Jack O’Connor: ‘There’s no secret that both teams want to play on the front foot’

After Derry made a mockery of his last prediction — a slow battle in defensive football it certainly was not — Jack O’Connor is thinking twice about what he expects from Dublin. All-Ireland finals typically take on a life of their own anyway.

Past and present tradition point towards the sort of open and attacking football over which the purists drool: the Kerry manager, speaking at their All-Ireland media event in Killarney, isn’t in denial of that.

“There’s no secret in the fact that both teams want to play on the front foot,” says O’Connor. “We feel we’re at our best on the front foot. Dublin are an awesome attacking unit when they get their game going. I’m sure both sides will be trying to batten down the hatches a bit better than we certainly were doing against Derry, but I’d expect it to be a pretty open enough game. There’s great tradition between the two teams. A tradition of playing positive football. I can’t see that changing.”

‘Backs isolated’

Speaking ahead of last Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Derry, O’Connor was “not expecting a classic” and “couldn’t see it being an open end-to-end game or anything like that”. Well, turned out it was.

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Not that he’s unaware of some of the dangers and unpredictability if things become too open against Dublin on Sunday week.

“It depends on what you mean by an open game. I mean, no one wants to leave their backs isolated. You’re trying to get help back, but sometimes that’s dictated by the opposition, by the way the opposition set up and by the speed at which they attack. You’re trying to get the balance right. I mean, you look at the evolution of teams like Derry, for example. Derry were very good defensively for the last couple of years. They obviously worked a lot on the offensive side this year and, you know, they certainly got the balance pretty right this year.

“So every team is constantly probing to try and find the balance between defence and attack. If you set up too defensively, it takes a bit from your offensive game and vice versa. If you set up too offensively, then you’re too open. So it’s just a matter of trying to get that balance right and you’re constantly tinkering with it, it’s not an exact science.”

Pressed on the potential of David Clifford and Seanie O’Shea and the damage they can do in one-on-one situations, O’Connor throws the compliment right back on the opposition.

“You could say the same about Dublin. [They] would have forwards who can do damage in those scenarios. But you’d be expecting that Dublin won’t be as accommodating in that regard; I mean, Dublin are watching us the same as we’re watching them! So when you’re preparing for big games, you’re always trying to limit the damage that the big players can do.”

Pitchside communication

O’Connor’s thoughts after the Derry game, that the GAA need to look again at allowing some method or way of getting a message to players during the course of a game, are echoed by his selector Micheál Quirke.

His concern is ensuring it isn’t abused: “Give yourself a chance to get two messages on. If you use up your two, and you want to go on a third you can’t, it is done,” says Quirke.

“I know other teams have used their medical people … Which isn’t ideal either. That is not their job and that is not what they should be doing.”