Getting back to set the record straight

Tommy Griffin will be deployed at the centre of the Kerry full-back line to help counter Tyrone's aerial power, writes Seán Moran

IT'S NOT uncommon for All-Ireland winning teams to be forced into restructuring and reinvention at some stage of the journey.

Kerry approach next weekend's All-Ireland final having been forced to do something about the full back line and more specifically the position of full back.

That "something" has been Tommy Griffin. One of those players who at times has been alternately cursed by his versatility and beset by ailments - hamstring, back, ankle ligaments and even asthma - he was moved to the edge of the square to address the team's sudden vulnerability to high-ball attacks.

It hasn't been a new departure. In the past, Kerry have redeployed players to full back - most famously Seán Walsh, from centrefield for the 1984-'86 three-in-a-row, and Séamus Moynihan for the 2000 All-Ireland win.

Sunday's opponents Tyrone made the same switch on the way to a first All-Ireland victory by moving the late Cormac McAnallen, also from centrefield to full back.

For the past couple of years Kerry's inside defence has been stable. Having absorbed the retirement of both Moynihan and Michael McCarthy the champions' defence had coped well.

The first signs of difficulty came in the Munster final against Cork when the introduction of Michael Cussen at half-time signalled an aerial barrage which cost Kerry their eight-point lead and exposed a problem at full back where Tom O'Sullivan has had an anxious year.

Unflappable and very quick, the Rathmore player built a reputation as an excellent man marker but this year he proved vulnerable under the high ball.

When the Munster finalists qualified to meet again in the All-Ireland semi-final anyone within an ass's roar of Fitzgerald Stadium training sessions knew that Griffin was being groomed in training to replace Pádraig Reidy, allowing O'Sullivan to revert to the corner, and mark the 6' 7" Cussen and that's how it turned out over the draw and replay.

Griffin made his competitive debut for the county in 1999 and played senior championship for the first time a year later and came on as a replacement, in the half backs where his early career was spent, for - coincidentally - Tom O'Sullivan at the end of the All-Ireland final replay success against Galway.

Injury has haunted his senior career and contributed to the disruption that has seen him play surprisingly little as a cast-iron first choice.

Former manager Jack O'Connor felt that injuries had undermined Griffin's confidence to the point where they provided a psychological crutch in his attempts to cope with the pursuit of a first-team place.

According to O'Connor in his book Keys to the Kingdom, he confronted the issue early in 2006: "I rang him one day and said: 'F*** it Tommy. Are you going to have a cut at this thing? If you are, then forget about the physio room and cut loose and we'll give you a go at it.' He spent a lot less time in the physio room afterwards. He was a revelation when he got into the team."

That happened when fortune for once favoured Griffin later that year when Kieran Donaghy's suspension between the Munster final draw and replay gave him the chance to partner Darragh Ó Sé at centrefield.

His performance there was a good enough to set O'Connor wondering would it be an idea to use Donaghy at full forward. The success of the tactical realignment looked to have established Griffin in his favourite position.

"I've had a couple of injuries since then," he says by way of explanation of what happened next. "I'd a bad hamstring injury last year and my back was at me. Competition's so strong that if you're out for any length of time at all you're under pressure and someone can slot in and take your place."

And that's more or less what happened. Confined to the bench for much of last season he saw Séamus Scanlon assert a claim to the second centrefield role although his interventions as a replacement were significant, most noticeably when he came in for the injured Ó Sé in the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin. But the starting place proved elusive until manager Pat O'Shea started to look around anxiously for potential cover at full back.

"Breaking forward is probably more my game than marking tight," says Griffin, "but I'm glad enough to get a jersey."

"I suppose it's the tightness," he answers when asked about the main difference between the positions.

"When you're around the middle of the field you're not really as concerned about marking your man and keeping him scoreless. In the full back line there's a lot of pressure there and you see things in the full back line that you don't see in the middle of the field. It would be no harm for anyone in midfield to spend a while back there and see the spaces in front of you."

It was evident in the Cork matches that whereas Griffin competed well under dropping ball, knocking away possession from Cussen time after time, he was predictably less certain about the positional demands when ball was moved low or into the corners.

Tyrone have done their own tactical shuffling and switched Seán Cavanagh to full forward, an irony that doesn't escape the man likely to mark him. "He's more a midfielder as well. I'm sure he'd probably prefer to be out the field as well."

One advantage he has in acclimatising to the demands of the new position is the presence in training of Donaghy, the best full forward in the game over the past three seasons and the immensely promising Tommy Walsh, both of whom are good in the air.

"Every game is different but I've had a bit of practice here marking the two big men."

Tyrone are unlikely to pose such a simple challenge. Although Cavanagh is well able to win high ball he is also a threat from lower, flatter deliveries. Their running game is practised and hard to counter.

Griffin sat on the bench for each of the counties' two previous meetings this decade, both of which ended in bitter defeat for Kerry.

Although watching things go wrong for your team is never a positive experience, he believes that 2003 was worse: "We were shell shocked that day. That's the only way to describe it."

Preparing for the latest instalment and the chance to set the record straight, work doesn't provide much of a bolt-hole for Griffin, who together with Dubliner Pádraig Corcoran, owns a pub in his native Dingle.

"That's what it's all about. A public house is a public house - you can't close it whenever you want. It's great when you're winning but there was a bit of stick after the Munster final. It's just banter - it's good for business."

TOMMY GRIFFIN FACT FILE

Age: 30.

Club: Dingle.

Position: Centrefield/Full back.

Honours: All-Ireland SFC 2000, '04, '06 and '07. Munster SFC 2000, '01, '03, '04, '05 and '07, All-Ireland under-21 1998, NFL 2004 and '06.