HE TOOK the questions about the rumours of a dramatic change of position in his stride, before casually dismissing them and saying the possibility of lining out in goals for Kerry on Sunday was news to him.
However, far from worrying about whether or not he would have to stand between the posts for the Kingdom, Bryan Sheehan is anxious Kerry produce a performance capable of beating Dublin in a Championship encounter for the first time since 2009 this Sunday in Croke Park.
“We feel like we haven’t performed, either in the All-Ireland final last September or the league final back in April,” the Kerry captain said.
“The one thing you could say about the league final was that we did show a lot of passion and guts and managed to stay in the game until the closing stages. However, the two goals we conceded were sloppy as opposed to being two great Dublin goals, so there definitely is an eagerness to perform on Sunday.”
When he reflects on last September, he sees a factor that is almost a tie-in with the success the All-Ireland champions are having in recent years: “Usually, we would have 60 or 70 per cent of the possession against most teams but, against Dublin, it might be only 40 or 45 per cent and I felt we weren’t economical enough with the ball when we had it last September,” Sheehan said.
“I think the main reason that Dublin do well is that teams stand off them and let them have the ball, which allows them to be on the front foot nearly all the time. I think getting a period of dominance and trying to force them onto the backfoot for a while is the key to any team beating them.”
Sheehan felt one frustrating feature about Kerry’s campaign which was particularly evident in the All-Ireland quarter-final win over Clare was an inability to replicate what was going on at training in a match day situation.
“I thought we had built up a great intensity in training before we came up for the Clare game but, for whatever reason, we just couldn’t bring it onto the field on the day,” he added.
“We’re in a similar situation now for the semi-final, but we know that what we’re doing in training has to come out onto the field in an encounter like this. Really, that’s an issue more for us as players rather than anything to do with management.”
When asked to reflect on Kerry’s three consecutive Championship defeats to the Dubs during this decade, the Kerry captain feels a variety of things have conspired against them when it comes to playing their age-old rivals recently.
“2011 was one we felt we left after us with the position we were in in leading that match near the end," Sheehan said.
"2013 was probably one of the best games ever played and it just came down to a moment of luck for Kevin McManamon, when a shot at a point ended up in the back of the net while, last year, we didn’t perform, as I said earlier."
When asked why semi-final and quarter-final encounters have been more memorable encounters than All-Ireland deciders between the two counties, Sheehan believes the fear of losing is not there in the same way as it would be on All-Ireland final day, but he reasserts there definitely is no fear factor with playing Dublin or Kerry based on recent encounters.
“We don’t fear them, regardless of what’s happened in the recent past,” he added.
“Whether or not there was a fear factor there for them playing against us up until 2009, that’s something only they can answer, but the one thing we need to do on Sunday is show more hunger than Dublin if we want to win.
“We feel that we are capable of doing it and that there is a performance there that can bring us to the level Dublin are at.”
