Kerry have headstart in the battle for minds

All-Ireland SFC Final Jack O'Connor's Column:Cork have huge incentive but Kerry hold most of the aces

Say what you like about Billy Morgan, he has an ability to learn and to change. Billy spent last year complaining about Kerry being cynical. He hasn't mentioned it at all this year. I think Billy realised all he was doing was firing up the Kerry dressingroom.

It served no useful purpose. By the time the All-Ireland semi-final came around we had got our act together and managed to turn the tables on Cork. Billy had helped motivate us.

This year, the roles are somewhat reversed with Cork coming through the back door. They have made incremental progress in the last three years and are close now. They have a little of the advantage Kerry had going into last year's final too.

Back then, the hullabaloo over the Dublin-versus-Mayo semi-final allowed us to go about our business quietly. This year, Cork's impressive win over Meath in the semi-final was overshadowed by the game between Kerry and Dublin. Cork have also had a week extra to get themselves tuned in.

The final will be won in the head as much as on the grass. It's about pressure. Pressure is the difference between walking across a plank of wood when it's lying on the ground and walking across the same plank when it's 250 feet in the air.

Billy Morgan has played a good game in keeping that plank as close to the ground as possible by keeping expectations low.

Of all current managers, Billy is the best at playing the underdog. His sense of "us against the world" is a key part of the way Cork play football.

In Cork the footballers primarily see themselves as second-class citizens in relation to the hurlers. They have had very little support down through the years. They turn that around and tell themselves they aren't playing for supporters, but are playing for themselves. Cork use that to their advantage.

We used a little of the siege mentality thing last year when we felt our own supporters let us down a little in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It made us a tighter unit. Generally, though, Kerry teams don't have to operate like that.

What height the plank is at when they set foot on it shouldn't affect Kerry teams too much. Wearing the green and gold jersey makes you favourites to win just about any match you line out for. Kerry players grow up with that expectation.

Cork have certain advantages, but Kerry are in a good position too. There is nothing more reassuring for a management than seeing your team tested in a tight match and coming through. To compensate for the loss of Mike McCarthy and Séamus Moynihan, new players have bedded in well and other young players have become leaders.

That's the reward of success. When a young player comes on to a team he sees himself as being apprenticed to the senior players. A certain amount of success and exposure to the big stage gives him the confidence to think of himself as a leader.

A relatively young player like Declan O'Sullivan is in his fourth final in a row this Sunday. The Gooch and Marc Ó Sé are in their fifth. Kieran Donaghy is footballer of the year and in his second in a row. They have the confidence of those around them.

Management have to make the space for players to develop as leaders. All these young players have great brains for football. They have a developed sense of the game and how it should be played. It would be foolish if you didn't use them in team meetings and didn't talk to them privately for feedback. That is crucial.

You involve players in tactics and strategy. The benefits are huge. If players are involved in devising the game plan they buy into it quicker. They often know as much about the game as the manager does; they are out there; they see the stress points and feel them; they know the dynamics. All those guys have a great brain for the game and are clever footballers.

It shows on the field. Kerry won games this year through simple economy. They have been under the proverbial cosh, but they have been economical and clever, pulling games out of the fire by thinking their way through. Playing Donaghy out the field against Dublin was an example.

That freed the Gooch, who came into his own after 20 minutes and in many ways ran the game after that.

Meanwhile, Donaghy had a big influence outfield. Kerry have a lot of options in that area and that will be a huge difference in pressure situations.

Pressure has such a bearing at this level. To take an example on the Cork side, I think Michael Cussen will be played as he was against Meath. Billy Morgan has discovered Cussen can't really be used as a target man. Cork have always played that running and passing game and getting players to switch their mindset is difficult. Under pressure players resort to what they do naturally.

Kerry have traditionally been a kicking team so Donaghy was an easy sell as a tactic. Cork have trouble with the idea of the big full forward.

I imagine Billy will move Cussen in and out depending on how the game is going. Apart from one 15-minute patch against Kerry, Cussen hasn't been that effective in there, and Billy will have considered all the nights in training since then that Tom O'Sullivan has spent marking Kieran Donaghy.

It's likely that there will be a pile of big men around midfield. If both Cussen and Donaghy come out around that area it could look like feeding time in Jurassic Park with so many big bodies fighting for the scraps. Pierce O'Neill is also a midfielder and McMahon is a big man.

That's five big men Cork can send into the breach. There won't be an awful lot of catching going on. It will be a busy afternoon for the Kerry half-forward line.

Kerry will line out as they did the last day. Billy Morgan has decisions to make, starting with James Masters. If the rugby World Cup has shown us anything it is that if players have been out of action for a long time they won't be up to the pace. I don't see how James Masters can be up to match pace for Sunday.

It isn't always healthy to have one player taking a huge amount of responsibility for doing the scoring. Other players subconsciously shirk their own responsibility.

The last day Cork found their forwards could lift it. They have options. It's a tough one for Billy though. Masters is a Nemo man and a good player.

Anthony Lynch, to be fair to a great player, isn't the loss to Cork that he would have been a few years ago. He isn't required to hold the Cork defence together anymore.

The loss is his experience; he is one of only three Cork players who have been to an All-Ireland final. Cork have enough players to compensate. I imagine they will put John Miskella back and bring in a wing forward.

Pat O'Shea, it has to be said, has done a great job for Kerry. Taking over a successful team is harder in some ways than taking over a losing team - a unique pressure. The big problem in trying to win two in a row has always been appetite though. Managers and players get to know each other and take short-cuts.

New management is always gung-ho and everybody ups his game.

The first year I was manager I remember I would have done absolutely anything to win. I have no doubt Pat has been the same this year.

That has worked out in Kerry's favour and the team have benefited from their last two close games. In contrast, Cork versus Meath was over early. On that basis, Kerry look better-equipped to hold out in a tight finish and reaffirm their credentials as one of the great teams.

Agus rud eile . . . .

The final gives us a chance to open up a debate about the modern game.

Is there such a difference between Southern football and Northern football? The business of teams from the same province playing each other in All-Ireland finals is fairly new. The widely held view is that football down south is more free-flowing, with greater emphasis on attack.

Defence gets a lot more attention in the North, where teams like to counter-attack at pace. The 2003 final between Tyrone and Armagh and the 2005 semi-final between the same teams were tight and rugged. That doesn't mean they were bad matches.

The 2005 semi-final was a fascinating game, which Tyrone stole at the death. The intensity was unbelievable because there was no space for forwards to operate.

Sunday's game should be more open, with both sides having the option to kick long to a big target man.

There is a tendency in Kerry and Cork to play attacking football - the idea of getting swarms of players behind the ball doesn't come naturally. There will be so many big men in midfield on Sunday you know already that's where attrition will be highest. It will come down to the hunger and desire to compete at the breakdown. If Kerry win their fair share in there, they should have the class up front to see them through.

Either way, our friends from the North will be watching it all with a critical eye.