IT’S A STAT of which football fans on either side of the Cork and Kerry mountains are well aware.
The Rebels haven’t won in Killarney against Kerry since 1995.
But with Conor Counihan leading a young-looking side from Leeside for tomorrow’s Munster SFC decider, Kingdom marksman Declan O’Sullivan insists records will count for little in Fitzgerald Stadium at throw in.
“It’s certainly a proud record and we want to hold onto it,” says the South Kerry man. “Any team serious about their business really wants to make their home patch a place where other teams will have to earn it to beat us. Donegal have done something similar up in Ballybofey.
“Certainly we’d like to think that with the home support behind us and training in Killarney, it give us a small edge, but the other side of it, Cork will relish coming down, the pressure is off them a small bit, they love coming to Killarney, their supporters love coming to Killarney — there could be more Cork supporters here than if it was on in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. That brings its own atmosphere to the ground, and the fact that the field is so close to the town, there is always a great atmosphere at the game.
“I don’t think so (that it puts doubt in the minds of the Cork players), to be honest. We haven’t a great record up in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but that wouldn’t stop us believing that we can win there.
“Younger Cork fellas have really had the upper hand on the Kerry youngsters over the last few years. They won’t be worrying about whatever record we have in Killarney. I’m sure they’ll come down believing that they can win.
“I always found Killarney to be a real, big open field. Generally, you find that the best team will always win in those conditions. It’s like Croke Park. There is no hiding place in Killarney either.
O’Sullivan admits that Munster’s two heavy hitters aren’t quite weighing in so impressively these days though the duel remains as keen.
“[The rivalry] certainly doesn’t breed boredom,” he told reporters this week. “Amongst the supporters, there was a time there when we were challenging for All-Irelands together that the rivalry, I wouldn’t say poisonous, but it did become fractured there for a while.
“But I think both teams have slipped down the pecking order a bit now, and I think in both panels there has been a huge change in players. There are a lot of young players coming into the Cork set-up. Likewise with our set-up, the panel has changed no end over the last two, three years.
“That brings its own certain freshness as well, and both teams are eager now for Sunday, to suss each other out.”
The Dromid Pearses man adds: “It’s the reality of where [Kerry] are at, at the moment, we have gone down the pecking order. In the last few years teams have passed us out. You can’t dispute that. The way Donegal have performed, Mayo are performing, Dublin, teams like that.
“We had a poor league campaign, barely survived, depended on other results, and the team is probably in transition, with a lot of young fellas coming in and a new management. This is year one of a three-year plan. I can see why we are under the radar because there are a lot of question marks about us, a lot of doubts.”
And Cork? ”To be honest, a lot of the time you try to stay away from watching a lot of football. You try to keep a freshness in your own game and your own mind. If you watch too much of it, you can get bogged down in it.
“I’ve seen a bit of Cork and they have been very impressive. I saw them against Galway in the All-Ireland U21s and they were unlucky that time as well. They have definitely brought a lot of young fellas through, and it’s shown in the strength and depth of their panel. If you look at the subs bench in their last couple of games, there were All-Stars there; it was a frightening bench really. It’s one of their big advantages, their great squad of players.”
