Kerry manager Fintan O'Connor during the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Final match between Antrim and Kerry at Bord na Mona O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly.
By John Harrington
Kerry hurling manager, Fintan O’Connor, hopes his players can rise the occasion when they play Antrim in Sunday’s Joe McDonagh Cup Final.
The match will be the curtain-raiser to the All-Ireland Hurling Final between Limerick and Waterford, so should be watched by a huge TV audience.
And O’Connor admits that prospect is a real source of motivation for him and his players to show the quality of Kerry hurling.
“We definitely make no secret of the fact that this is a huge occasion, a huge opportunity for any hurler in the Joe McDonagh to play before the All-Ireland Final,” says the Kerry manager.
“That was definitely part of our motivation, there's no point saying any different. When the fixtures came out and everyone realised that the McDonagh Cup Final would be the curtain-raiser for the All-Ireland Final it was a massive talking point in every group in the Joe McDonagh, I'm sure.
“It's really nice for the lads to get to Croke Park and it's a huge opportunity for us to maybe do a little bit of morale boosting around the county in the times that we're in which is brilliant.
“It's important though that we remain grounded and not get caught up in the emotion of the whole thing if we can. We have to marry that approach with trying to enjoy it too because these kind of things don't come around the whole time.
“There's no guarantee we'll be back in a Joe McDonagh Final ever again, so I do want the lads to embrace he whole experience and enjoy it while separating themselves from the whole build up and emotion if that makes sense.
“There's probably more clever men than me who have tried to do that before. It's a hard thing to do, but we'll try our best to make sure the lads can enjoy the experience while also being the most prepared we can be for Sunday.”
Michael Leane of Kerry in action against Phelim Duffin of Antrim during the 2020 Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Final match between Antrim and Kerry at Bord na Mona O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly.
North Kerry is a hurling stronghold but the game has struggled to really flourish in other parts of the county.
Good work has been done in recent years, especially at juvenile level, to remedy that, and O’Connor hopes Sunday’s McDonagh Cup Final appearance will do wonders for the profile of the game in the county.
“I think it's definitely something that would give hurling a massive, massive boost in Kerry,” he says.
“The fact that it's being televised and will get huge coverage.
“The people of Kerry are massive sportspeople and if they're in a cat-fight or dog-fight they want to win, no matter what the sport.
“I'm sure the people of Kerry will be really behind the hurlers on Sunday and we'll be conscious of that backing and we want to make those people very proud and put a smile on all of those faces as well and hopefully we can do that.
“Television coverage is huge for children especially. Hopefully an interest in hurling will ripple across Kerry and we can generate more interest in and a feel good factor about the Kerry hurlers.”
Kerry have already lost three times this year to Antrim – twice in the League and once already in the McDonagh Cup – so O’Connor is well aware of the scale of the challenge faced by his team.
He believes though that his team have learned a lot from those defeats and are capable of rising to the occasion on Sunday.
“I hope so,” he says. “Antrim are a really good team, there's no point saying any different. In fairness, the League Final was probably the closest game we've had with them.
“I think Antrim were probably disappointed after that game and would have felt the scoreline flattered us even though they won the game. I think in Corrigan Park the last day it was over nearly after 20 minutes.
“Look, they're a very good team, but we're not going up to Croke Park just for a look around. We'll hope to take a little bit out of those games and come up with something a little bit different the next day and pose questions we haven't posed already.
“There's no point in hiding the fact that this is a massive day for everyone in Kerry hurling and a massive day for all the lads. Everyone is hugely proud of them getting there, but they want to go up and perform now on Sunday.
“The lads are really proud sportsmen. They want to win and give the best of themselves.
“Sometimes when you're after playing someone a couple of times it's not too hard to motivate yourselves, and that's definitely the case with Antrim. We won't have to say too much to the lads to get them to do something different or try a bit harder the next day.
“They try hard every day, but hopefully we'll get a little bit more out of them in Croke Park.”
