KERRY LEGEND JACK O’Shea has urged the Kingdom to “smile and don’t react” in the face of Tyrone provocation in next Sunday’s All-Ireland senior football semi-final between the counties at Croke Park.
Seven-time senior medallist O’Shea has also insisted that the Tiernan McCann saga will have absolutely no bearing on Sunday’s tie.
O’Shea believes that Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Kerry will have been preparing to face a Tyrone team containing McCann.
“I don’t think it will have much bearing on it.
“He got off last night (Wednesday) and there was never any doubt that he was going to get off.
“And he’s a very good footballer. He came on against Meath and turned the game around and he’s been really good since.
“He brings the ball out of defence and he’s a bit in the Paul Galvin mould, a very good footballer now.
“He would have been a huge loss to them but it’s a big bonus that he’s been released to play.”
O’Shea accepts that verbals will be a factor at Croke Park next Sunday, but urged Kerry to turn the other cheek if Tyrone engage in sledging.
He insisted: “That’s part and parcel of every game, you have to live with that.
“The best way to deal with that is to smile and don’t react. Kerry have to concentrate on themselves.
Counterattack
“Tyrone play a defensive type of game, get behind the ball and counterattack a lot.
“Against Monaghan, the gameplan worked on the counterattack with Sean Cavanagh and Darren McCurry up front. They were finding them with ball when they had to.”
O’Shea is travelling to Dublin expecting a Kerry win, and believes this is a game that has to be won given the history between the counties.
“If you went on form, it should be Kerry but having said that, we’ve always found it difficult with Tyrone over a number of years.
“I’m sure Mickey Harte will come up with a gameplan to stop Kerry playing.
“Kerry have to be positive. They’re the better side and more established.
“If they apply their game, I feel they’ll be able to overcome Tyrone. I don’t think many in Tyrone would have expected them to be where they are.
“Going through the back door is not a bad thing when you’re rebuilding a team and they’ve made the best of that.
Respected
“They’re Tyrone and they have to be respected. I’m sure Kerry will respect them greatly.
“They’ll have to win pretty or win nasty. Semi-finals are all about winning and I’m sure there are still a few lads around still hurting from previous defeats against Tyrone.
“It’s a game they have to win and want to win. They haven’t a great record against Tyrone and they’ll want to put that straight as well.”
aye because kerry would never ever engage in any sort of sledging only us dirty northerners would do that.. good old kerry boyos just turn the other cheek from those evil tyrone heathens and you’ll be fine :-)
You’re actually right for once.
im always right in my own mind so that works for me
Kudos for you.
Go on Tyrone!
No-one likes us, we don’t care.
Some how I don’t think the fact no one likes you is going to save Tyrone from a spanking.
you have to fancy Kerry but will be tighter than people expect
If ye don’t care then why constantly keep telling us? Must be that chip on the shoulders that this is the only time of the year that anyone pays any attention to ye “down south.”
You’re a west Brit summer devil
I love the West Brit stick! Define it for me, please. If any of your points are accurate in relation to the full profile you have managed to build on my personality based on a few on line posts I’ll acknowledge them and personally write a letter of recommendation for you to join Hotch and the lads and the BAU.
that and the riots over flags/marches when the rest of us watch these knuckldraggers on both sides with utter discust.
so were our nation’s founding fathers knuckledraggers as well? they seemed exercised by flags, riots and marches in 1916 etc
Yeah because Kerry are innocent out when it comes to cynical play and sledging. Don’t get me wrong they’re not in the same bracket as Tyrone and for the first time in a long time I’ll be going for Kerry, but let’s face it their no angles…. Just cute hoores, which is perfectly acceptable apparently.
“They’re no angles”.
If they were they’d be acute (hoor) angles.
well played sir
Nobody is saying it doesn’t go on, just that Tyrone have taken it to a whole new level.
how much of it would you say is okay so? maybe Kerry are just cuter at it
Never said it was okay. Stop trying to hide behind Kerry as a means of attempting to justify the filthy carry on Tyrone football expose us to. I imagine Tipperary and Donegal just fabricated the incidents experienced in the 21 and minor matches too to back up their buddies in the kingdom. Really.
Sledging has gone on for years in the Gaa and indeed most sports, indeed it’s an integral part of so called gentlemen’s games like cricket. I admit that I prefer Kerry’s general style of play, but they’re well able to mix it in the cynical stakes with anyone, I seem to remember a lot of cynicism against mayo in that replay in limerick and if anyone from a northern team did what tadhg keneally did in the first minute of that all ireland against cork we’d never hear the end of indignation
Along with Mayo’s two black cards? What Kennelly did was reprehensible, but the animals didn’t circle the wagons to defend him the way Tyrone deny their dirty football and imagine that the rest of the country is out to get them.
sure they didn’t have to circle the wagons, there was relatively little condemnation of it if I remember compared to the level of disparaging of Ulster teams like Tyrone
Maybe it wasn’t condemned to the same extent because there was never a blanket denial of it having happened, unlike Tyrone’s inability to recognise that they play filth. The Ulster championship is muck, we all know that, absolutely terrible to watch, not that the fare elsewhere was very entertaining this year anyway. However, show me another county in Ulster or otherwise, that plays with such unbridled dirt and underhand tactics. The worst thing about it all is that they don’t need to resort to those means, they have some fabulous players.
the issue with football is the lack of a recognised tackle, the poor inconsistent refereeing and the fact that 30 super fit players is now too many on one pitch
While that is a very true point it has nothing to do with Tyrone’s lack of respect for the game they profess to love.
I’d accept that Tyrone are the masters of the dark arts and all but this conveyor belt of ex kerry players coming out to bat for kerry is becoming a joke. They are as good if not better then anyone at cynical play and if the Tyrone boys are involved in sledging what is donaghy doing chasing his opponent or the ref around all day? Telling jokes I suppose! Don’t get me started on kicking a ball off a goalkeepers tee in the dying moments of an all Ireland…
That’s exactly the same as punching a prone player in the ribs and taking a dive to get an opposing player sent off alright.
or punching a player in the back of the head… sorry Tyrone didnt do that and it wasnt highlighted in detail on the sunday game so you prob missed it!
You must not remember the reply of Finlay’s punch getting more airtime than the punch in the ribs. The major talking point was Fonzie’s do.
Tadhg Kennelly never tried to decapitate a Cork fella with the first kick of a ball in the All Ireland either…or if anybody other than Kerry played out that dour final last year the barstoolers would be up in arms but don’t let arbitrary facts take away from your casual hatred of the North Summer Bay. Kerry know how to play dirty just as much as anyone
Just read article by former Tyrone player enda
mc Ginley in Irish news today about Gaa and mc Cann. It’s embarrassing and enda mc Ginley should be ashamed of himself. He denies all and in fact calls the Gaa and Sunday game into question for highlighting it. He puts it down to a simple mistake. Pure nonsense mc Ginley and please don’t insult us or our organization by those stupid comments.
so it wasnt a witch hunt by the sunday game then?
did you actually read the whole article by the way? “Everybody makes mistakes but it’s the abuse that he’s taking. That sort of abuse can follow you around and can affect you negatively”.. he’s talking about the welfare of players
What did he expect to happen exactly? No back patting for that behaviours outside Tyrone.
God Kerry and this butter wouldn’t melt in mouth garbage for the last week or so from ex players and managers etc. never do a cynical thing, oh no what about kennelly on Nicholas lynch in 2009 all Ireland. honestly think they have still an inferiority complex when it comes to Tyrone. they will win on Sunday but won’t change 2003,2005 and 2008 when they played second fiddle to the men from the north.
Martin Carney to make James O Donoghue man of the match. Decision already made