The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
O’Neill hails Cooper’s class as Crokes prepare for county final nemesis
EVEN though the final scoreline suggests dominance and a convincing win, it’s true of a side like Dr Crokes that they can find reasons to be unhappy with the standards they set. Harry O’Neill certainly wasn’t sitting on any laurels after their 14-point win.
“I think the final scoreline flattered us a bit and didn’t do justice to West Kerry. We were lucky to have a few hungry young lads there to pick things up near the end because I felt we took our eye off the ball for a time there in the second half.
“A lot of things went against West Kerry with the loss of Jason Hickson and Tomas Ó Sé and when you expect your players to go out and do their jobs professionally it’s disappointing when they don’t meet those standards,” the Crokes selector said.
One player who certainly didn’t take his eye off the ball was Colm Cooper who after a busy week with the launch of his autobiography wasn’t distraction from the task at hand last Saturday.
“The one thing that we can say about Colm is that he is class both on and off the field. His touches today were exquisite and I don’t think I could keep up with half of the things he was doing out there he was doing them so quick. Today just shows the love Colm has for going out there and putting on a pair of boots and playing the game he loves,” O’Neill said.
South Kerry still represents a challenge for Dr Crokes despite all the success the Killarney side have enjoyed since their last County Final meeting back in 2009 and O’Neill is mindful of that fact.
“We’ve beaten them in two County Championship matches (2010 and 2011) but we are still to beat them in a County Final and if we are as sloppy as we were in the second half again when we play them then we will be punished.”
Meanwhile, as a player at the older end of the age spectrum now, Ambrose O’Donovan is getting an appreciation of the effect the younger members of the Crokes panel are having in keeping their hunger levels high.
“When you see them bouncing off the ground in training it’s keeping everything going for us since the All-Ireland and they have freshened things up no end. There’s a bright future there for a lot of them. We beat an up and coming team today and I’m sure a lot of them are going to have bright futures of their own,” he feels.
O’Donovan agreed that Colm Cooper showed his brilliance again with his display last Saturday but agreed that beating South Kerry in a County Final has to be the ambition now for the Crokes.
“We have had some great battles with them in the past and we know that we have to play to the best of our ability if we are to beat them in the Final.”