Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HE’S MOR THAN CAPABLE
Murphy backing his old pal David to play a vital role in Kerry push to final
AN All-Ireland semi-final grudge match with all the trimmings - David Moran has been here once or twice before with Kerry.
It was a game just like this that the son of Kingdom great Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran made his Championship debut in 2008, a semi-final replay defeat of Cork.
He played in the final that year too, against Tyrone, and 11 years on is arguably Kerry’s most important player now.
With a giant question mark hanging over the defence behind him, the 31-year-old offers vital ball winning ability in the middle third as well as top class distribution.
Former Kerry goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy (above), who played in that last four success in 2008, believes his former colleague is key to Kerry’s hopes of beating old rivals Tyrone this afternoon.
Murphy said: “David is a great footballer and he’s in great shape for the time of the year that we need him to be in great shape. He played very little football this year in the League and rightly so. He’s been very well handled by management and the medical boys. They seem to be getting him right for us at the right time. He’s a ball winner for us out there, he’s a man.
“You would hope that if you were under pressure with a kick-out that you’d put it out there towards David. The worst that can happen is he’ll break it down to one of our fellas anyway.
“It’s very important that we have someone like that there because when David doesn’t play, I think we lose a certain option from the middle of the field.”
Moran lorded it against Meath in Navan last weekend and will have to deliver again if they’re to return to the final.
Ex-Kerry selector Murphy reckons it’s vital they develop that kick-out strategy around Moran to ensure primary possession.
He added: “David has to be a big part of our kick-out strategy because of the way teams are pushing up a bit more than maybe what they were a couple of years ago and trying to take away some of the shorter kick-outs. I think David will have a big role, I do.
“Even in his general play, he’s really impressed in the last couple of games. He didn’t play against Donegal but in the Mayo and
Meath games he was very good.
“He’s linking up the play lovely and he’s kicking the ball really well up the field into our forwards. It doesn’t look like much but it’s a very important job and he does it really well.”
Like Moran, Murphy was on the pitch for Kerry when they lost to Tyrone in the 2008 decider. The two counties loved to hate each other throughout the 2000s.
But Murphy told the AIB GAA podcast: “There’s no baggage there really now from previous games I don’t think.
“Kerry probably have more of a rivalry now with the likes of Mayo who they have played more in recent years than Tyrone.”
But he still predicts a “great match” and continued: “It’s going to be very interesting because you’re going to see a little bit of a clash of styles.
“Tyrone seem to have gone back to more of a defensive style compared to what they have been trying to do in the League.”