Ó Sé: Kerry need designated man-marker

KERRY legend Tomás Ó Sé believes the Kingdom must develop a designated man-marker and manage games more efficiently if they are to back up their Allianz FL Division 1 defeat of Dublin last Saturday night in Tralee with something similar come championship.

Peter Keane’s Kingdom side hadn’t conceded a goal in their opening two league games – they got the better of Tyrone and Cavan – before their one-point defeat of reigning league and All-Ireland champions Dublin when Jim Gavin’s men cut them open with two first-half goals.

An inexperienced Kerry outfit had the Dubs by the throat midway through the first half only for Con O’Callaghan and Paul Mannion to cut holes in their defence and Ó Sé feels that game management is their “Achilles’ heel”.

The five-time All-Ireland winner feels that type of game-changing damage could be rectified if they had a dedicated man-marker in their ranks, someone who can tie up marquee forwards when it matters most, as Mayo’s Lee Keegan has regularly done to Dublin’s Diarmuid Connolly in major games.

“Kerry are a little bit more defensive, there is no doubt about that but they cleaned Dublin out in that first half with their running and directness and yet they were only two points up. That is where Kerry’s Achilles’ heel is,” Ó Sé said on The Throw-In, Independent.ie’s GAA podcast in association with Allianz.

“They were dominant everywhere yet Dublin coasted in for two goals with all the bodies back there. Kerry could have managed that game a lot better. Kerry don’t have – and it’s a skill that has kind of gone out of the game a bit – a designated manmarker.

“Jason Foley did it a last year. A Mike McCarthy, a Tom O’Sullivan or a Marc Ó Sé that could go on Con O’Callaghan or Paul Mannion and keep them quiet.

“Kerry don’t have that. If Kerry have any ambition of winning an All-Ireland title, they need guys who can blank other fellas out. I don’t know if it’s the way teams train now but that skill has kind of gone out of the game.”