O’Rourke rues missed opportunities in Kerry loss

DISAPPOINTMENT was the recurring theme as Tyrone manager Malachy O’Rourke surveyed the wreckage of his side’s defeat to Kerry at Pomeroy on Sunday, a result that could have serious ramifications in the battle for survival with only three rounds of action remaining.

At one stage in the second half, Tyrone carried a seven-point lead while Kerry had two players, Joe O’Connor and a certain David Clifford, black carded. They were in cruise control, no doubt about it.

It all went badly awry on the home straight, however;  Clifford returning to the field of play and ruthlessly adding goals number two and three to complete his hat-trick and seal what had been an unlikely-looking victory for the Kingdom.

Speaking after the game, Malachy O’Rourke deployed the word ‘disappointing’ on five separate occasions. This was a major missed opportunity, and all that was left to do was unpack the gory details.

“We started off slowly enough but then we got into the game and got four or five up at half-time. In the second half against the wind it was going to take a big performance and the boys dug in, played well and got the goals at the right time and with 10-12 minutes to go we were seven-up.

“But we gave the ball away at crucial times and allowed them back in, and in fairness David Clifford was ruthless up there. Overall it’s disappointing.

“The effort was very good but it’s disappointing we didn’t get something out of the game.”

The midfield battle ebbed and flowed but Kerry assumed control in the closing stages and reaped the rewards. O’Rourke believes the new rules are arguably unfair in that respect as he says it makes restarts a total minefield.

“Obviously I was on the rules committee myself, but that is just one thing that I don’t particularly like: That every kick out has to go outside the arc, and every kick out has just become a 50/50 one in many ways.

“Maybe that’s a bit of a retrograde step now looking at it, because I think there should be some way around it.
“My thinking is that you can allow the kickouts to be taken just outside the small circle. It might leave more variety in the kick outs and it wouldn’t become a 50/50 battle all the time.”

While Kerry went down to 13 men in the second-half for a spell with Joe O’Conor and David Clifford sent to have a think about what they had done, Tyrone boss Malachy O’Rourke believes it didn’t do the Kingdom any real harm as an unintended consequence of the new 3 v 3 rule.

“It’s certainly not giving you any advantage at all,” he said. “They can put the two men wherever they want. When they are attacking, they can have extra men there and when they are defending, they can put them back.

“[The new rule] is something that is going to have to be looked into.It’s very disappointing for the boys because I know the effort they are putting in and they are working very hard – we just aren’t getting the results.”

He was also unhappy with the performance of referee Paddy Neilan, believing that some of his decisions that went the way of Kerry were of the softer variety.

“Well, I felt that a lot of the 50-50 stuff we weren’t getting. I was frustrated but you’re obviously biased when you’re with a team. I certainly thought we didn’t get any handy ones anyway and I thought they got a lot of softer frees. I’d need to watch it back.

“Overall I’m happy with the way the boys dug in after a bad start but I’m just disappointed with the result.”

One plus point from the game was the return of a number of their Errigal Ciaran contingent, though Padraig Hampsey remains sidelined after undergoing surgery.

“It was great to have the [Canavan] lads back, and the other [Errigal Ciaran] fellows are in there as well, so it’s about getting them up to speed.

“They obviously haven’t done much over the last few weeks, we just have to be very careful that we are not rushing fellows back in and they start picking up injuries.

“Paudie won’t be back for a while yet, but he is getting close, and he’s doing a serious bit of work, but it will be a few weeks late.”