Donaghy: “Best Cork team in the last five years”
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| Kieran Donaghy Kerry |
10 September 2007Comfortable SFC wins over Cork in Croke Park over the last five years will count for nothing this Sunday, says Kerry ace Kieran Donaghy who rates the current Rebel County crew very highly.
Kieran Donaghy says that in the maelstrom of battle against Monaghan in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final, he would have taken a draw.
In the run-up to next Sunday’s decider, he says he’ll take a one point win and be bloody glad of it!
It mightn’t be much consolation to Monaghan folk but the dynamic Donaghy reckons Kerry’s motor needed some ratcheting up and the Oriel County did the trick.
"We’re where we are right now partly because of Monaghan and the stiff test they gave us," he explains.
"Monaghan were very well prepared, very fit and strong and because they battled to the end, we had to pull out all the stops which was great, ideal preparation for the Dublin game."
Mention of the Dublin game and thoughts turn to Donaghy’s bit of extra-curricular work outside the square and one is drawn to the obvious question:
Will Pat O’Shea field the big man at full-forward or will speculation prove correct and Kerry draw him out as before and leave room for Cooper and Co. to do the business inside?
"I don’t know what the tactics are going to be but it doesn’t matter what I’m asked to do because I’m happy either way; as long as I’m playing I’ll be happy.
"I really don’t have a problem about playing further out the field and whatever role I’m asked, I will do it to the best of my ability."
Cork are pretty strong in the vital diamond area of midfield though?
"Very strong, very powerful and it’ll take a big effort from all of us to stop them from building a platform there that’ll allow them to feed their forwards good ball.
"I mean you’re talking about two very fine midfielders, Derek Kavanagh and Nicholas Murphy and then you have Ger Spillane and Pearse O’Neill feeding off them.
"They took control of the middle very early on in the Meath match and Michael Cussen’s move from full-forward out to the middle benefited the team a lot too."
Kerry had to call on all their guile and class to see off both Monaghan and Dublin and Donaghy is under no illusions about the size of the task that awaits them this weekend.
In fact, the Kerry collossus believes that those aforementioned central Cork players benefit from a huge skeleton support structure.
He’s aware that the Kingdom have met the Rebel County in Croke Park three times in the last five seasons and enjoyed comfortable victories, including a 15 point mauling in ’02.
"Those margins (of victory) have been dwindling in recent matches against them. We only won by a half-a-dozen points last season and then only by two points in Killarney in the Munster final in a game they probably should have won.
"They have been steadily improving over the last few years and their performance against Meath in this year’s semi-final showed just how much they’ve come on.
"They’re stronger in some sectors than others but, in overall terms, it’s the best Cork team there’s been over the past five or six years - they’re the real deal."
It’s 17 years since a team retained the Sam Maguire Cup and when a team has amassed such mileage as the current Kerry team, motivation - you would imagine - could be an issue.
Hunger is a great sauce, they say, and yet it was the Cats in this year’s All-Ireland SHC final, for instance, who showed that it’s difficult to beat sheer class and experience.
Pointedly, our man Donaghy accepts that, like Limerick, most people would entertain the notion that Cork will be the hungriest come Sunday.
"I can see where they’re coming from but we hope to be just as hungry," Donaghy counters.
"This is the county’s fourth straight final appearance and people maybe think that the desire or the ambition isn’t there any more but they’re wrong.
"Cork will be mad keen but we have to match them in terms of the hunger and enthusiasm that they’ll bring into the final.
"But I think if we match that hunger, our greater experience of big days out at Croke Park will pull us over the line."
Getting over the line in pole position is what drives every player, every manager and racing past the chequered flag at Croke Park is the ultimate for all concerned.
To do that this Sunday, Kieran Donaghy believes the Kingdom will have absolutely no room for passengers on the Good Ship Kerry in Gaelic games’ greatest port of all.
"If we’re to beat Cork, everyone has to play well. Our performance against Dublin game was as good as we’ve played all year but we have to play as well again if not even better.
"Everyone played well in the semi-final but if we hope to win the final we can’t have anybody slackening."
It’s been a curious campaign this year for the 2006 Player of the Year in which the golden tactic of banging in long balls into him has lost some of its lustre.
Inadvertently though, Kerry have proven that they’re not just a one-trick pony and Donaghy himself has looked a more rounded player in the process.
Although well-marshalled by Monaghan, it was Donaghy’s presence on the edge of the box which caused the ball to spill into the path of Declan O’Sullivan for the goal.
"Declan O’Sullivan got a great goal. I missed a great chance before that when I snatched at it," last year’s All-Star recalls.
"I was over eager I suppose. I knew we needed a goal. Goals win games."
The Austin Stacks clubman was much more effective next time out against the Dubs though even if he does remark on how his scoring touch would seem to have deserted him.
"I haven’t been scoring; I think I’ve only got three points which isn’t great but I’ve been doing other things for the team.
"I feel I’ve been laying the ball off well and giving fairly good ball to the other forwards around me.
"To be honest, I don’t really care how much or if I score because if I can get it into the other fellas to score and the team wins, well that’s all that matters.
"I haven’t been as influential for the team as last year but I don’t mind because we’re back in an All-Ireland final and if I get one point in the final and the team wins, I’ll be very happy."
It’s clear the county under 21 FC medallist of 2002 is treating the Cork challenge with the utmost respect and he reckons the Kingdom could take a leaf from the Rebel County’s book in terms of the consistency Billy Morgan’s side showed over the 70 minutes-plus against Meath.
"We have to play well for longer. We only played in patches in the matches so far and that won’t be good enough to beat Cork in the final."
And what type of match is he anticipating this coming Sunday?
"I think it’s going to be more of a war of attrition than pure championship football.
"But at the end of the day, nobody really cares how a final goes as long as you come out on top. Hopefully it’ll be us who are smiling at the final whistle.
"It’s in our own hands and we won’t have anyone to blame if we don’t do the business.
"I know there’s been a good margin between the counties but that’ll count for nothing when the final comes around.
"They’re the real deal, as I say, and we’ll have to be at our best."