Kerry captain Bryan Sheehan.
By Cian O'Connell
Despite a string of significant departures Bryan Sheehan isn’t surprised by Tipperary’s rapid progession.
Highly respectful of Liam Kearns’ qualities Sheehan expects Sunday’s Munster SFC in Killarney to be a tricky test especially considering the manner in which a pumped up Tipperary outfoxed Cork.
“How often do you see it in a game when a team get down to 14 men and all of a sudden they seem work harder for each other,” Sheehan said about Tipperary.
“I think that’s what’s after happening to Tipperary because they have lost a few star players in O Brien, O Riordan and a few more. They might have always been looking to these lads to take the lead, to get them out of jail and do most of the work in big games.
“But now they’re not there so now other fellas are after stepping up to the plate and when you look at their manager Liam Kearns and his record you know that they are a force to be reckoned with.
“Liam was in charge of Limerick and they nearly beat Kerry in a Munster final that Kerry only won after a replay, he was involved with Laois and did well with them and even talking to the Rathmore lads on the Kerry panel they said how good he was when he was in charge of them for a spell.
“So now you can see that he’s after bringing a fresh impetus to Tipperary, he is tactically very astute and he will definitely have them well up for their trip to Killarney on Sunday.”
Bryan Sheehan kicking a free during the Munster SFC semi final win over Clare.
Sheehan has been involved in the Kerry set-up since 2004 and is adamant that the approach to the game has altered dramatically in the intervening years.
“There is a massive difference and that’s because now the game has gone so professional,” Sheehan acknowledges. “Tipperary train as hard as we train, they’re probably just unfortunate that hurling is the dominant game in the county up there while football plays second fiddle.
“They don’t have the dual players anymore like they had in the past. And in fact the dual player is now almost extinct in the game and that is because the game is gone so professional.
“That’s what’s happened now with the growth of professionalism that the gap has closed between teams and you have to respect every team now. And the fact that there is so much footage of games now and cameras at every game that it’s very easy obtain the footage of your opponents but you have to do your homework now and if you don’t do your homework you will get beaten, it’s as simple as that.”
To illustrate his view Sheehan stresses the role played by video analysis presently. “For example we’ve a system where you can log in and watch all the games, we were able to watch the Clare game, we were able to watch the Tipperary game, the Clare game of a couple of years ago, league games, our game against Kildare and all the games are on the system for us.
“You have to watch them because you have to educate yourself on the guy you are marking, how he plays, how travels, kickouts, free kicks, the movement, whether they play two inside, whether they employ sweepers.
“So you have to all that research when preparing for a game. So there is no real surprises now, no matter who you play and look even club teams are doing it now.”
Even though Sheehan is the Kerry captain in 2016 nothing much has changed according to the St Mary’s star. “No not really. It’s the same as any other year. Just because you’re captain doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to be picked.
Kerry were disappointed to lose the Allianz Football League Final against Dublin.
“Obviously when you’re captain you do want to be on the team, sure if you don’t want to be on the team why should you make all the sacrifices. If you don’t want to fight for your place on the team you’ve to question why you’re in there in the first place.
“The same applies if you’re a sub you should be fighting to get on the starting team. You want every fella fighting for a place and that’s what we have at the moment. I think some of the competition we have in there at the moment for every position is a scary.
“There isn’t a whole pile to being captain as I see it, there’s just more communication between myself and Eamonn on maybe what he wants and I will communicate that to the players. Or if he wants to get a point across or say something it might go through me as captain.
“Outside of that there isn’t a whole big deal about being captain, maybe if the players have an issue well then I act as a liaison between management and the County Board and between management and players.
“Maybe then if there’s a young fella you might just give a word of advice to, I don’t see the captaincy being a massive burden and I enjoy it because I have been lucky enough to be captain of the Kerry minors, the Kerry U-21s, twice now with the Kerry seniors, I’ve captained South Kerry and I’ve captained my club St Mary’s.
“I suppose it all comes down to experience I’m 13 years now on the Kerry panel and I think all the experience and lessons that you learn from the defeats, the knockbacks to winning – it all counts for something and you just draw from that the whole time.”
