Steven O’Brien bids to maintain proud record against Kerry

Never beaten by Kerry. It’s not a personal record Steven O’Brien is singing from the rooftops ahead of facing the All-Ireland champions on Sunday, but it’s a clear indication of Tipperary’s fortunes in underage football.

Named Opel GAA-GPA footballer of the month yesterday, the Ballina man’s streak goes back to U14 level.

“Kerry at the time, they were divided into two. I think we played them minor twice. We didn’t play them U21, we played them [in] minors twice, maybe U16s. We were just lucky to come out the right side of it,” said O’Brien.

Congrats to Limerick's @cianlynch12 & Tipperary's Steven O'Brien, the @GAAGPA Opel Hurling & Football POTM for May! pic.twitter.com/UNQYSgvvZG

— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 10, 2015

Tipperary have been acting big at minor and U21 level, but, so far in the senior grade, they’ve only been talking on a grand scale. The football board have spoken about achieving an All-Ireland title by 2020. O’Brien isn’t afraid to admit he’d like it quicker.

“There is that ‘2020 vision’, that’s just something that the county board put in place, but I don’t think we’ll hold off until 2020. We’ll hopefully get there before that,” said O’Brien.

Rather than speaking about Kerry, he prefers to talk of titles. First things first: Munster.

“The target is to win it whenever we win it. There’s no point in saying: ‘Okay, we’ll wait until 2018,’ we’d win it every year if we could. We’re like every team; every team in Munster sets out at the start to win a Munster title or get to a final. We’re not just there in Munster to just make up the semi-finals or quarter-finals. That day is long gone.

“It’s great to be in the group who have changed the mindset in some way, but it’s grand changing mindsets, now you have to change results. We have been lucky enough at underage. Now, it’s time to start producing at senior.”

A fingernail bruised from a blow he took while training with Tipp’s U21 hurlers is a clear indication Tipperary’s best footballers have commitments to the county’s traditional code. From an area where football is so much a relation as a long lost one to hurling, he knows the situation better than most.

However, the U21s’ All-Ireland final appearance did cause quite a stir.

“Hurling is number one and, for the moment, football is still second string, but we are starting to turn a few heads. It’s amazing what success can do; that day in Parnell Park, the amount of Tipp supporters there was incredible. You felt the whole county was behind you, which was incredible.

“It’s tough. Lads, when they come out of minor at the minute, it seems more attractive to be in with the Tipperary hurling panel, but given how we have done at underage and how we hope to push on they wouldn’t be automatically thinking straight to hurling. It would be a long thought process. Lads are wanting to play football for Tipperary, which is great.”

O’Brien will spend the summer working for a car dealership in Dublin, having studied in DCU, not too far from Parnell Park where Tyrone edged the U21s last month. The sledging they were subjected to that evening was a steep learning curve, but one those like O’Brien on the senior panel hope to learn from on days like this Sunday in Thurles.

“Every man, woman and child in Tipperary realised that this is what teams are going to do. You have to be able to take it as well, at the same time. Definitely, as a group we’ve learned a lot, just be aware of it, but not get distracted by it. I think that’s what can happen teams who have basically been sledged: They get frustrated, but now that we know it’s going to happen, mentally, we’re prepared for it I suppose and it’s just don’t let it affect us.”