TAKING KERR
Fitzmaurice warns his stars that old tricks won’t work again with Mayo..
EAMONN FITZMAURICE has admitted Kerry will have to conjure a new trick to beat Mayo again.
Fitzmaurice was in charge of Kerry when they relied on Kieran Donaghy’s high fielding to overcome Mayo at this stage three years ago.
And with Donaghy in such good form last time out against Galway, the anticipation is that they’ll hit their towering target man with long balls again.
But Mayo will have a plan for dealing with the six-foot-five powerhouse – whatever that may be.
There’s even been talk that Aidan O’shea could be deployed in the last line of defence to take care of the Tralee man.
So Fitzmaurice (above) knows it’s vital that Kerry have their own fresh ideas.
He said: “There’s always that challenge there to come up with something new, something different. The top teams, what they’re also very good at doing is adapting on the go, regardless of what comes at them.
“Against a lot of the top four, top eight teams, when you’re playing in Division 1, a lot of different things can be thrown at you. I think those teams are good at adapting as the game is unfolding whereas maybe further down the rankings, I’m not sure if that happens as much.”
Mayo have shown their ability to adapt time and again, playing a whopping seven games to reach this stage.
Fitz- maurice was in Limerick for Mayo’s Round 4 qualifier win over Cork which went to extratime.
He’s kept a close eye on all of their games though insisted that they count for little at this point of the summer.
The 2014 All-ireland winning manager said: “You disregard those games at this stage really. All bets are off for this game. Anything that’s gone before won’t really matter too much.”
Kerry fans will hope that applies to their team too because their defence looked shaky at times against Galway.
And not for the first time they’ve reached the last four in the Championship without a serious test of their mettle.
Fitzmaurice knows that if he doesn’t deliver and secure a final spot then the knives will be out for him.
He said: “Yeah, absolutely. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of grief to be got in Kerry if you want it, if you look for it. I would say firstly that you go into a job like this with your eyes wide open, an intercounty job in particular. But even a club job, even a school job.
“Even if you’re in charge of a school team and ‘my Johnny’ isn’t on the team, and it’s felt he should be on the team, you could get a touch.
“So I think that’s part of sport and part of being in charge of any team but, yeah, some of the stuff you see around the counties is over the top, particularly with volunteers.”
Fitzmaurice has been in charge of Kerry since 2013 and has only lost to one team in the Championship – Dublin.
Unfortunately for Kerry that has happened three times so it has been a difficult station at times for the former Kingdom defender.
He said: “It can be tough, it can be lonely but I think most managers are tough enough and thick skinned enough to know that’s part of the decision you make when you go into it. You’re going to get bits and pieces of abuse and you probably have to just put up with it.”
Kerry will face a Mayo side that lost to Galway earlier in the summer – whom Kerry beat – though Fitzmaurice has still demanded an improvement.
He said: “We were all disappointed after the Galway game, which was a funny thing having won by eight points. We all expected a bigger performance so there was plenty to get stuck into over the last few weeks.”
MAYO