t see us changing too much from that.

“We have to be mindful about not giving space and time to the Crokes’ forwards. We’ve to come up with a tactic but as regards parking the bus and playing 14 men back, we certainly won’t be doing that.”

It’s not as if Crokes are the only ones who have found stationery vehicles being put in their way, says Kennedy; Kilmurry-Ibrickane have experienced double-decker defences in Clare too.

“We’re the team to beat in Clare and every game is a final for them against us as such. Teams raise themselves for you and that’s a positive because it means we have to be playing at our best.

“You have to adapt to whatever tactics are used against you and that’s the intrigue of it.

“The one thing we know about playing Crokes last year was that it was a very good game of football.

“We’re hoping for something similar Sunday.”

Kennedy read with interest other comments made by O’Leary about his players’ ambitions — “do they want to be sitting beside the fire for Christmas or do they want to drive on. I think they’ll drive on.”

The Asdee man says: “When you win a county title you’re obviously looking forward to the provincial championship. It’s probably a bit premature to be talking about All-Ireland semi-finals and finals when you’ve a first round game a week away. The euphoria of winning can make people say things but as far as we’re concerned we’re focused on the game. Whatever people say or write, it doesn’t mean much to us. Twelve months ago, we felt we should have beaten Crokes in Lewis Road and we didn’t. Twelve months later, we’re back in the same spot but at home in Quilty and we’re going to give it one hell of a shot.”

Although their final win over St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield was comprehensive, it wasn’t without the odd speed bump on the way.

“The two games against Kilrush brought out the best in us and I think it showed the character in the team.

“With five minutes to go in the replay, we were two points down and they had a chance of going three up. They missed and I think that was the lifeline and we came back and won the match by a point. That showed our will to win.

” It also answered the questions the management team had about hunger and we’ve kicked on from there.”

As he has done so these past two years, Kennedy will take the Tarbert-Killimer ferry again tomorrow morning, as he says, hoping it won’t be for the last time this year. To beat Crokes, he knows his men must match them, meaning the likes of county player and captain Martin McMahon and the Hickeys in the full-back line must be on their most vigilant guard, meaning Enda Coughlan up front must be on song.

“We have to compete all over the pitch and compete at the intensity that Crokes play at it and it will take concentration,” he says. “A quick free for them against Dingle led to a [Chris Brady] goal.

“If you have any lapse of concentration they will punish you and our attitude will have to be right from the goalkeeper to the corner-forward.”