O'Connor expects 'ferocious challenge' from Donegal
Kerry manager Jack O'Connor says it will take a big performance from his team to beat Donegal on Sunday [Getty Images]Kerry manager Jack O'Connor is expecting "a ferocious challenge" from Donegal in Sunday's All-Ireland football final.O'Connor is bidding to lead The Kingdom to Sam Maguire for a fifth time in his third spell as boss of his native county.AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementOn each of the previous four occasions, Kerry have also won the league and yet again, they are bidding for the double having accounted for Mayo in the Division One final in late March.Earlier in that campaign, Kerry fell two a two-point defeat to Donegal in Killarney but it's now when teams are hitting their peak and O'Connor has been impressed with how the Tir Chonaill men have raised the bar throughout the summer."They seem to be peaking at the right time and have a lot of weapons all over the field," he said."We're expecting a huge challenge and it will take a massive performance from us to get the job done.AdvertisementAdvertisement Advertisement"They have a lot of threats, something like 13 different scorers against Meath. We won't be zooming in on any individuals. It's their collective and the fact they can hurt you from so many different areas is their strength."Kerry captain Gavin White insists meetings between Kerry and Ulster teams in big games mean nothing going into Sunday's final [Getty Images]Kerry bounced back from a defeat to Meath in the All-Ireland group stages to rebuild through to the knockout phase, beginning with victory over Cavan.They would go on to defeat further Ulster opposition in Armagh and Tyrone to reach Sunday's showpiece and O'Connor feels that semi-final win over the Red Hands is a good reflection of what his team can do.AdvertisementAdvertisement Advertisement"It's a very intense season and there's bound to be a blip somewhere - that was ours," he said of the Meath defeat."That's taking nothing from Meath as I thought they played particularly well and we were down a good share of important players, but we managed to regroup and get our season back on track the following week against Cavan and every week since."There were two big challenges, particularly the Armagh game where we didn't know what we were facing. We just hit a great patch in the second half of that game."The Tyrone game was truer reflection as we struggled early on but after that we were quite steady and that's what we will be looking for the next day."AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementKerry have come up short against Armagh and Tyrone in All-Ireland finals during the 2000s, but they did defeat Donegal in the 2014 final.Those previous games against Ulster teams carry no significance according to Kerry captain Gavin White who is only concerned about the task at hand."It's not something we talk about," White said."We're just thinking about Donegal and the task ahead of us. Their results over the last couple of games speak for themselves."It's a tough assignment but great to be in an All-Ireland final."
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