O’Donoghue a fast learner

ALL-IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL:

Such minutiae might almost appear wearisome to a free spirit like James O’Donoghue, but he’s wised up fast to the whiteboard wisdom of the coaching staff with the Kingdom.

Confronting Donegal in 2012 tends to do that. “I remember I was a bit naive. I was kind of floating around the place losing position myself. I remember thinking I was after making a hames of the game basically. It was my first time coming up against a strong defence like that. I would definitely do things a lot different if I was to come up against it again, which I have thought about.”

Jimmy McGuinness can wait. “We might not come up against any northern team this year, you don’t know. Mayo are always very strong defensively. The Dubs are very strong defensively. I think we are strong defensively.

“The Donegal system is more bodies and hard tackling. Mayo are just ferocious tacklers, very naturally good defensively — even their forward are good defenders and good tacklers. They get turnovers up there and put you under pressured.

“The whole defensive system is great but any defence can switch off for a second or two and that’s when the forward has to be razor sharp.”

Much credit for Mayo’s grittiness these days is bestowed on Donie Buckley, a man who knows Kerry better than almost any coach outside the county. But for any of the Castleisland man’s insight, Kerry will reap similar harvest from Cian O’Neill’s time spent with James Horan up to 2012. Score draw?

“We had Donie down in Kerry for a while coaching us and he was very good, a very good coach in the tackling department. We know Mayo well. We know what they’re capable of in terms of defending and tackling. We know what to expect. I don’t think it’ll be a shock but we’ve got to be very well prepared.”

O’Neill is riding shotgun with one of the most perceptive young minds in the coaching sphere in Eamonn Fitzmaurice, a man who has bridged the divide between playing and managing, between friendship and respect, with aplomb.

“Eamonn’s unflappable,” says O’Donoghue. “He knows the mood in the camp, if you need a lift, or a kick. It’s a young team. He’s brought fellas through. I think Kerry will be strong again for a while now. He had no choice in many ways but he has thrown fellas in, gave them confidence. He threw me in.

“Eamonn is very astute in all aspects of football, he’s excellent, a bit of man management here and there. He’ll come up with a different plan for every team he faces.”

Fitzmaurice has never been slow to remind his players of the importance of representing football’s biggest tradition, and James O’Donoghue — like Paul Galvin once did — is quick to acknowledge that All-Ireland medals are the only currency that validates opinion in the county.

“Yeah I’d agree with that. (An All-Ireland medal) is the only prize. It’s not like soccer, you have the Premiership, the Champions League, whatever. It’s just the All-Ireland for Kerry, basically.

“I’d love to say I had an All-Ireland when I was 22 or 23 and use that confidence to go on and win more but when you’re fighting for one, you don’t know when it’s going to come and you’re rushing to get your hands on Sam Maguire, so there’s very much that desire to just win one at the moment. I don’t really think about anything else. The rest of my life takes a complete back seat when it comes to football, which is probably a bad thing but I’m just completely focused on winning my first All-Ireland and having that medal.”