Tomás Ó Sé interview: People making decisions will always think of the big boys first

The Kerry legend on inter-county management, grappling with the Under 20 grade and sorting the fixture pile up for the country’s best young players.

POINTER: Ó Sé says the Under 20 grade needs some tender loving care.

POUND for pound, there can't be better bang for Monday morning's buck than the passionate managerial musings of Tomas Ó Sé.
The Kerry man is looking ahead to a difficult All-Ireland U20 football semi-final on Saturday against Sligo, but there’s always value added views to interrogate.

When he touches on the night his inter-county managerial career was very near stillborn, he briefly sounds like the uncle he once described as the ‘greatest Kerry man of all time’.

“A lot of people underestimated how good Clare were, how organised they were’” says Ó Sé of that Munster U20 sweat in Tralee a fortnight ago. “It was our first game in a while, and we struggled to get a hold of the ball. So that left us with loads of work-ons and other areas to go after in the week before (the Munster final against) Cork. That was a hectic week, manic. But I just felt there was a different sense of want there, that fellas were tuned in that little bit more. You have to mind them, young fellas, in a different sort of way.

“Kerry is a demanding county and there was plenty of talk out here, so they were under pressure going down to Cork, we knew how close we were to being dumped out. And if we lose against Sligo, the whole thing comes crashing down again. No one should be looking beyond Saturday.” 

And they won’t. Conceding four goals at home to the Banner and sneaking out the gap in extra time might be the best bit of value Ó Sé gets in a nascent managerial career. Many see him as a future Kerry senior manager, so a haymaker from Clare would have been tricky to come back from.

“After conceding four goals against Clare, Cork could have had the same. And we are coming up against a Sligo side who are fairly confident and motivated. They want to make the step up, they certainly don’t fear Kerry and they are right. They have gone away and beaten Roscommon, Mayo, and Galway. They went five down against Galway, but didn’t get flustered, stuck to the game plan, and toughed it out. They have leaders all over the pitch who will make the step up to senior fairly soon.

Ó Se: I think the GAA will be forced into action.

“There is this perceived idea about weaker counties and that we have the right to bulldoze them. That’s what our young fellas have to realise, we are in an All-Ireland semi-final, and reputations don’t matter. Sligo won Connacht last year and they aren’t going to be satisfied with the same achievement this year; they will want to step it up, - and we are their chance to make a step up.

“I don’t know who are favourites, but every so often you meet a team – I faced it myself at Under 21 level against Westmeath – who buck the trend on the tradition of that county. They genuinely do not fear Kerry, in fact they relish it. They have two wing backs, Walsh and Sloyne, they are as good as I’ve seen at this level. They don’t look at it the way some Kerry people or those in other counties might see it. That psyche could be very dangerous if our lads are not ready for it.” 

If the choice of venue, in Salthill, is irksome – “for the lads in South Kerry it’s three hours and 48 minutes. If that’s halfway for the counties, we have some country” – it doesn’t hold a candle to the botch job he reckons the GAA has made of the grade itself.

“It was mentioned pre-covid that we were going to change the timing of the championship and it hasn’t been done. Again, management from different counties have been rightly complaining that they don’t have the right to pick their U20 players because they are involved at senior level – that is totally, utterly and completely wrong, it’s ridiculous. I am sick of saying this, it happened to Kerry in 2018 when they ended up being beaten by a point without Sean O’Shea or David Clifford.

“There is now a lot of high profile talk, from Conor Laverty and Rory Gallagher to Ben O’Connor last week, and finally I think the GAA will be forced into action. It’s difficult but it always seems to come down to an issue being highlighted publicly: ‘Like, hey, ye are doing wrong here, lads’.” 

And then there’s the format. One strike and you’re out in Munster and Ulster football. Round robin in Munster U20 hurling. What's going on?

“Are we now the only championship in the GAA that is now straight knockout? I agree there are too many competitions, but don’t put a championship slap bang in the middle of everything else and compound it by making it one chance and not allowing your best players to play at their own grade. How can Clare make progress with one match? If Munster wanted to have a round robin at U20 they could, but why don’t they? Because the fellas making decisions will always think of the big boys first and then squash in everyone else.

“It’s happening at colleges level for years; the respect isn’t there. They talk about player welfare. There are warm-up games, national league, provincial championship, group stage for the All-Ireland, knockout stages, U20,and Sigerson – all within six months. Senior will always be top dog but there is no one can tell me that the planning and calendar is right and fair for young fellas.” 

So if it came down to axeing the Sigerson or the U20 Championship? 

“Why should we lose either? Instead look at when they are being played. Look at playing the Sigerson before Christmas for starters, most of them are inter-county. I saw that with Offaly, we never had them on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Both are great competitions but does the Sigerson have to be as long? It has gone from one extreme to the other, from a weekend to a seven or eight weeks. But I would give it its own window. If the GAA are serious about players welfare, then get serious about fixtures. 

"Is there a window to move the Under 20s to a little bit later in the year? It boils down to too many competitions and the timing of it. January and February are the busiest months of the year for the best young footballers we have in this country. They won’t allow a fella play with his county’s U20s because he’s on the bench for the seniors, yet he might play three times in a week in February with Sigerson and all the rest. It’s insane and it’s contradictory.”