O’Dwyer lavishes praise on familiar foe

Back in the 70s and 80s when Kerry were in their pomp, their manager Mick O’Dwyer talked up Cork year after year as the second-best team in Ireland, behind the Kingdom.

Many in the Rebel County saw it as the roguish Micko simply rubbing it into Kerry’s oldest and fiercest rivals.

This week, in advance of Sunday’s Munster SFC semi-final in Cusack Park, Micko is again talking up Cork but now in a different guise, in his new role as Clare senior football manager.

Asked if Clare can beat Cork, this time there is no doubting his sincerity. “I don’t know about the beating side of it, the most important thing is to put up a good performance. Cork were very, very impressive when they beat Limerick in Limerick. They have a powerful team at the moment — Goulding, Kerrigan, this young lad now at full-forward, Hurley from Castlehaven. He’s a good one but they have a very good all-round team. They’re one of the top teams in the country, thinking of winning All-Irelands whereas we’d be hoping just to win a round of the championship.”

That doesn’t mean that he dismisses all hope of Clare winning. Everyone knows of the job O’Dwyer did with Kerry, eight All-Ireland titles in 11 years, but an army of begrudgers claimed Kathy Barry could have led that Kerry team to the same success.

The man from Waterville then went to ply his wares elsewhere, however, guiding Kildare to their first Leinster title in 42 years (1998, won again two years later), Laois to its first ever Leinster title (2003), before taking over minnows Wicklow and winning a Tommy Murphy Cup, but more significantly, leading them on a fairytale journey through the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2009. So he knows, better than most, there’s bite in a well-prepared underdog.

“The players have put in a big effort right over the winter. Micheál Cahill is the physical trainer and has done a great job, Ger (Keane) and Michael (Neylon) have been the coaches — I’ve been in an advisory capacity more than anything else since I came here. It’s a big change I can assure ye from the days when there was no-one around me, only myself single-handed. That’s the way it’s happening, the game changes and you have to evolve with it — there’s nearly more people involved off the field now than on it.”

The question is though, are all those additional backroom staff having a negative effect on football, too much emphasis on strength, fitness, analysis and tactics to the detriment of the game itself? Not at all, says the Banner boss. “I think the game is great at the moment. There was a game a few weeks ago, Down v Derry which was the finest exhibition of football I’ve seen in years with some marvellous points kicked from all angles. The massed defence is going to force fellas to kick scores now from distance again and they’re going to have to practice that — that’s what’s happening. I think the game is in great shape though the stronger counties, the ones with the money, are pulling away.”

That, he says, is the real danger, the cost of all this new technology such as GPS tracking of individual players. “It’s good for the game of course, all these advances, making it the best it can possibly be and by God there are about half a dozen counties now that are pulling away from the rest. The strong counties seem to be able to get the cash no problem while the weaker counties are struggling — it’s up to Central Council to push more money out to the weaker counties.”

With so many minnows suffering huge losses already this championship season, does he fear the same thing happening this Sunday?

“It doesn’t bother me one way or another, I enjoy being involved in the game no matter what. We know it’s a mountain to climb, an Everest — Cork are one of the best teams in the country and we have to accept that.

“Nobody sees an upset but upsets can happen, you know! We’ll put our best team out on the field in the best shape we can. If they play to their potential we have a right chance — we have some bloody great players. We’ll go out and do the best we can.”