WE’RE NOT DON’ YET Ballybofey beating is not a concern says O’Mahony
AIDAN O’MAHONY insists Kerry are in “a good place” despite slipping to an opening day defeat to Donegal on Sunday.
The League holders suffered a one-point loss in Ballybofey following Paddy McBrearty’s late winner though they took the field without 10 of the team that won last year’s All-Ireland and O’Mahony says they’ll be looking to peak later in the season rather than in January.
The four-time All-Ireland winner, who is the subject of Thursday night’s edition of Laochra Gael on TG4, never experienced a win in Donegal during his playing career having come out on the losing side in League games there in 2005, ‘07, ‘08 and ‘13.
“Donegal is always a tough place to go to,” he says. “I remember being up there and marking Michael Murphy inside in the 45-metre space, the two of us, and it started snowing.
“I was going, ‘Oh, my God’ and I think Tomás [O Sé] got sent off the same day and we got a hiding,” he continues, reflecting on the 1-12 to 0-6 defeat in 2013.
“I remember coming home on the bus; it was actually the first time that Eamonn [Fitzmaurice] wanted to try out something new and we went to a place after to get pizzas.
“Number one, we are after losing the game, number two, we were after having a few sent off and number three, they saw us coming out of a pizza place, so you can imagine what the whispers were.
Tough
“It is a tough place to go, especially for a young player coming in.
“I think a home game will suit them better in that you are playing at home, you will have a big crowd.
“It will be great for Jack [O’Connor], he will be able to put pressure on and say, ‘Look, you have been given a jersey, you are getting an opportunity, X, Y and Z have to come back in’.
“I think Kerry are in a good place at the moment, I know they have not a lot of training done.”
That Donegal defeat 10 years ago was Kerry’s fourth from as many League outings though they won their last three games to avoid relegation that year and O’Mahony doesn’t imagine they’ll be flirting with that prospect this spring.
“The format is this year, you know, you only need to be peaking for Championship.
“Outside of Munster, they’re going into that group format, and Jack would have known that. I think that’s where he’ll be pointing his team to start peaking.
“There’s no point (peaking) at this time of the year, and he knew that. And there are lads with injuries, and lads to come back in.
“I think he’ll probably just be anxious that a few would put their hands up and I think they will as well.
“Our own man, Paul Murphy — and I’m not just saying it because he’s a fellow clubman — but he’s had an amazing year and he’s carried that form into the League, kicked two points.
“It just shows when you go on honeymoon for four weeks what it can do for you!
“His performances have gone up. It’s great for him.
Last year he was coming on as an impact sub and he always made an impact, in fairness to him.
“Mike Breen is back, Pa Warren played well. Dara Moynihan never played the All-Ireland final last year, he’s back.
“So I think there’s plenty of positives. A game like that, you can use it to say, ‘Look lads, we should have got something out of that, why didn’t we? We’ll learn from it’.
“I think for Kerry it’s a learning thing. I don’t think they’ll get relegated. I can see them picking up points and those away games, the Mayos and Tyrones, they’re the games you want to blood new players.
“When you’re above in Omagh and these places, that’s when you’ll see what you have and what players are standing up for you.”
O’Mahony, 42, announced his (right) pumping iron retirement from playing after being part of the Rathmore squad that won the All-Ireland intermediate title earlier this month and one notable aspect of their run was how effective Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan was for them in a forward role.
Playing an All Star goalkeeper up front is not something O’Mahony expects O’Connor to
entertain, however.
Brilliant
“For the club, he’s brilliant. He’s a big, tall, athletic young lad. Jack has set it in stone that he’ll be playing in goal because his presence in goals is unreal.
“He is a massive player for Kerry in goals.
Outfield, you’re looking at David Clifford and Paul Geaney inside, Paudie (Clifford) and they probably have enough up front.
“Shane would love to get a (below) crack outfield but I’d say Jack will be putting him back between the posts.”
Meanwhile, O’Mahony addressed a comment made by Kieran Donaghy which will be aired in Thursday night’s broadcast where he said “didn’t do a good enough job for him as a team-mate” when the Rathmore man encountered mental health issues.
“Myself and Kieran would be very close. Of all the Kerry players, I’d be the closest to Kieran. He’s a genuine guy, a great guy and even back then, while he said that, he couldn’t do enough for you.
“I just think it’s different times. Sports psychology is a huge part of every GAA team now.
“It can be tough for some lads, if they have stuff going on at home say, and trying to come in playing football whereas nowadays you can come in, drop your barrier and actually offload to someone else that’s in your group.
“That’s very important for any team, if you have that connection to players that you can talk to them. That can only make it better for the team itself.”