Fitzmaurice: “It’s about two points, another opportunity to have a cut at Dublin”

LET’S start at the end, which in many respects is the launch pad for what’s up next for Kerry: Dublin. After the necessary chewing of the fat with Eamonn Fitzmaurice about the win over Roscommon, questions understandably turned to the visit of Dublin to Tralee on March 18. The next game is always the biggest, but there’s no doubt Saturday’s week’s meeting of Kerry and Dublin is the game of the National League thus far and it might not be bettered between it and the League final.

For Fitzmaurice, however, all the noise about Dublin’s 33-game unbeaten streak, Kerry’s 34-game unbeaten run set in the 1930s coming under threat from Jim Gavin’s team, and it being another potential Championship dress rehearsal is just that - noise. For the Kerry manager March 18 is a game to take another two League points and move Kerry towards the top of the division and all but guarantee Division One status for 2018.

“It isn’t for us,” Fitzmaurice says, when asked if the context of Dublin going for a record equalling 34th game unbeaten means anything. “It’s two points (at stake), it’s another opportunity for us to have a cut at them. They were outstanding in Croke Park (against Mayo) they played really well. I just saw the second half of it and they looked as good as ever. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us but absolutely the kind of challenges you want. They’re an outstanding team, they’re setting records left, right and centre and there isn’t too much we can do about it. You’ve to try and go out and win the game. I think from a player’s or manager’s point of view you talk about those things (records) after the game of after the season. It’s no going to be any additional motivation for us.”

Kerry didn’t need any extra motivation travelling to Hyde Park last Sunday other than to get a win over Roscommon and move away from the relegation zone as the campaign moved past the half way point.

“If we lost today we were in the relegation zone because Roscommon would have gone ahead of us in the head to head so it was very important for us to get the win and start trying to go the other way again. Two weeks time will tell a lot. We’re playing Dublin in Tralee and that will be a huge game. If you win that you’re in great shape and, well, if you don’t you’ll be battling until the end of the League,” Fitzmaurice said.

“I’m pleased with the result and pleased with the attitude and the spirit within the group, it was a good bit better than the last weekend [against Monaghan]. Aspects of the performance, obviously football-wise we’re still not where we need to be but we expect that this early in the year. I think the most pleasing aspect was after we conceded the penalty the bit of momentum seemed to be going against us but the lads showed great courage in the last part of the game. We accelerated away and managed to finish well.

“Now, we finished the game strong last weekend strong against Monaghan as well but we left ourselves with too much to do, whereas this time we were in a better position. The big difference was the attitude was spot on this time whereas last weekend we were very disappointed with our attitude in front of our own crowd. With us you need to be at it and you know pretty quickly whether or not if lads are fully tuned in or really going at it. Today we were. It was far from a perfect performance today but the mindset and attitude were right and when you’ve that right you can make up for a lot of other deficiencies.

“David Moran and Paul Geaney are two big leaders in the group and they’re important players for us. When they play well generally the team plays well. I think a lot of the lads responded well. We lost experienced players as well, the likes of Donnchadh (Walsh) and Killian (Young) going off, but I felt we didn’t feel that (loss) today whereas maybe against Mayo that night in Tralee maybe we did feel with the absence of a bit of leadership,” the Kerry manager added.

Kerry defender Paul Murphy echoed his manager’s view on the Dublin fixture on March 18.

“It’s a huge game for us, a full house on our home patch. They’re the kind of games you want to play. We want to get two points and beat them and get that monkey off our back. We won’t worry about their record. It’s a big game and we’ll look forward to it. (Losing) has happened too many times so we have to right that and try and move on and keep looking up the league (table). Dublin are in our way the next day and that’s the way we will approach it,” Murphy said.

“Happy to get the two points. We slipped up in the last two games so it was important that we bounced back and got our League back on track. We were maybe twenty or twenty-five per cent off in nearly everything we did last week (against Monaghan), whether it was our kicking, our marking. We were just that bit off so it was just a case of sharpening up, getting our heads right and just really going at it. Correcting our accuracy, marking tighter, wanting the ball, that sort of thing.

“Roscommon are a good team and they’ve been a bit unlucky in their defeats. They’ve had a few narrow defeats but they’ve created a lot of goal chances in their games. They came back at us but the most pleasing thing of the day was how we reacted to that. We got on the ball, we moved it on and manufactured a goal. We put a bit of space between ourselves at the end so that was the most pleasing thing,” Murphy, who reverted to a role in the half back line last Sunday, added.