Opinion: How do you solve a problem like Kerry?

By Michael McMullan

IT’S All-Ireland Sunday in the Croke Park press auditorium. It’s 2025 and the Kingdom are top of the tree again.

Jack O’Connor has fielded a range of questions. The job is done. There’s craic to be had. Grub to be ate. Photos to be taken.

Kerry Eye journo Jason O’Connor casts his line one final time.

“Jack, would you like to be the man to try and bring it to 40?” he floated, based on Jack having a hand in seven All-Irelands, five as manager and two as selector, helping take it from 30 to 39.

Everyone needs a game: The importance of county panelists being released for club action

After a brief pause, Jack references a photo his missus snapped as he headed to training days earlier.

The last hurrah? At the time, maybe. For weeks, it began a ‘will he or won’t he’ school of thought until it was confirmed. Jack was going nowhere. Not yet.

Back to that moment and Jason’s question. The number 40 hit me between the two eyes. That’s a colossal number.

Is any wonder Kerry people joke how Pat Spillane only has seven All-Ireland medals? 1975 doesn’t count. One-in-a-rows mean nothing in that neck of the woods.

Last year’s final cemented what I already thought. Kerry are always the team to catch.

My late father-in-law, Patsy Kennedy, told me how anytime there was a change in the rules, Kerry would be the team left standing with Sam.

Another massive ingredient is the absolutely savage interest Kerry people have in football. It’s something you can’t coach. It’s years of success and tradition.

I got my eyes opened a few years ago in the hostelries of Tralee after a Saturday night lights’ game. We were in a few different bars. Everyone wanted to talk about football. Everybody. It’s their identity.

A few moments stood out from last year’s All-Ireland final. The shattering sound when Michael Murphy’s name was read out by stadium announcer Jerry Grogan.

There was an even louder din when Gavin White sliced through to make a score for Dylan Geaney after just nine seconds. A shuddering statement. Kerry weren’t going up the road without Sam.

STRIKE ONE…Dylan Geaney celebrates scoring after nine seconds of last summer’s All-Ireland final

Most of all, it was the realism of what it actually takes to beat Kerry. Donegal were, and still are, a damn good team.

But who has the tools to disarm Seánie O’Shea, Paudie and David Clifford on the same day without stinking the place out and offering nothing going forward themselves?

That’s before you go into Gavin White’s runs. Paul Geaney’s genius in how he can make space. Upstart Dylan Geaney showing he belongs.

Mark O’Shea and Sean O’Brien coming from relative nowhere to shine on the biggest stage.

For me, there is no point in trying to play Kerry with a set of stabilisers on. To begin with, anyone looking to take them down needs three unbelievable man-on-man defenders.

You need size in the middle third to try and make sure the size five is in your hands more than theirs.

Having 39 All-Irelands installs the self-belief that arms their players with the knowledge to always make the right decision.

They kick the ball more than most and are comfortable doing do. It stretches the pitch.

Now, they are still well able for the dark arts like us Ulster folk are labelled for. They can hit hard, they can filter back and they can grind. And rightly so. Grit is important too.

Mingling with a few Donegal fans in my company on the Sunday of last year’s final, the pints and football talk were both following in equal measure.

My take was simple. There was no point in trying to drastically shave Kerry’s scoring return. That would take too much focus off your own offering.

While Armagh and Tyrone have beaten Kerry on the way to Sam in recent times, it’s not the norm.

And fair play to them for doing what many couldn’t.

My main takeaway from last year’s All-Ireland final was how it needed to change the face of coaching everywhere else.

Underage coaches needed to reevaluate. My mind hasn’t changed. Listening to a range of recent podcasts has only cemented my view.

All we seem to do is keep talking about how impressive David Clifford and Kerry’s attacking prowess is. And it’s well justified. I am not saying it’s not.

I just think the onus has to be on the rest of the counties to start looking in the mirror. And at the very youngest ages.

Every coaching session needs a player to have a ball each. A ball between two at worst. Kicking and catching should be the foundation. Time and time again. Invent games to make the same two skills fun.

When it becomes easy, challenge players to use both feet. The same can be said for scoring. When working i#on handpassing, insist they use both hands.

A ball between two. No buses queues. Just balls flying around the place.

It will bring enough athleticism for now. Tactics will follow in time but the basic skills have to be engrained until it becomes second nature.

Finish each coaching session with a fun game. Throw in a bar of chocolate for the winner. Every month, have a skills competition that brings in four or five basic skills.

Invite one or two of the senior players along. Splash out on a couple of pairs of gloves as prizes. Post photos on the club’s social media. Sell skills and their importance.

When having games at training, make sure there is a condition. To improve kicking, limit it to one touch to encourage three things – movement up front, players to look up and for the kicks to be measured.

Add in a bonus point for every score that has a kick pass. Another bonus point for anyone who can throw a dummy to beat the last defender.

Bring a roll of tape and make every player wear their sock up on their weaker foot.

Any score or pass on that side counts as double.

This is a bit of a random dump of things that can improve the basics. Plenty of coaches are already doing all of this.

It takes me back to last year’s All-Ireland final and all the recent chat about Kerry. They are the team to catch.

Instead of talking about trying to limit them, the rest of the chasing pack need to be thinking 10 years down the line.

As the saying goes, there are two perfect times to plant a forest – 20 years ago or today.

Back to Jason O’Connor. “Jack, would you like to be the man to try and bring it to 40?” That’s the mindset.

Winning 40 All-Irelands isn’t an overnight thing. It’s the same for catching Kerry.

Working out where to start is a here and now thing.