The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
O’Sullivan: Banner right to embrace positivity
I’M not sure was it out of sheer madness or pure love for my club, but last November picked up my phone and got in touch with the Cromane chairman offering my services as player / manager of our senior team.
Against the advice of a lot of people I took on another commitment on top of running my own business, being involved in a coaching capacity with other squads and the small matter of having a wife and two (about to be three) kids at home!
So why did I do it? I knew there would be days and nights where I would be tearing my hair out. Our numbers aren’t great – as all small clubs will tell you – so I was under no illusions that it was going to be tough.
Trying to strike the balance between training a group and still playing, or trying to play yourself was also going to be very new to me. So far it’s been a mixed season for us, but I can safely say I have never enjoyed playing the game as much and here is why.
Not once in the dozen games or so we have played this year have I seen defensive systems, sweepers, swarming or any negative style of football being implemented by us or the opposition.
It has been refreshing to play in games where all the great skills of the game are on show. Now this is Division 5 football and with the greatest respect to all the teams down there the quality isn’t always great, but my point is at least it’s fun to play in, as it is to watch I’m sure.
We travelled out to Rathmore last Saturday evening to play their second string team and I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed playing the game as I did during that 60 minutes.
There was a great pace to it with excellent kick passing and some superb scores taken. It finished 1-13 to 1-12. I felt eighteen again when you played with abandon and systems were alien to everyone.
Now not for a minute am I going to compare basement football in Kerry to the high pressure stakes of the inter-county game but, my god, this championship so far has been one big yawn-fest.
I tuned in to watch Kildare and Westmeath a few weeks back (okay, maybe not the best game to sit down for!) and I turned it off. I actually got up off my chair and turned off a football match.
I can’t remember ever doing
it. It was that bad. I was a neutral sitting down to be entertained by the game I love, that I have played since I was a boy, and I got served up rubbish. That’s not an indictment on Leinster football by the way. This goes across the board.
And I know what you are going to say. ‘It’s a results business; managers will do what it takes to win’. I am a young coach myself and, of course, we take over teams to win and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying, but have some identity for God’s sake.
Everyone now seems to be buying into this blueprint invented by Jim McGuinness and co. That’s what is ruining the game. Why not take over a team and bring your own style to it rather than trying to be a carbon copy of something or someone else?
Take for instance when Jack O’Connor took over Kerry back in 2004. Jack knew we had to change our set-up slightly as the defensive systems were creeping into the game at that stage, but he didn’t go and copy Mickey Harte or Joe Kernan.
Jack stuck by and trusted his system and played his brand of football and it reaped the rewards. Had he the raw materials to work with that other counties might not have? Probably, and that’s why success came quickly for him and us.
In other so-called weaker counties they are looking for the quick fix, the ‘get us results now’ method. A manager needs time to implement his vision and to work with the players but they are under so much pressure to deliver that is overlooked and replaced by the let’s be hard to beat mantra, and it’s turning our game into a dour spectacle.
Some counties and managers are getting the time, which leads me to this Sunday’s quarter-final between Clare and Kerry. I have great admiration for what Colm Collins has achieved with this bunch of Clare players.
They are in the last eight for the first time after a super display to beat Roscommon. Their first half in particular was eye-catching as playing into a stiff breeze they worked tirelessly and their support play was excellent throughout.
Collins is a prime example of a coach who might not have the best group of players from a technical point of view at his disposal but he has been given time to work with them and the improvement is there for all to see.
In his time there he has unearthed some real quality footballers like Eoin Cleary and Jamie Malone, while Gary Brennan is in the form of his life. These guys have already been to Croke Park earlier this year, winning the Division 3 title, so they will know what to expect from the occasion.
Having been on the end of a twelve-point defeat to Kerry back in June however will remind them of the difficulty of the task at hand and I’m sure they will be looking to close that gap. It’s probably the best they can hope for.
Kerry would, I’m sure, have forecast stiffer tests before an All-Ireland semi-final. The common theme out there is that the All-Ireland format is flawed and I would agree, but it matters little to Eamonn Fitzmaurice and his charges.
They have trained hard since the Munster Final and know that if they are on top of their game Sunday they will win and win well. A game in Croke Park will stand to them too.
For a change I am looking forward to an open game of football as both these teams will see attack as their strengths. It won’t light up the championship, however. It’s hard to see right now what will.
I have great admiration for what Colm Collins has achieved with this bunch of Clare players