Kerry shy pair of frontliners for Tyrone test

Kerry manager Jack O'Connor during the GAA. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

MALACHY O’Rourke has the Tyrone footballers trending in the right direction – at the right time, Kerry boss Jack O’Connor believes.

O’Connor, as much as any Kerry manager, has reason to be wary of the Red Hand threat in Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final, and the one-point loss of the Kerry minors to Tyrone on Sunday hasn’t diminished wariness.

"I'd never underestimate Tyrone, and I’ve good reason not to,” O’Connor said in Tralee on Monday. 

“If you look at some of the results they've had… there are not too many teams who go to Ballybofey and win. We've found that even in the league. It's traditionally a very tough place to go. Donegal take you to Ballybofey for a reason, because they see it as a fortress. That win would have done an awful lot for Tyrone. 

"And any day you beat Dublin in Croke Park is a big day. They'll be very confident and I'd say they'll privately be delighted that there was a lot of noise over the Kerry-Armagh game. It's almost like their win over Dublin has gone in under the radar. That's good for them so we'll have a lot of work to do.

"Malachy O'Rourke and his coaches have a great record down the years with what they've done at club football with Glen and with great success with Monaghan. He's a highly respected coach and he seems to be getting these boys on the right trajectory at the right time."

The Kerry manager admits it’s only this week that they have turned their attentions to Saturday’s opponents. He reckoned the busiest folk in the Kerry camp over the past ten days have been the physio and medical team.

However, influential midfielder Diarmuid O’Connor and experienced defender Tom O’Sullivan will miss Kerry’s semi-final on Saturday. Manager O’Connor confirmed that the shoulder problem that has plagued midfielder O’Connor’s season has ruled him out of the semi-final, and potentially a final on July 27th.

Dingle’s O’Sullivan misses out with a calf problem sustained in the quarter final win over reigning champions Armagh, joining his club mate Barry Dan O’Sullivan on the sideline.

“All the rest are on the way back in some shape or form. Their level of readiness I am not too sure, we have two sessions still on Monday and Wednesday.

“I don’t want to be going into a lad’s details, but obviously Diarmuid’s shoulder is a problem since the Armagh (League) game in the spring and he damaged it again against Cavan.

“Tony Brosnan is back training, any fella that is training has a chance. Tadhg Morley and Mike Breen are also training. Paul Geaney is training away but again, has he gone at it 100%? Probably not yet, but he is close.” 

The Kerry manager added: ”We’ve had a bad run of injuries. It was only after the Armagh game I was thinking we were down anything up to seven starters, I’m not sure any team in the country could ship that level of attrition and survive. We’d be in a stronger position if we had a clean bill of health.” 

What has helped is the number of ‘fringe’ players who have stepped up since the championships kicked in. “We have used around 35 players, Mark O’Shea got his first action for ten minutes in Castlebar, and that was important in itself. It has been a very tricky season. We’ve had to deal with trying to get players back from their clubs and incorporate them back into the system. You have to give them time off, like the Crokes lads needed five or six weeks after their All-Ireland club campaign.

“We’ve managed to blend them in, but just as well we have had as many players as we had, because we’ve needed that panel of players. Lads who thought they were on the periphery are now pushed into action. And we are delighted the way they have done for us.” 

Before parking the ‘freak’ Armagh quarter-final, O’Connor reflected: "It was a funny game. The new rules can do this. A game can go away from a team very quickly. We were five points down after 40-something minutes and nine points up 15 minutes later, so that's a 14-point swing. That doesn't happen in the old game with the fact that teams could slow down the play when there was bursts of momentum. Plus the two-pointers have made a big difference."