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Irish Examiner
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Daniel O'Mahony: 'We don't intend going out in the preliminary quarter-final'
Important to clarify from the outset that Daniel O'Mahony offered the following thoughts before, and not after, the balls were swooshed, drawn, and paired on Monday morning. Such is the quality of O'Mahony's character, though, and such is his forthrightness, that had we played the interview back to him following Cork's preliminary quarter-final pairing with the Dubs, we doubt there's a single sentence the Cork full-back would have altered. O'Mahony offered his thoughts outside the Cork dressing-room following Saturday's season-saving and season-extending win over Roscommon. His main point was this: Cork ambitions are in no way sated by having reached the last 12 of the championship. Micheál Aodh Martin didn't produce an outstanding 59th minute save to deny Daire Cregg just so Cork could hang on in the championship for another seven days. Seán Brady didn't fling himself at the rebound ahead of Ciarán Lennon just so Cork could say they've made a preliminary quarter-final in each year of the John Cleary era. O'Mahony didn't fling himself at Diarmuid Murtagh's beyond-the-hooter and beyond-the-arc equalising kick just so Cork could better their League ranking. 'There is three years of work gone into this group and we don't intend going out in the preliminary quarter-final,' declared the 25-year-old defender. 'It is all hands on deck for a big game this week and try to win that and keep progressing.' Cork's most recent clash with the Dubs was the 2023 Division 2, Round 3 League fixture at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Trailing by two at the death, O'Mahony of all people almost snuck victory with a goal shot that Tom Lahiff got in the way of. Cork came again. Brian Hurley unleashed a powerful drive for green that 'keeper David O'Hanlon touched onto the post. Prior to that, their most recent championship clash was the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final where Dublin pulled away in the final quarter to preserve the 2010 semi-final as the last occasion they fell to the Rebels in Sam Maguire fare. Neither of those defeats will register in camp this week. One defeat that will, and continues to live with them 12 months on, is the self-inflicted loss to Louth at this very hurdle last year. 'You can still feel it. That Louth game was the most disappointed I've ever felt after a game,' O'Mahony continued. 'Our ambition is not just to reach the preliminary quarter-finals. It is not what we want for this group. We are going to be looking at that game as a massive target to progress further and hopefully we will put up another good performance.' Read More Small details bounce in relieved Cork's favour Back to Saturday. Back to 27 seconds after the hooter had hooted. O'Mahony pushed out to the arc. He policed the movement of Diarmuid Murtagh and Enda Smith. He knew it would be one of the pair to attempt the orange flag kick that, if successful, would finish Cork. Smith, you see, had nailed three two-pointers in the draw with Meath the fortnight previous, Murtagh had nailed 13 of them across the year. O'Mahony stalked the pair and got the match-winning hand in when Murtagh eventually let fly. 'It was either Enda or Diarmuid that was going to kick it because they are superb long-range kickers. Diarmuid has been doing it all league, so you could see him lining up. Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time, and just about got a finger to it. I was lucky enough, to be honest. Delighted with it and just relieved is the big feeling,' said the Knocknagree clubman. Delighted too for oft-maligned Cork goalkeeper behind him and the earlier referenced contribution of Micheál Aodh Martin. 'Keepers at the moment, it is tough. Going back the last few years, kickout percentages would have been at 70-80% in games. That has obviously changed with the introduction of the 40-metre arc. The save he made in the second half was absolutely unbelievable. And Seán Brady's follow up was equally heroic.' The collective defensive effort meant this Cork team, for the umpteenth time, delivered the necessary result when their backs were fixed squarely against the wall. 'Been a tough enough year so far. The League didn't go the way we planned. We were looking at promotion at the start of the year, but it didn't pan out that way. The Munster Championship didn't go the way we planned. 'It was really back against the wall sfuff here. We lost our first two group games, so it was win or die here. They bet us by 14 points in the League, so that was in the back of the mind coming up. We stood up with our performance and thankfully came out on the right side. 'Obviously, it is a positive that we can come into games like this where your back is against the wall and win them, but at the same time, ideally, you wouldn't be in that position and that is something we are working through at the moment. Stressful enough game there, to be honest.' When is it not for the Cork footballers.
Irish Examiner
30-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Nearly a decade after Kerry debut, Barry Dan O'Sullivan finds game that suits him
Patience and Barry Dan O'Sullivan are long acquainted. Perseverance and Barry Dan are equally familiar bedfellows. But it is only in the past month where this pair of attributes, on display by the 29-year-old midfielder for almost a decade now, have finally begun to receive payment. Mike Quirke, to give him his credit, was first to advocate for Kerry's current middle-third arrangement and how effective it could be. Quirke, a selector in recent campaigns, was a guest on the Irish Examiner Gaelic football podcast the Monday after the League's third round when he championed the approach first adopted by management in Round 6 and repeated for the first time in championship during the victory over Roscommon a fortnight ago. Joe O'Connor made his first appearance of the year during Kerry's Round 3 League defeat to Dublin. There he partnered Diarmuid O'Connor. A reprisal of the county's 2024 midfield partnership. A partnership Quirke wanted broken up. 'I'd love a scenario where you'd Joe O'Connor wing-forward, I think he'd be unbelievable as a wing-forward,' said Quirke. 'But that second spot [at midfield], whether it is Barry Dan, there are question marks over him.' Barry Dan had actually started the county's opening two games of the League. He then disappeared from the line-up. In the ensuing four games, he saw the last quarter of an hour against Tyrone and nothing else. It was the Round 6 victory at home to Armagh when management plumped for Joe O'Connor at half-forward. Éamonn Fitzmaurice described his performance in the No.10 slot as 'immense'. Partnering Diarmuid O'Connor at midfield that evening was Seán O'Brien. The latest piece of evidence that Barry Dan was again out of the first team picture. The story really of his broken Kerry existence. 'Seán has put himself to the top of the midfield queue,' former Kerry forward Seán O'Sullivan told the Examiner the week after the Armagh win. 'The other option is Barry Dan, but for whatever reason, he just doesn't seem to have the trust of management at the moment.' Diarmuid's shoulder injury against Armagh stalled Joe O'Connor's stay in the half-forward line. Him and O'Brien were the midfield picks for their final outing of the League round-robin. O'Brien departed injured the Salthill field on 47 minutes. Barry Dan kicked two points upon replacing him and has not let go of the No.9 shirt since. Knocks to others cleared his path, but when you've persevered as long as he has, you are due the odd domino being knocked in your direction. His selection for the Munster semi-final against Cork represented his 10th championship appearance but first start. Nine years and two months after his 2016 League debut against Roscommon, where he replaced Johnny Buckley off the bench, and seven years after his first League start, he'd finally earned a first championship start at 29 years of age. The Tralee-based vet was a two-year Kerry minor and three-year U21. He pocketed All-Ireland medals at minor and post-primary level, the latter with Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne. Fitzmaurice, first his teacher and then Kerry manager, used him once in the 2016 League, twice in 2017, and on five occasions in 2018. Present, but not a presence felt. The Peter Keane era and he were not acquainted. He was also on the outside looking in for Jack's 2022 all-conquering comeback. David Moran's subsequent retirement, Joe O'Connor's ruptured cruciate, and later injuries to Diarmuid O'Connor and Stefan Okunbor necessitated a Barry Dan recall for the attempted title defence. Then selector Diarmuid Murphy labelled him the form midfielder of the 2022 county championship. His determination for this second chapter to be less peripheral than the first was underlined in June 2023 when he missed his brother's wedding in Rome, for which he was best man, to be part of the panel for the county's Sam Maguire group fixture away to Cork. It was a game he only saw the last five minutes of. On his return to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the middle of last month, for his full championship debut, he won two kickouts, was fouled underneath another two, successfully broke four more to a teammate, and also raised a white flag. In the first half of the Munster final, he won the Kerry kickout that led to David Clifford's opening goal and was also central to Clifford's second. He won the ensuing kickout, tallied 1-1 himself, and won a further restart that concluded with a Paul Geaney point. 'The new game suits him,' said Jack O'Connor. 'The ball is being kicked out, and Barry Dan is very strong under the ball, hard to shift him, and good in the air. A man like that will always be a big asset in that situation. 'Before, when it was the old game, the midfielders were more link players and box-to-box, whereas now the kickouts are crucial. He's a very, very strong man under the ball so the new game is suiting him.' The Dingle clubman was less prominent when operating either side of Joe and the returning Diarmuid O'Connor against Roscommon. That's his challenge going forward. Starting place cemented, perseverance and patience must now give way to impactful presence.
