Down's Kevin McKernan: Kerry will reap benefit from 'meticulous' Paddy Tally

Tally is expected to form part of Jack O’Connor’s new management team in Kerry, alongside Diarmuid Murphy and Micheál Quirke

Wed, 06 Oct, 2021 - 19:58

Cian Locke

Meticulous preparation and an ability to dissect teams and come up with a plan to suit — that is what Kerry will get from Paddy Tally, says Down footballer Kevin McKernan.

After three years at the Down helm, Tally stepped down in July following the defeat by Donegal, believing his request for a one-year extension hadn’t enough support in the county executive.

He is now expected to form part of Jack O’Connor’s new management team in Kerry, alongside Diarmuid Murphy and Micheál Quirke.

McKernan says Tally’s departure from the Down post left the players “very raw”. “It was disappointing for us to lose a man like Paddy,” McKernan told the Irish News.

“We’re still waiting to see who will be taking over and hopefully that will be announced soon but as players it was very raw when we lost him. He had three years but two of them were the pandemic years and the biggest thing that Kerry will get from him is that he was meticulous in everything he did.

“His preparation for training and match days was second to none. He studies the game very well in terms of analysis and statistics and I would say his greatest day for us was actually in defeat against Mayo (in 2019)

“We should have turned Mayo over in Newry because the in-depth analysis Paddy did gave us the gameplan to compete with them. I know that he enjoys that challenge of dissecting teams and coming up with a plan to suit and that will be Kerry’s great gain.

“Bringing the knowledge he has now of the management side of things along with his coaching and analysis… There’s not too many like him around Ireland, he’s up there with the best of them so why would Kerry not ask him to go down there with all his expertise and knowledge and see if he can give them a helping hand towards what they want, which is an All-Ireland. They are very fortunate to have him.”

McKernan says players would have been happy to see Tally continue.

“He was building something really good with Down but unfortunately one or two results didn’t go his way and his tenure ended on one bad result against Donegal.

“As players, we would have been very happy with Paddy staying on for one more year, we felt he was going to bring a freshness to his management team.”