Kerry legend Tomás Ó Sé pictured at the launch of the Allianz League Legends series in Dublin, which features him and Kilkenny legend Henry Shefflin reminiscing about their most memorable Allianz League moments. This year marks the 29th season that Allianz has sponsored the competition, making it one of the longest sponsorships in Irish sport.
By John Harrington
Kingdom legend Tomás Ó Sé says it’s still “hard to trust” the current Kerry football team despite their unbeaten start to 2021.
He was heartened by the character they showed in Round 2 of the Allianz League to claim a draw against Dublin having trailed by seven points early in the second-half.
But the manner in which their defence was ripped apart regularly by a Dublin attack that scored four goals leads him to believe they still have major room for improvement.
“I was livid,” says Ó Sé of how he felt when Kerry found themselves trailing by seven points. “I was watching the game and I was roaring at it. I don't think the people around me enjoyed because you become a fan or whatever.
"At half-time, I was saying, 'My God'. You were looking at them and saying where is the reaction here, where is the change-up here? It just looked like there was an inevitability here with the Dubs.
"At that point, I was disgusted, I thought there would be a fight in it and I was getting the fingers ready to go nuts on the phone. Then they actually came back and you're looking at it from two points of view, a work point of view and a fan point of view. You're talking to fellas, and I would talk to a lot of Kerry people who would talk about it day in, day out.
“There still isn't consistency there and you're looking for that. Everyone is questioning the defence and sometimes it's easy to question the defence, I think you have to question the whole lot. You have to question the whole in terms of 15 back when you're talking about defence.
“If you go back on the three (first half) goals you could rewind the video before your man pulled the trigger for the goal and you could find an issue way out the field before you get them one on one inside.
“The finger will point at the one on one and you have to improve at the one on ones inside, there's no doubt about that, but you can improve out the field as well.”
Con O'Callaghan of Dublin scores his side's third goal during the Allianz Football League Division 1 South Round 2 match between Dublin and Kerry at Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary.
Until Kerry address the level of inconsistency that they showed against Dublin, Ó Sé reckons there will always be question-marks about their ability to win the county’s first All-Ireland senior title since 2014.
“It's a frustrating one with Kerry because you don't know where you are with them,” he says.
“They'll beat most teams, but in Kerry nobody...it's not that they don't care, they'll go nuts if they lose to the likes of Cork, but they'll judge everything on winning the whole thing out. Call it right or wrong, but that's the way it is.
“They had chances to win and lose it (against Dublin). You have to look at the balance of the whole game and it is hard to trust them at times, is what I am saying.
“It is hard to trust Kerry, you go up against Clare, and people will probably look at this as ‘yerrah’ comment, but the reason Kerry did not really lose – in our time anyway – you could ignore the talk outside and you take the game so seriously that you would be going there with a bit of fear that you would lose and what would happen because of the backlash that would be there, but I don’t think there is the same fear about this Kerry team.
“You could still ask questions about them, you still can’t trust them that they would not blow certain teams that they should be blowing out of the water, or beating them convincingly. Like, Clare will fancy having a good rattle at Kerry, and I am not saying that is not right, but when you see what happened to Kerry against Cork last year (in the championship) and see what happened against Dublin in the league…
“Even when Kerry had the foot in the door against Dublin in the drawn All-Ireland final (2019) and how they could not finish it off, with the Kerry management and players there would be question marks still. That is the downside.”
Paudie Clifford has brought great energy to the Kerry attack this year.
One aspect of Kerry’s season so far that Ó Sé is enthused about is the impact that Paudie Clifford has made since coming into the team.
The Fossa man has brought a lot of energy and industry to their attack, and, unsurprisingly, seems to have a telepathic understanding on the pitch with his brother David.
“You'd have to be very happy with Paudie Clifford,” says Ó Sé. “I saw him three or four years playing with UCC at a high level and no matter what anyone says, the Sigerson, when inter-county players are allowed to play, is a huge, high standard.
“He was the player of the tournament for UCC, he gave them that link, that bullish link around the field that maybe Kerry have been lacking, that dog that they've been lacking.
“He has an engine on him and he's been good. I thought he'd come in and he'd try too hard to make an impression but he's doing the simple things right and he's a bonus. Diarmuid O'Connor is another bonus. He has four or five points in the last few games and he's giving you athleticism around the middle of the field.
“But he'll come up against tougher tests. It's great saying they're going great at the moment, but I'd question the tests that they've had.”
