Jack O'Connor: 'Highly dangerous' Derry have Kerry on high alert

Kingdom boss on the League champions: 'They came through their struggles, they have all their important players back. That’s a dangerous animal in our estimation'

EXPLOSION: Kerry's Paudie Clifford celebrates winning last year's All-Ireland semi-final. Pic: Evan Treacy, Inpho

IT ISN’T the mythical draw of Jones’ Road that has Kerry’s footballers eager and taut this week. More the fact that lose Sunday against Derry in the All-Ireland SFC last eight and Monday doesn’t matter.

“The most important thing the players know is it is now knockout football”, manager Jack O’Connor said Tuesday. “Up to now there was a safety net, from here on though, this is it, no second chances. Theirs is that heightened level of intensity and awareness, but the lads are looking forward to getting back there. They know that’s where we want to be playing football, there is a nice sense of anticipation.” 

Heightened, presumably, by the quarter-final draw and the sense that, finally, Kerry’s All-Ireland mettle is about to be robustly scrutinised.

“I see it as probably the hardest draw we could have got,” O’Connor mused, “because at this point in time, Derry are a really dangerous team. They were written off a month ago. They were in a hole and they dug themselves out of the hole and they got a huge win in Mayo, which is never an easy place to go as we know. And a team like that, who rebound, are a highly dangerous team.” 

It was suggested to the Kerry manager that the Kingdom aren’t the only side Sunday who are tough to get an accurate read off. Derry have been positively schizophrenic since the league final win over Dublin. Would the real Oak Leafers please stand up…?

“We're expecting the Derry who we met last year who put us to the pin of our collar in the All-Ireland semi-final. There was no massive mystery why Derry were struggling there for a month or six weeks. They were down an awful lot of good players. You take four or five important players out of any team and they’re going to struggle a bit. Plus they were going very hard at it in the league and there was a period where maybe that told against them. 

"But we consider them highly dangerous team, they came through their struggles, they have all their important players back. That’s a dangerous animal in our estimation.” 

How much the exertions of last Saturday in Castlebar will become a determining factor in the final quarter in Croke Park is weighed against the momentum of the Mayo win.

“There’s for and against that,” explained the Kerry manager. “It depends which way the games goes. You only feel that tiredness if the game is going against you and you’re struggling. If the game is going for you, you just ride the crest of a wave like they had the last day coming out of Castlebar. Momentum can be a great thing and tiredness, a lot of times, is psychological. Eight days is plenty of time for anyone to recover from a game, I don't care what anyone says. With modern sports science, eight days is loads. Soccer players recover in three days and play games of high intensity so I wouldn’t think that’s a big issue. They got a lot from that win in Castlebar and that can make up for any perceived tiredness in my estimation.” 

Jack O'Connor and Diarmuid O'Connor after the two point win last July. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

O’Connor said Kerry did what they had to do in the group phase.

“What I look for is incremental improvement. We played three games and we were happy with the performance in probably a game and a half out of the three. First half against Monaghan, very happy with that. Happy with the game against Louth. Not happy with the game against Meath, we were flat.

“From a psychological point of view, it wasn’t easy for the players because they were in a no-win situation. If they hammered the opposition, then the opposition are useless and if you don’t hammer the opposition, Kerry are useless. That’s the way it's being portrayed whether you like it or not. At least this is a game that everybody knows that Derry are the real deal. If they reproduce the form that they showed last year and the form that they showed in the league this year, then it’s a game to get the juices flowing certainly. I’d agree with that much.” 

O’Connor confirmed that his Dromid club mate Graham O’Sullivan is back training, but Sunday may come too soon. Fellas, he said, won’t be holding back in training this week.

“Touch wood, because you’d be holding your breath during every training session because there’s plenty of contact in them so hopefully we get through these two sessions and have a full group to pick from on Thursday night.” 

Kerry might get blindsided by an all-out shootout strategy from his old foe Mickey Harte, though it’s doubtful anything of the like will transpire. Derry will as Derry do.

“If my memory serves the way they played last year was they got a lot of bodies back, and they did so against Mayo, so that's the way they’ll set up. There's no great mystery to it. Everyone thought that Derry played in a different way against us, but they didn't really they still played very defensive, but when they had the ball they attacked in big numbers and that’s the way they're going to be Sunday as well.

“The Meath and Louth games were very defensive and I think our fellas are getting better at breaking that down. It isn’t a game we ideally want to play or the lads in the stand want to see, but that’s the reality of the way teams are setting up. You have to be patient and pick your moments. It isn’t as if we haven’t practiced for it.”