TOMAS QUINN:Kingdom show value of foreign training camps

There are some games where a manager might feel the need to try to motivate his team beforehand, but I doubt Eamonn Fitzmaurice had to give much of a pep talk before throw-in at Healy Park in Omagh yesterday.

Kerry have known for the last two weeks they required a victory to have any chance of avoiding relegation and also required some other results to go their way. As it turned out they got both and will remain in Division One again next year. Of more immediate importance though is the amount of positives they will take from yesterday.

Players and teams can motivate themselves in many different ways. One of the strongest motivational tools is when a team creates a siege mentality with a ‘nobody believes in us’ attitude that they are going to do everything within their power to prove “everybody” — whoever they are — wrong. Yesterday’s display had all the hallmarks of a team that felt they had something to prove. Leaders such as Tomás O Sé, Kieran Donaghy and Declan O’Sullivan set the tone from a very early stage, ensuring Kerry dictated the pace of the game and the style in which it was played.

Kerry have recently returned from a warm-weather training camp in Portugal and you could really see the benefit of the week together in their display yesterday. Many people question foreign training camps; sometimes from the outside, cynics view them as a holiday for players. In most cases this couldn’t be further from the truth. Teams will generally train on the pitch or in the gym twice or three times a day and the environment creates time for tactical meetings, recovery sessions and some team bonding activities.

You can squeeze three to four weeks’ of work into the week and also enhance the group spirit. By training in warmer climes every day. it also gives a summer championship feel to the players, permitting a change of mindset from winter league football to more expansive fluid game. The movement of the Kerry forwards and quick deliveries in the first half yesterday was in stark contrast to what we’d seen from Kerry forwards to date this year.

Much has been made of Kerry’s early season form and apparent lack of options that have made themselves realistic contenders for jerseys come the championship but when you see the team Fitzmaurice was able to name yesterday, you begin to realise that they don’t need five or six new faces to step in. As few as two or three legitimate championship standard players will add to such an experienced panel.

It has been well documented in recent weeks that ‘bad blood’ has developed between these two counties, something the players will have been very aware of going into the game. Healy Park can be a hostile venue and it was pleasing to see both sets of players played the game in a sporting manner and there were no incidents to leave us talking about other than the football.

Mickey Harte will be disappointed with Tyrone’s first half display and might have considered himself lucky his team weren’t further behind at the break. They did show excellent fighting spirit in the second half and, while they didn’t complete the comeback, they already knew they had a place in next Sunday’s semi-final that will allow them to continue to build on their impressive season.

They have already stated their focus is on their May championship encounter with Donegal but they will relish the chance to play Kildare and possibly a league final, the best form of preparation for that meeting with the All-Ireland champions.

Kerry can now focus on getting themselves right for their upcoming Munster championship. Even though it was a late Paul Mannion point for Dublin to secure a draw with Donegal that saved Kerry from relegation, the fact they stayed up will give them a positive finish to the league and they will carry the momentum into their training heading into the summer.

Whether three wins on the bounce, and the resultant momentum, is enough for people to believe in Kerry’s September potential again is a moot point. I doubt the players or management care; they’ll be out to prove ‘everyone’ wrong either way.