Bryan Sheehan: ‘If I kicked that it’d be on the front page of my CV'

Former Kerry sharpshooter Bryan Sheehan kicked some famous frees in green-and-gold, but was as impressed as anyone with Seán O’Shea’s superb match-winning set piece at Croke Park on Sunday

Mon, 11 Jul, 2022 - 15:34

Adrian Russell

Former Kerry sharpshooter Bryan Sheehan kicked some famous frees in green-and-gold, but was as impressed as anyone with Seán O’Shea’s superb match-winning set piece at Croke Park on Sunday.

The Kingdom booked their spot in the All-Ireland showpiece with a last-gasp victory over Dublin in a thriller at a packed HQ, thanks to O’Shea’s injury-time point from distance.

And the 55-metre kick was more impressive in the wake of an earlier missed penalty, Sheehan said on the Irish Examiner podcast.

“After missing a penalty, you even kind of wonder where your head would be at,” Sheehan said on Paul Rouse’s Football Show. “But I knew he wasn’t affected by it because earlier on, the work rate that he put into the game.

“His body language was fantastic. Every time there was a turnover he was clapping, every time there was a score he was fist-pumping David Clifford.

“You could tell that missing the penalty didn't affect him. And we talk about even in the context of the game when Kerry were struggling, Paudie Clifford stepped up big time, but so too did Seánie.

“Seánie won a free for us, he got that ball and the first thing on his mind was I’m either getting a score or getting a free.

“But from the point of view of you’re into the Hill, that are very, very vocal. You’re looking into a blue sea behind you, cheering.

“And what I like about it is there was 10 or 15 or 20 yards left on it,” Sheehan continued. “That ball hit the net well up the back of the goal. There was a bit of a nice breeze there but you can see from the clip behind the goal how far out to the right of the goal he had to set it.

“Look it was a fantastic kick and, yeah, if I kicked that I’ll tell you it’d be on the front page of my CV.”

Addressing the ball late on, with a place in the championship finale on the line, what was O’Shea concentrating on?

“Just technique,” the five-time All-Ireland winner says. “Just getting contact. What I love about it is, the more you go to force those kicks, the more it can come off wrong. You won’t connect with it right.

“And he has to trust his technique. He knew he had the distance in the bag.

“It’s funny; Shane Ryan came out from the goal because he wanted to have a go of it. And Seanie said no, there was no conversation.

“I’ve done it myself when you’re trying to force a few kicks. The one you think of is the semi-final in ‘17 against Mayo, it was a wet day. Like that, I probably went to force that one and I got far underneath it and it didn’t have the distance.

“But Seanie connected with that one and you could just see, he trusted his technique and he had enough in the legs. And in fairness that just comes down to practice. And trusting the work you’ve done on it.”