PADDY Tally has already completed a notable, perhaps unique, treble and on Sunday he can add another double if Kerry beat Galway in the All-Ireland final.
Tally has coached three counties – Tyrone, Down and Kerry this year – to the Sam Maguire decider. Down lost narrowly in 2010 but a Kingdom victory will equal the Red Hands’ achievement of 2003.
Tally spent a season with Galway in 2018 during which Kevin Walsh’s side reached the All-Ireland semi-finals for the first time in 17 years and he also guided unfancied St Mary’s to the Sigerson Cup. Mark Doran was a Down player in 2010 and part of Tally’s management team in the Mourne County for three seasons recently. Tally left Down at the end of the 2021 because he felt his request for a one-year extension hadn’t been supported by county board members.
That may have surprised Doran but Tally’s success in the Kingdom has not.
“It’s no surprise, absolutely no surprise, that a county like Kerry came after Paddy,” said the Longstone native.
“When he came in to take over at Down, the seniors were at a very low ebb and the sign of a good manager is leaving the team in a better place – he took them to Division Two and kept them there.
“The only regret he’d have was the Cavan game (Ulster semi-final in 2020) but his man-management and his coaching were top drawer, he’s the best coach I’ve ever seen and it was a privilege for me to be involved with him in Down because you got to learn from the best.”
Seanie O’Shea is among the Kerry players who have highlighted Tally’s impact this year and recently Galway forward Shane Walsh spoke of the impact the Galbally native had on his career during his stint with the Tribesmen.
“People think Paddy is a one-trick pony who gives teams a defensive system,” said Doran.
“Yes, he sets your team up well but he sets them up to defend and to counterattack. Kerry scored a point against Dublin midway through the second half after they kept the ball for three or four minutes and it had Paddy Tally’s work all over it.
“It’s all about patience, patience and waiting for the opening and then going. I laugh when people say he’s a defensive coach, he’s anything but a defensive coach. He’ll do a serious amount of work on breaking down a blanket defence, counterattacking…
“Very rarely do you hear a player saying anything negative about Paddy and when Jack O’Connor took the Kerry job Paddy was the first man he approached. He has tightened them up in defence but he kept their traditional kicking game and it’s all through his attention to detail.
“Every one of Paddy’s sessions is geared towards game situations, it’s not about drills, it’s about your game; making your game better. He’s so professional in everything he does and the players all get better.”
Kerry won the National League and conceded just two goals (one a penalty) in the process. Since then, O’Connor’s side has cantered through Munster with clean sheets against Cork and Limerick and conceded once against Dublin in a thrilling semi-final.
“Tactically he’s very good and the Kerry players have responded to him,” said Doran.
“In the Tyrone game last year, how many times were Kerry cut open inside the ‘D’? Paddy is a great man for defending the ‘D’ with your life. You can see their intensity in the tackle now and when the Kerry players don’t have the ball they are all working hard.
“Everybody knows that when Kerry have the ball they’re brilliant to watch but people would have said that without the ball they didn’t work hard enough. This year it’s been a different Kerry altogether and they have that team ethic where when you haven’t got the ball you’re a defender, when you have it you attack.
“They’re all bombing forward now. Jason Foley, Gavin White, Thadg Morley, Tom O’Sullivan… All these boys have bought into it.”
Ballybay coach Doran, who has been linked with a role in the Monaghan management team next season, makes no secret of how he felt when he heard that Tally was on his way to Kerry.
“I said the minute he went there: ‘They’ll win the All-Ireland’.
“They weren’t far away last year. They coughed up a few very easy goal chances to Tyrone last year and Jack O’Connor is no mug, he’s thought about how he can improve his team and when he found out Paddy was available he got on the phone to him.
“If they win on Sunday, it’ll show it was a real shrewd move.”
