Kerry's real strength is clearly in their depth

ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL:KERRY HAVE equalled one record in making a sixth All-Ireland football final in succession, and in the process have surely set another; using all five substitutes – or 35 substitutions in all – in their seven championship games to date.

It reflects not only the idea that modern football is a 20-man game, but also reflects the quality of the Kerry panel – which may well prove the difference in Sunday’s final against Cork.

On top of that, Kerry also called on the maximum six substitutes permitted under the experimental rules in the NFL, in every game. This brings the total number of players used in this year’s league and championship to 36.

Surprisingly, only five players have started all seven games: Tommy Griffin, Diarmuid Murphy, Marc Ó Sé, Tom O’Sullivan and Declan O’Sullivan. Colm “Gooch” Cooper and Tomás Ó Sé would have started all seven had they not been dropped for the Antrim game for disciplinary reasons, but with 18 players coming on as substitutes, many repeatedly, Kerry’s enduring strength is clearly their depth.

Manager Jack O’Connor says that problems with injuries have played a role in this high rotation, but clearly any player who didn’t make the starting 15 for Sunday can consider himself in line for a potential appearance.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries this year,” says O’Connor. “People haven’t taken that into account. I don’t want to bore you with names, but we’ve had eight or nine injuries that kept players out for four, five, six weeks. Stuff like that.

“So we really had to juggle the pack this year and use an awful lot of players.

“But in the long term that stood to us, as there are more players in the frame now than there would have been if we didn’t have those injuries.

“But really, you’re picking 20 fellas to play in the game. I don’t know if any other team in the country has done it, but we’ve used every available sub this year. Six subs in every league game, and five subs in every championship game. And I’ve no doubt we’ll do the same on Sunday.”

The Kerry substitute used most this summer is midfielder Micheál Quirke, who started the drawn Munster semi-final against Cork, but after that has come off the bench on five occasions.

Given he’s the biggest player in the Kerry team – a massive 6ft 7in and 17 stone – it’s almost inevitable Quirke will come into the mix at some stage on Sunday, particularly as Cork have so many massive players of their own.

“Cork are built on athletic prowess, I suppose,” says Quirke. “They’re a hugely athletic team, and gave us a fierce lesson in June. They were awesome that day. They’re big guys, but well able to move, serious scorers too. They have it all.”

Quirke would have reason to believe losing to Cork in June was the low-point of the summer, especially as he has failed to regain his starting place since. However, he clearly rows in behind the philosophy that it’s the good of Kerry that matters, not the individual, and with that seems comfortable in whatever role he has to play.

“We just knew we weren’t at the races against Cork last time,” he says. “Our training wasn’t good enough. Our tactical approach wasn’t good enough.

“It was the turning point, though, because we all had to take stock and decide if we had the stomach for the long road through the qualifiers. We stumbled over the line a couple of times, but I still think that defeat to Cork was the making of our season.

“We probably won the national league coasting. The final against Derry was played in second or third gear. It was sterile stuff really, and Cork came out and hit us at a whole new level. It’s hard to tell, though, how much we’ve improved since then.

“Our performance against Dublin was a little ridiculous, and then against Meath it was the other end of the scale. We’re hoping to find a happy medium somewhere between those two, and if so, hopefully, we might just sneak it.”

At the start of the season, after returning to management after a two-year hiatus, O’Connor seemed keen to give youth a chance, and briefly handed the goalkeeping duties over to Ger Reidy, who started in four league games.

The 23 year-old didn’t do much wrong, but Diarmuid Murphy – who is 11 years Reidy’s senior – soon regained his place, and is now the first name to go on the team sheet. Again, however, Reidy is only concerned about the good of Kerry football.

“It’s my first year,” he says, “and the whole scene is still fairly new to me. But I know the attitude starting out this year was that we do have the players, and that if we made the All-Ireland again it wouldn’t be a big shock. The only thing some people were wondering was if we had the legs and the hunger, and I think so far anyway we’ve proved that we have.

“But there was never a moment of over-confidence. There was always a feeling that the next game could be our last. We came out, and we’re happy to be here now. We felt as a group that there was one big performance in us. We were just wondering when it would come, and you have to say it did come against Dublin.

“We played possibly as well as we did all year, and looked at ourselves after that, and knew we were capable of going places.

“When you know you’re playing Cork it drives you on that bit more as well. And I’m sure it’s the same with the Cork boys.

“It’s not so much fear. It’s more excitement. You just realise it will be written into history after this one.”