IT’S been a campaign that could have easily ended as early as May, with one of the best games of the year at any level.
However, Jack O’Connor feels a strong need for the Kerry minors to finish the job off now and become the first county in two decades to successfully win back-to-back Tommy Markham Cups.
“I’m very happy to be back here with this group of players in particular because I would rate them as one of the easier teams I have ever had to deal with in terms of having a tremendous attitude to what we’ve been trying to do," the three time All-Ireland winning senior manager said of the present minor crop.
"There’s been a lot of setbacks along the way, particularly with the injuries to Cormac Linnane and Marc O’Connor, but they have coped brilliantly with everything so far this year."
While many will feel Kerry are on the cusp of retaining their title, O’Connor has enough experience of facing a team at both provincial and All-Ireland senior level in the one year to know not to take anything for granted ahead of facing Tipperary again.
“I’ve seen with the seniors in 2006 and 2009 how losing to Cork in Munster drove us on brilliantly for the All-Ireland afterwards when we played them again," he said.
"I really feel Tipperary have nothing to lose here and the losers can often learn more than the winners when two teams come around to playing each other again the same year. I feel they have more ammunition in their ranks as well, with Stephen Quirke available to them again after being injured for the Munster final."
Much will be made of whether or not Tipperary will adopt a similarly defensive strategy to the one they rolled out in Fitzgerald Stadium back in July or whether they will employ a more ambitious gameplan. O’Connor feels Kerry will be able to cope with whatever set-up the Premier county bring to Croke Park.
“It’s just the way things are now in terms of how teams are starting to set up like this [defensively]," he added.
"We’ve coped quite well with it, not just in the Munster final but against Sligo and Derry afterwards, and, if anything, we found more sweepers in front of us those days than in the Munster final. I don’t think it’s any great mystery now in terms of trying to break them down for Kerry teams when you see how well the seniors are coping with them now as well."
The ironic thing for the Kerry minors this year is that the side who played the most orthodox style of football against them were the side who have troubled them the most thus far. Cork came so close to turning Kerry over in Austin Stack Park in mid-May after extra-time and O’Connor acknowledges that win opened up the possibility of Kerry winning another All-Ireland title.
“Cork probably has been the big win for us so far. They had been well touted as a serious force to go all the way had they managed to get over us, but I felt after that win that we had every chance of making it back here for the final,” he said.
Much like last year, the Kerry minors enter under the radar, with much of the Kingdom’s focus on the senior side’s exploits. O’Connor welcomes such a scenario, but feels Tipp have an advantage in some of their dual players having recently featured in the All-Ireland Minor Hurling final defeat to Galway.
“Certainly, the experience of having been in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day will have been of benefit to them, whatever about the result," the Dromid Pearse's clubman added.
"You would have to feel that there is more in Tipperary after the Munster final. Certainly, there is enough in the way we felt disappointed with the second half performance that day not to take anything for granted and stay focused on what we have to do."
The fact this side can bridge two significant milestones, become the first Kerry side in over 50 years (1962 and '63) to retain the minor title and the first county in nearly 20 years since Laois in 1996 and '97 to do so is a pretty big carrot, but O’Connor feels this side is more about being a team than relying on individuals.
“Last year’s side had four or five standout players, whereas I feel there is a lot more balance to the team this year and they really play for each other," he said.
"We have some players starting in college and beginning new lives away from home, but they are still extremely focused about our preparations for the final.”
