Eamonn Fitzmaurice not doing things by half

It might take more than a history lesson to beat Kerry but Brian Cuthbert need only look back on the past four seasons to see where Cork have lost to them: first halves.

He might have been partly responsible for one of the three Munster defeats since 2011 but they follow a similar pattern: Kerry lift out of the blocks and before Cork know it, they are all but over the horizon. In 2011 and 2013, strong second half revivals almost saved the day for Cork but the damage had been done.

As it was for Jack O’Connor in 2011, it’s been the same for Eamonn Fitzmaurice. On each occasion, Kerry have put together 13-point first-half totals. In both 2011 and 2014, the half-time margin was eight points. It mightn’t be a secret but Fitzmaurice accepts those positive beginnings have been key to those victories.

“I suppose it has. Thinking back on the last two years, we’ve had very good first halves. Against Tipperary (last month), it was the opposite. We’d a hairy enough first half and then we did well enough in the second half. For the first of the second half, anyway.

“Last year as we went through the year, in the Mayo game we had a very good first half, poor second half. In the second Mayo game we’d a poor enough first half and a very good second half so, I don’t know, it’s hard to put your finger on it. If we get a very good first half and we win the game, I’ll be happy.”

Kerry can’t be pigeonholed as a first-half team just as Fitzmaurice holds back from deigning his men a great team. He knows their faults as he does their strengths. “It’s very black and white. It’s like before the Tipperary game — if we turn up, if we get everyone playing as well as we can and performing as well as we can, I think it will take a very, very good team to beat us. But if we turn up and we’re not at it like we weren’t at it below in the league game in Cork, then we will be beaten.

“We can be very ordinary when we’re not at it. That’s not trying to write our own chances down; that’s just being completely realistic and honest. If we’re going full at it, it will take a good team to beat us. If we’re off in any bit, if any couple of our players are off, we can be very ordinary and found out very easily.”

Fitzmaurice has watched with interest the goings-on around the Cork panel since the end of their league campaign. It was Tomás Ó Sé who said Cork would be a different team under his old team-mate’s hand but Fitzmaurice, like Cuthbert, would also have put the call into Alan O’Connor to return to the fold.

“From Cork’s point of view, he definitely gives them something they were probably missing. He’s a great foil, he played well against Clare. Two years ago in the game here in Killarney, himself and Ciaran Sheehan came on at half-time. Between them they almost turned the game in Cork’s favour.

“If that game had gone on for five more minutes... we were only barely hanging on at the end. So I think he’s a big boost to Cork. I think he’s the type of player that they need. He’s experienced, very effective in the middle of the field, very honest, very hard-working so he’s definitely the kind of guy you’d want on your side and of all the fellas that retired and moved on, I was surprised when he left, because I did think he still had a good bit to offer.”

That said, as Fitzmaurice indulges in some second guessing of Cuthbert, he can see Eoin Cadogan and Fintan Goold in the shake-up. “I imagine they’ll throw a couple of different things at us. Eoin Cadogan wasn’t playing the last day. He’d a very good league. Fintan Goold didn’t start the last day. Again, he had a very good league so I imagine he’ll be coming back into the picture.

“No more than ourselves, the lads that started and did well are probably in the box seats and they’re the fellas who have to hold onto their jerseys. I think Cork have gone back to more of their natural running game and if Cork are on top in the middle of the field like we’ve found it out plenty of times down the years and me as a player myself, it’s a long day out because they’re excellent at that game.

“We will try and surprise them with a couple of things and they will try and surprise us with a couple of things. It will come down to which team has more players performing.”