‘Kildare were bound to emerge'
Jack O’Connor is very familar with football in the Lilywhite county and expects a real battle this weekend, writes Jason O’Connor
CONSIDERING his own involvement with Moorefield in the Short Grass County in the All-Ireland Senior Club Championship campaign gone by, it’s timely that Jack O’Connor finds himself leading the Kerry Under 20s into an All-Ireland semi-final with Kildare this Saturday at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. He will be well aware of Moorefield duo Aaron Masterson and Mark Dempsey in the Lilywhite line-up as Kildare’s comprehensive victory over Dublin in the Leinster Final justified a belief for O’Connor that Kildare are an emerging county. “I’ve always believed that Kildare were bound to emerge with the playing population in the county. There are some big towns in the county with 15,000-20,000 people living there and it is the number one game in the county now.
“I don’t think the effect of their victory over Mayo in the qualifiers can be underestimated either in giving everyone a boost about their prospects in general. That was a very highly rated Dublin team they beat in the Leinster Under 20 Final as well,” the Kerry U-20 boss said.
A viewing of the Kildare Minor final (played as a curtain-raiser to the senior decider) gave O’Connor a deeper understanding and respect for football in the county as he expects a similar challenge to what they got in the Munster Final against Cork in Kildare’s athleticism and physical strength.
“The first-half of the Munster Final was the first proper test we had got and you have to look at the fact Tipperary gave Cork a game for 40 minutes the first night and Clare battled with them for 50 minutes to understand how different our first two games were to Cork’s.
“Having said that we’re much happier to have got the test we got against Cork and have a better understanding of ourselves heading into playing Kildare,” O’Connor said of the Munster campaign in general.
The Kerry boss is also happy for having a fortnight between the provincial and All-Ireland campaign after playing on three successive Fridays in June.
“We’re happy with what we’ve been able to do with in the sessions since the Cork game. I think a lot of the players weren’t able to put their best foot forward with the nature of the games we had up until the Munster Final and we’re happy with what we have seen from the players in