For the second time in his managerial career, Jack O’Connor has brought a Kerry team to back-to-back All-Ireland final appearances.
This time, he will be bidding for a different outcome when they face Dublin on Sunday, having suffered defeat to Tyrone in 2005 following the 2004 win over Mayo during his first spell in charge.
When it came to comparisons between the clash with the Red Hands and this weekend’s with the Dubs, O’Connor noted that the routes taken by this year’s finalists have been similar.
“Compared to 2005 where Tyrone had 10 games and we had six I do feel this year is a bit more even in terms of games,” he said.
“If you are asking me do I feel like we have been tested then I would say yes because we have faced two northern teams in the quarter-finals (Tyrone) and semi-finals (Derry).
“We enjoy tests afterwards – but not necessarily during them...”
The Kerry boss is expecting a pretty open encounter with Dublin on Sunday, the first time the counties will have met since Sean O’Shea’s monster free last year in the All-Ireland semi-final ended Kerry’s 13-year wait for a Championship win over the Dubs.
“There is no secret that both teams want to play on the front foot,” he said.
“We feel we are at our best on the front foot and Dublin are an awesome attacking team when they get their game going. My sense is the game will be open.
“There is a tradition of playing positive football in both counties and I expect that to be the case as well in this final.
“Every team is always trying to find a balance between defence and attack and there isn’t really an exact science to it.”
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O’Connor isn’t placing too much emphasis on what happened last year in terms of this renewal. “I haven’t looked at anything from last year since Christmas, I would say,” he said.
“I made a conscious decision that anything from last year was parked on New Year’s Day this year. It’s a new year with a different dynamic and I don’t think there is anything from last year relevant to this year.”
The only real selection dilemma for Kerry is whether or not to give Killian Spillane a place in the matchday 26 after making his recovery from a recent hamstring injury.
Dublin boss Dessie Farrell will pick from a panel bolstered by the return this season of big names Stephen Cluxton, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion.
“I would say the returns in the Dublin camp are a sign of intent,” said O’Connor.
“When you have eight All-Ireland medals like Cluxton and those guys do, you don’t come back for the craic, like I said after the Derry game.
“Bringing 24 All-Ireland medals back into a dressing room is a massive thing. I’m sure they want to stand out as the players who have won the most All-Ireland medals ever from our own gang of five here in Kerry who have eight medals themselves.”
The return of Pat Gilroy to the Dublin sideline alongside Farrell has not gone unnoticed by O’Connor and he says there is a certain respect for the job Gilroy did in winning with Dublin in 2011 after Kerry inflicted that “startled earwigs” defeat upon them in 2009.
“[2011] was a tough one to take at the time from the point of view of losing to the last kick of the game,” he said.
“At the time, though, I acknowledged the job Pat Gilroy had done in bringing them to that point after what happened them against us in 2009.
“They had a massive snowball effect from that win with the other All-Ireland that followed and I feel they are looking for a similar effect in bringing him back in for this year.”
