Defiant Seán O’Donoghue laughs at ‘damage limitation’ taunt

Defiance sounds out through Seán O’Donoghue’s every word; he doesn’t just have belief, he bristles with it.

So what if the world and his wife expects Kerry, powered by three All-Ireland winning minor teams, to win this evening’s Munster Under-21 final at Páirc Uí Rinn? All the better.

As the captain points out, Cork sacked Tralee last year and they’re the defending provincial champions.

But for the rapidfire concession of 2-1 to Mayo in first-half injury time last April, the Rebels might well be All-Ireland holders too.

It makes it all the more galling for dual star O’Donoghue to be getting it in the neck from all directions about how the Kingdom are coming, and inevitably will be leaving with the spoils of war.

“Yeah even a few buddies I’d be talking to, they’d say it’s ‘damage limitation’, things like that,” said O’Donoghue at the launch of the EirGrid Under-21 Leinster and Munster finals at Croke Park.

“No one at all is rating us simply because Kerry have all their superstars or whatever. But like, at the end of the day, it’s just two teams going out to play and whoever brings it out on the day will win it.”

“Yeah you’d be trying to prove them [the doubters] wrong but all that’s really in your head is: do you want that Munster Cup back?” the Inniscarra man adds.

“You’d be trying to avoid all the negativity as well as using it as motivation, but the best thing to do is avoid it and try to prove everyone wrong.”

Not that it’s been easy, because there are often tacit reminders.

Shane Kingston has been showcasing his class with the senior hurling panel where his father Kieran is manager, but hasn’t opted to commit to the Under-21 footballers.

To each their own decision, and captain O’Donoghue understands that better than anyone, admitting he can’t maintain a dual focus forever either.

He spent four years juggling the two and his current solution is expecting to eventually fall into one or the other over time.

“In fairness to (Kieran) Kingston, I was going to be half the time with hurling and half with football, and that wasn’t good for anyone,” he explains of taking a break from hurling.

“So he said to me, ‘you’re captain of the football, and I don’t mind if you give it priority’, which was very good of him.

"He said he’ll see how I’m going heading into the summer, hurling-wise. If I’m playing well, he might bring me back on.

“Being made captain and having the same management as last year, and the fact that I believe we can win the All-Ireland this year, they are the three things that basically made me want to play again this year.”

As the championship structures have changed over the years, and the commitment to county panels has sky-rocketed, the dual player has been squeezed out of the game.

Cork, and perhaps Clare too, have felt the pinch more than most.

According to O’Donoghue, a way can be found to accommodate this threatened species: “Football might be more physical and hurling might be more skilful, but I myself would think if I was hurling away maybe three times a week, and football once per week, I wouldn’t be too bad.

“If you keep up with the physicality of football, you’ll get your football back in a session or two. In hurling, you have to be hurling the whole time to be successful.

"I just think if a player is up to the standard, and it’s worth having him with both, it’s about accommodating him in the right way.

“There’s a few fellas we’ve lost to the senior hurling panel that could’ve played Under-21 football this year but chose not to,” he adds.

“They’ll maybe want to come back now if we beat Kerry, but they made a decision so hopefully we can give them something to be jealous about.”