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Irish Examiner
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Moment Jack O'Connor knew something was stirring with Kerry
A TURNING point in Kerry's season? Jack O'Connor isn't fond of that phrase. He instead looks for the game where something started to stir inside his players and inside the dressing-room. The game that comes closest to matching the above description is the Round 4 League win in Pomeroy. Little form coming in and behind the early season curve as Dr Crokes and Austin Stacks players had to be given extended breaks following lengthy club seasons, Jack drew buckets of encouragement from how players responded to the multitude of setbacks that day in rural Tyrone. 'We got a big win up in Pomeroy on a very, very bad day, in a game that was going against us. A lot of things were going against us. We played part of that second-half with 13 men, both David Clifford and Joe O'Connor got black cards,' Jack recalled. 'We finished strong and obviously David got three goals that day, so we just felt leaving Pomeroy that there was a real spirit in the group, you know, because they are never easy places to go, grounds like that, bad weather; that really tests your nerve and tests your gut and tests your togetherness. We felt there was something stirring alright then.' The subsequent defeat in Castlebar dampened those spirits somewhat, but the two-week break that followed, after five weekends on the go, allowed them to mould and strengthen the raw materials displayed against the Red Hand. 'We got rejuvenated over that fortnight and had a big win over Armagh in Tralee. We were still facing relegation in Salthill, we managed to go up there and get a good win. We got to the League final and won, so I think around then fellas started believing that there could be something afoot here.' Injuries have been the chief stumbling block since. Jack has never known a summer where they've endured so many hits. Within that, the two games standing out are the two trips to Páirc Uí Chaoimh. 'We had a lot of freak injuries this year. I can't ever remember being involved in a game where three of our players were gone by half-time like they were above in Cork (in the All-Ireland series). We'd Barry Dan (O'Sullivan) gone, Paul Geaney gone, and Paudie Clifford gone by half-time. 'That was in the round-robin game, and then in the Munster semi-final, we had a huge level of attrition in that as well. Shane Ryan went off early after a clash with Brian Hurley, and there were others. We had Gavin White go off with a head injury at one stage, Barry Dan had to go off temporarily, and we had Paudie sent off that day, so we have had a few fierce tough battles with Cork and we had the ones to prove it.' On the most up-to-date injury news, Diarmuid O'Connor participated in the full Kerry training session on Saturday, increasing hopes that the midfielder will make his return from injury in Sunday All-Ireland final. Inside forward Paul Geaney (shoulder) also took full part in Saturday's session, with Tom O'Sullivan (calf) still not fully back, the manager confirmed at the county's All-Ireland final media event. After a powerful start to the spring, midfielder O'Connor has endured an injury-plagued campaign since first hurting his shoulder during the Round 6 League win at home to Armagh in mid-March. His latest setback was at the beginning of the preliminary quarter-final win over Cavan four weeks ago, where he lasted just three minutes before having to withdraw. He has not featured since. Geaney was listed on the match-day panel for both the All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final victories but was not used on either occasion, while defender O'Sullivan limped out of the quarter-final win over Armagh when picking up a first-half calf injury. 'Paul and Diarmuid trained fully today, and there are a couple more sessions to go, so that's promising. Tom O'Sullivan isn't back fully yet, he's doing bits and pieces, so we'd hope he'd train next week. Outside of that we are not too bad.'
Irish Independent
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Kerry full back Jason Foley says defending is an individual responsibility as much as anything
Foley: 'There was a narrative going around the last few years that we were defensively poor, and very easy to get at. The finger has been pointed at the fact we conceded goals at the wrong time, and that's probably right, in fairness' Kerryman While getting the job done on the scoreboard was obviously the most important element of Kerry's six-point victory over Tyrone in the All-Ireland senior football semi-final at Croke Park, keeping a clean sheet over the course of the 70 minutes was a boost to the defence. Not alone did the Red Hand county not manage to find a way to put the ball in Shane Ryan's net, but they didn't score at all for a period of 22 minutes in the second half. With a final concession of 0-17 to the opposition, Jason Foley was a satisfied man.
Irish Independent
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
GAA team news: Michael McKernan back in Tyrone squad but no changes in starting XVs for Red Hands, Royals or Donegal
Tyrone have recalled attacking half back Michael McKernan to their match-day squad, raising Red Hand hopes that he may feature against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final tomorrow.
RTÉ News
10-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Match-ups and restarts - Kerry and Tyrone key battles for Croke Park showdown
Should Kerry make as many inroads on the Tyrone kickout as they did on the Armagh restarts last time out, it could lay the foundation for victory in Sunday's All-Ireland SFC semi-final. That's the view of former Kerry player Tomás Ó Sé, who says the aggressive approach from Jack O'Connor's men was the foundation block in dethroning the All-Ireland champions at the quarter-final stage. In the opening 35 minutes, Kerry won four of Ethan Rafferty's long kickouts (kicks that went beyond the 45m), while in that dominant 15-minute period after the resumption where the Kingdom hit 14 points unanswered, it was better again as they claimed nine of Rafferty's 11-long restarts. In Niall Morgan, Tyrone possess one of the biggest, and accurate boots in Gaelic football. Should Kerry once again adopt a high press, he has the artillery to clear a large swathe of players. "The problem with that is that Kerry will have bodies out there as well," Ó Sé told the RTÉ GAA podcast. "If he booms it long, Tyrone have to win it. If they do win it, and spook Kerry a couple of times, then Kerry mightn't get as aggressive with the press." Ciarán Whelan, also speaking on the podcast, is fully expecting Tyrone to differ from Armagh in adopting a man-to-man marking approach to try and snuff out the danger of the Clifford brothers, Paudie and David, as well as the in-form Seán O'Shea. Paudie Hampsey has picked up three-time Footballer of the Year Clifford in the past, while if he has a clean bill of health, Conor Meyler could be tasked with following the older of the Clifford siblings. All four of Tyrone's All-Ireland victories saw Kerry defeated along the way and Whelan feels the Red Hand be full of motivation to take out the Munster champions. "Tyrone didn't perform massively well against Dublin, but they beat them," he said. "I think they will approach the game in a different way defensively, a more man-to-man approach. "Tyrone are going to improve and they will relish this opportunity to try and stifle that Kerry narrative." Despite the changes in defensive strategies, Ó Sé insists that traditional approach is something that Tyrone have mastered. "If you are going man-for-man, they are going to have to be very tuned in, but that's what Tyrone have been brilliant at over the last few years."
Irish Examiner
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Tyrone's thirty-somethings bolstered by young guns in pursuit of All-Ireland glory
We keep going because we love the game – Peter Harte's philosophy on the sporting longevity of Tyrone's thirty-somethings. Along with Mattie Donnelly and Niall Morgan, Harte is still going strong 15 years after his inter-county debut and chasing a second All-Ireland title. And one of the reasons for his passion for gaelic football comes calling again this weekend when he throws himself into another high stakes championship battle with old adversaries Kerry. 'Myself and Niall and Mattie are very similar, we love football,' he said. 'When you play this long, you put an awful lot of your life into it, and you do grow an appreciation of trying to make the most out of it, if you can. 'Very soon you'll not be playing, you'll be coming down with your family to watch matches, so you want to make the most of it when you are playing, and please God, we can do that.' Young blood breaking through the Red Hand ranks has added a freshness to an evolving squad that has been moulded by manager Malachy O'Rourke into a force with genuine ambitions to bring Sam back to the county for a fifth time. 'Thankfully we have some great young lads, and we're starting to see just how good they are,' said Harte (34). 'We've seen them in club football a lot, and we're just hoping that that can continue, because as we've seen over the years, you need a big impact in the last few minutes in Croke Park to win these games.' Tyrone suffered an alarming slump following their All-Ireland triumph in 2021, failing to make it past the quarter-final stage, and last year suffered a shock exit at home to Roscommon. 'We have been the ones that were watching over the last few years, sitting at home and not getting to Croke Park on the bigger days. 'You probably appreciate it more in the latter part of your career, but it's great to be back, but it's about making the most of it now. 'Beating Dublin and then going out in the semi-final would still be a disappointment, that's the harsh reality of the sport you play, so we just want to keep building, keep the heads down and train hard for the next day against a serious operator.' Harte believes any one of this weekend's semi-finalists can have realistic aspirations of going all the way, such is the unpredictability of the new-look game. 'There's definitely an openness feeling towards it all now. 'When the Dubs were at their peak, unless they didn't play to their full potential, you knew that they had the team that was very hard to rein in. 'But now everybody left in it has serious ambitions to win it. 'We just want to make sure that we're there with them, that we put our best foot forward in an All-Ireland semi-final again.' Kerry go into Saturday's semi-final as favourites to advance to the decider, thanks to their stunning victory over reigning champions Armagh, while Tyrone needed a late flourish to get the better of an off-colour Dublin side. 'We have plenty of things to learn and work on, but there was great grit and determination in that last ten minutes to wrestle the game back in our favour, and then when we got that bit of momentum, we had the quality with boys coming off the bench to kick us over the line,' Harte said. 'It probably wasn't the cleanest game of football by any stretch. In Croke Park you're basically playing on a new surface, you play with new footballs, and when it's greasy like that, mistakes just seem to happen more readily. 'The new rules mean that every minute you're attacking and defending, and if you don't win enough of those wee breaks, you probably lose the game over not doing an awful lot wrong.'
