Ó Sé needs to ratchet intensity to rattle Tyrone

Kerry U20 manager Tomás Ó Sé returns to face Tyrone who defeated Kerry in last year's decider.

Fri, 09 May, 2025 - 07:02

Murt Murphy

While Cork fans bemoan the fact that they haven’t beaten any Kerry side over 11 games stretching back to 2023, Tomás Ó Sé knows Kingdom supporters are just as perturbed that their U20/21 footballers have not won the All-Ireland since 2008.

Ó Sé would have heard his uncle Páidí getting into a bit of bother for being a tad too descriptive about Kerry fans and the pressure they put you under to win. Current senior boss Jack O’Connor put it another way before Kerry played Cork — “We’re not in the entertainment business, we’re are in the winning business”

Ó Sé will be demanding improvement from the Munster Final win over Cork when he travels to O’Moore Park on Sunday to face Tyrone who have been Kerry’s nemesis stretching back to the manager's playing days.

"For whatever reason, we took the pedal off the gas, got a bit sloppy," Ó Sé said. “The flow of the game just wasn’t right, and it shouldn’t happen like that. You prepare for every game as best you can in Munster, but the level of intensity we’re going to meet compared to the level of intensity in the Munster championship is a challenge.

“Cork had their challenges with injuries; they rolled the dice and played fellas that hadn’t played at all in the championship up to the last day. Getting whatever level of intensity that you need, or the pace of the game, or being in a close tight match, we just haven’t had that experience.”

It’s a different scenario for Tyrone who have seven championships games under their belt and are road tested. "They’re battle-hardened. The last three games that they’ve had, they finished strong against Armagh, but Armagh put them to the pin of their collar for a lot of that game. They went on to play Derry, another tough match, and another tough one against Donegal.

“They’re coming in, I would imagine, in a good place. They’ve been road-tested, and that’s a challenge for ourselves to make sure we get up to that level of intensity, because I think that the pace and intensity that Tyrone have is impressive. You just have to make sure that you can match it.”

Returning to the venue where Kerry lost the All-Ireland final to the same opposition last year will bring back painful memories. But Ó Sé doesn’t believe that will have a bearing on Sunday.

“To be fair, they beat us well last year. There are no two other ways about it. We hung in as long as we could hang in. We were struggling to get scores outside of Cormac Dillon. They were well in charge. They played with a huge pace and intensity that day, and they’re going to be no different next Sunday.

“It’s not rocket science; they’re not going to play too differently. They’ll throw one or two curveballs, but they’re going to come as they normally do, very well coached, ready, fit, fast, and with intensity. That’s what you’re going to face again.

"I think, in terms of revenge or what-not, it would have been a bit more competitive to put yourself in the bracket of saying tit-for-tat, and all that craic. We’re under no illusions but that we’re going to have to improve hugely, if we’re going to rattle them. That’s the bottom line.”