Jack O’Connor: 'All this foolish talk' about Kerry...it's always a concern when you hear that stuff'

O’Connor suggested that sense of confidence may have been reflected in the relatively small Kerry presence in the stands at Croke Park on Saturday. 'Maybe (our fans) thought that we'd have another day out'

Kerry Manger Jack O'Connor and David Clifford celebrate. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

Twelve months ago, Jack O’Connor was indignant in the wake of criticism from some quarters in the county.

On this All-Ireland quarter-final occasion, he was wary of the praise that followed their win over Armagh. That they were home and hosed in the defence of their All-Ireland title.

“Sure, it's always a concern when you hear people going on like that, that this was a done deal or whatever,” said O’Connor. “But I'm stuck in it a long time, there's never a soft All-Ireland, I'll tell you that one.

“And we knew we were at a bit of a disadvantage coming in this week. They are a well-coached team, who are well-rested with the fortnight’s break, so if they hung in the game, they were going to always be highly dangerous.

“They have some lovely footballers, like McElholm, McCurry, Cassidy on the 40, guys like that, Conn Kilpatrick, good system of play, so they were always going to be highly dangerous. The fact that we were facing our third game in a row then, that was going to make it hard on us.” 

O’Connor suggested that sense of confidence may have been reflected in the relatively small Kerry presence in the stands. Compared to the droves that turned up for last year’s quarter-final after David Clifford’s rallying call, it was minute.

“Shur I hope they'll turn up every day,” O’Connor highlighted, “but, to be fair, they've backed us well this year, and maybe they heard some of the talk, and maybe they thought that we'd have another day out. But we managed to insulate the panel from that because we've had too many jousts with Tyrone to take it for granted, ever.” 

On the sideline, he could feel the tension and pressure in the collisions and expected nothing less despite the gushing words said about Kerry in the build-up.

“It was a ferocious battle out there,” he said. “It was our third week in a row, and at times we looked leggy in the second half. And last week was a big emotional game for all of us, and we might have taken a bit more out of the legs.

“Croke Park is an unforgiving place if you haven't got legs. I thought at times Tyrone almost looked like they had a bit of extra freshness. But what a battle. Tyrone stayed with us right to the wire, as we talked about. So, all this foolish, loose talk that was going on for the last week or so has blown out of the water today.”

Tyrone’s ability to hang in impressed O’Connor. “We were never able to get away from them. I thought there was times, maybe in the second half, we snatched it a couple of two-pointers. We had a great goal chance that we appeared to over-elaborate on. Any of those (two-pointers) going over, I think, would have settled us. But we were never far enough away to relax.

“Tyrone just hung in there, and they were highly dangerous in the break. They're very efficient with the ball. Well-coached, well-coached team. So, well done to Malachy O’Rourke and Ryan Porter. They did a great job with that team. I think they've improved significantly from last year.” 

O’Connor credited Shane Murphy’s restarts as the foundation of Kerry’s victory.

 “I'm telling you, I think what saved us was our kick-out retention.

“Shane Murphy put on some exhibition there. He was getting a bit of stick early in the year, and people were comparing him to Shane Ryan. But as the season has gone on, the boys have done some work on the kick-outs, himself and Brian Kelly (goalkeeping coach).

“There's a lot of moving parts on kick-outs. But, lads, there were two kick-outs there in the D, and they were absolutely critical – both out to the Hogan (Stand) side, one to Armin Heinrich, and one to Jason Foley. Hands-on ball is like gold dust at that stage.”

The last play, which developed into Armin Heinrich’s goal, was “crucial”, O’Connor said. “It looked like we'd lost the ball and then David (Clifford) got a hold of it. No better man knew the right thing to do. Worked it into the corner. Played it back out, back into the corner. That's what a bit of experience does. They've been in these situations and they've learned from them.

“There was some finish in the end. I wasn't even sure at the time who got it (the goal). But it was some relief to see that one hit in the net.” 

For the second week in a row, O’Connor found plenty of reason to applaud Dylan Geaney, who was the official man of the match after scoring eight points. “He had an incredible performance. In the end, he had cramped up so we had to take him off. But he kicked some great scores at times when we needed them.

“There was one down in the second half, over towards the Cusack (Stand), a two-pointer. I felt at the time that was a massive score because we were struggling a bit. And it just kept our noses in front.

“I don't know, was that a man of the match? He was in the conversation last week as well, along with David. David had to get it last week, but I'd say Dylan comfortably got it this week. Unbelievable, yeah.” 

O’Connor confirmed Brian Ó Beaglaoich was ruled out with a back spasm. His replacement, Gavin White, also put in an eye-catching performance. “He just gave us great go-forward momentum. He didn't know he was in the team until this morning, but what a replacement in Gavin.”