JACK O’CONNOR faces into his fifth All-Ireland final as manager, having won three of the previous four. His strike rate for All-Irelands is impressive – three in five years of management.
This is his first taste of the most traditional of All-Ireland pairings, the Dublin-Kerry final.
Q: Firstly, you’ve named Eoin Brosnan in the team. Are you confident he’ll have recovered from his ankle injury?
“We’ll be giving him every chance because he deserves that anyway. We’ll have another look at it closer to the time. We’ve a couple of options. Daniel Bohane has appeared in every championship game we’ve played and Shane Enright has started a couple of them so there’s those two and there are a couple of other backs as well, so we’ll be okay, but, hopefully, Eoin will be playing.”
Q: Does the build-up to All-Ireland final weekend feel the same every year?
“You never get tired of All-Irelands; every one of them is different and usually teams are evolving. There are eight changes to the team that played in the 2009 final – that’s a lot of changes so, consequently, there’s a different dynamic and you’re changing your game-plan to suit the players you have. You never get bored with it.
Of course you have the same racket with the press.
The press day can be a bit of a pain in the sense it’s a very intense day with two or three hours of interviews and all the rest.”
Q: Is it fair to say Dublin-Kerry hasn't the same impact on players as maybe it once had?
“It has a resonance for the fans, but not so much for the players. When this rivalry was taking off in the mid-1970s most of these players weren’t even born. In ’75 I was only 15 years myself, but for the players they’d only know it through videos and the rest so it wouldn’t have the same resonance, but the older fans have a great grá for Dublin-Kerry, no doubt.”
Q: So it’s not really any more special than other All-Irelands?
“Players have to detach themselves from the occasion. As far as they’re concerned and the management it’s another game and you have to tweak the game-plan to suit it.
Beforehand, you can’t focus on the fact it’s a special final. If you go down that road you’re getting distracted, so, from our point of view, we focus on performance.”
Q: Or maybe it’s hard for players to get worked up over opposition they have handled comfortably in recent meetings?
“The 2007 semi-final went down to virtually the last kick and I think 2009 was a bit of a one-off. We were being badly written off at the time and just looking for a spark, a bit of form and it all came together for us.
“It was desperation. We were fighting for our lives and I don’t think what happened was a true reflection of the teams that day.”
Q: Dublin’s restructured game- plan with its emphasis on defence is attributed to that defeat.
“Possibly, but possibly the year before as well against Tyrone so I suppose they had to start afresh and you have to commend them for the job they’ve done and the way they got players playing the way they wanted them to and in line with a new playing philosophy. That’s what management is about.
Q: In your autobiography you were critical of what you felt was the theatricality of Dublin in big matches in Croke Park under previous management. Has that changed?
“No question about it. The way (Pat) Gilroy and (Mickey) Whelan have gone about their job – they’re very level-headed guys, focused on football, and they reduced the side-shows associated with Dublin in the past.
“The way they’ve handled the media and the hype shows they’ve a very good handle on what they’re doing and managing Dublin is probably even tougher than managing Kerry because of the spotlight on you all the time.”
Q: In what way has football evolved during your years in management?
“It’s gone very defensive. The Donegal-Dublin game was something that had never been seen before. In fact, there was nothing even close to it before. That’s the direction it’s taken. A lot of teams have set out their stall to be as defensive as possible and pick up the pieces at the other end.
“Even Donegal have accepted maybe they put the emphasis too much on defence and that they’ll set out next year to get the balance right. That’s what you do – try to get the balance right.
“As I said last Saturday (at the Kerry media event) I don’t think you’d get away with that in Kerry.
“We’ve been brought up going back to Dwyer with pretty much attacking football so even if we wanted to go down that road I don’t think we could. The fans wouldn’t take to it.”
Q: Are you saying you would be tactically influenced by public sentiment regardless of the players at your disposal?
“If Kerry hit a patch where they weren’t winning All-Irelands and some other coach is in charge I’m not saying that this wouldn’t happen in the future but attacking football has served Kerry well in the past and that’s the way it is.
“You can have a bit of both, but you shouldn’t sacrifice one for the other. I expect our fellas to be good defensively when we don’t have the ball as well. I think a lot of it is driven by other games, mainly soccer. What did Mourinho do when Inter Milan were trying to beat Barcelona? He didn’t play kamikaze football. He withdrew bodies and constricted the play in one half. That’s had an influence.
“If a team is obviously better than you the best way to narrow the gap is to get bodies back.”
Q: Does the extraordinary legacy of Kerry football affect the players?
“I don’t think this team feels under any pressure. They love playing on the big stage. Pressure is not being involved like happened last year. Even in talking about the game the Dublin fellas, trying to be clever, say the pressure’s all on Kerry. It isn’t, really. To be honest, I think the pressure’s more on Dublin. The preparation and professionalism of their team is unprecedented.
“For a lot of the Kerry fellas this final is more like a reward for all of the years they’ve put down. Our fellas see the opportunity as something to be cherished, not that they’re burdened down by the four-in-a-row team or players who’ve won eight All-Ireland medals. It’s not as if they’re desperate to be mentioned in the same breath as fellas who went before them.”
Q: How big an advantage is being so familiar with the routine on All-Ireland Sunday?
“Experience is only part of it. Finals are decided by real hunger on the day. Tipperary had it last year and Kilkenny had it this year. Experience on its own wasn’t going to do it for them.
“A lot of our players have won All-Irelands, but they’ve also lost them and they’re the ones you remember. Remembering the hurt is the real motivation.
“I’ve been in four finals, won three and lost one, but 2005 is still there and it’s a terrible feeling.”
Q: Would you have liked another shot at Tyrone in the championship?
“That’s for another day! We’ll stick with Dublin for the moment.”
Jack O'Connor
Club: Piarsaigh na Dromada.
Kerry manager: 2004-06 and 2009-present.
All-Ireland SFC: 2004, ’06 and ’09
All-Ireland U21: 1998
Kerry Selector: 1997 and 2000 (All-Ireland SFC: 1997 and 2000).
Coláiste na Sceilge coach: 2009 Hogan Cup (All-Ireland colleges).
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