From peripheral to the engine room: how Kerry's second wave have become key

Kerry's injury concerns could ease for the All-Ireland series clash with Donegal but their Munster final victory over Cork underlined the strength in depth of the Kingdom panel

Twelve months ago, Mark O'Shea was on the periphery of the Kerry team. Now he's an All-Ireland winner and a prominent member of the Kingdom's midfield crew. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Cross my heart, Jack O’Connor, the Kerry manager, insisted Sunday night. The word ‘Donegal’ was not mentioned once last week.

We believe you Jack. Juggling limited resources before, during and now in the wake of Sunday’s Munster SFC final win over Cork would shorten the windy road both ways between St Finan’s Bay in Ballinskelligs and Lewis Road in Killarney.

Now though, the All-Ireland champions begin the protracted process of defending their Sam Maguire crown, and the medical decisions loom large on who’s ready to face Jim McGuinness’ men – and who’s better keeping for Round 2 of the series in June.

Well-sourced indications are that at least two frontliners could have been risked against Cork if there was a finality to the outcome. Certainly Sean O’Shea and Joe O’Connor look like they will be in the frame to face Donegal on May 23 at Fitzgerald Stadium. And Paudie Clifford, if as his manager suspects, his withdrawal Sunday was more precautionary than necessary. 

Dylan Geaney and Gavin White returned at different stages of the Munster final and looking beyond Donegal, O’Connor believes that Kerry’s slate will be more encouraging come Rd 2 of the championship.

Nevertheless, those furrowed creases must be lightened by the impact Kerry’s second wave had on their success against Cork. Eight points off the bench and Munster final minutes for Tomás Kennedy, Eddie Healy, Cillian Trant and the returning Tony Brosnan.

Brosnan was one of half a dozen Dr Crokes players who figured for the Kingdom on Sunday, a serious Fitzgerald Stadium statement in itself from across the road. It’s two years since we watched Mark O’Shea absolutely gobble up a Division One League game for Crokes in Ballymac, leaving every conversation coming out the gates reverting to the same question: how is that lad not in with Kerry?

Seán O'Brien is another of Kerry's new midfield options. Picture: Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

“It wasn’t that long since we were told we had no strength in depth in Kerry at midfield,” Jack O’Connor said Sunday night. Now you have Cillian, Diarmuid, Joe to come back, as well as the two lads.” 

By his own admission, twelve months ago, Sean O’Brien and Mark O’Shea were ‘peripheral players’. How their worlds have changed. Take David Clifford out of the equation and the midfield duo would have contested man of the match discussions with Keel’s Keith Evans.

O’Shea mentioned something in the wake of Sunday’s eight-point win which he has seen Kerry progress at over the last fifteen months.

“We have a small ability to reset, now,” he explained. “We’ve gotten good at that, resetting, putting behind us any bit of adversity. Obviously the Donegal League final loss was a massive spanner in the works. We felt we were playing well going into it, coming off the back of a good game against Armagh. Yes, the legs were probably a bit heavy from the week before, but we took learnings from it. Obviously you don’t fully draw a line in the sand on a game like that, but took our learnings, reset and moved on.” 

One of O’Shea’s Crokes’ compadres, Micheál Burns, put in a trojan shift around the stadium on Sunday, something O’Shea and O’Brien were not forgetting.

“Sean pulled some ball down in the second half, he’s an unbelievable player but in all the bits and pieces the midfield battle was not so much about us but fellas winning and breaking ball – Burns, Keith Evans, those lads picked up immense amount of breaks. Honestly, it’s not a game any more where fella are going to be fielding ball all day, you’ve to rely on fellas around you, and the fellas on the floor do an incredible job.” 

O’Shea was asked what it was like to thrive in an environment where next man up is the overriding principle. No wallowing in woe is us.

“Even going back to those internal games, they’re ferocious. There’s fellas really champing at the bit. You are training in a high quality environment, you saw it all through the league, fellas got game time and they are loathe to pass back the jerseys. That’s the one thing with Kerry training, everyone is confident that there’s two or three fellas ready to come in and do a job if a fella goes down. That breeds fierce confidence in the squad as a whole. Of course, you want fellas back now for Donegal and whatever comes after that, but no one’s going to make it easy to take the jersey back.

“The way football is now, every county has a struggle with injuries, there’s heavy hitting. I know Jack harped on about it last year, with Sean and myself. You saw it there again Sunday. For every lad dropping, there was someone ready to step in.”