We’re expecting an epic.
Maybe not a classic but it could be an epic battle of wills, of individuals and of two managers who are seeking a place in the all-Ireland final next month.
Kerry and Tyrone served up some of the best games of the last decade and, ahead of Sunday’s Croke Park encounter Emmett Hughes, our sport psychology consultant looks at the motivation of both sides and how Tyrone’s bad boy status could be a major factor in the game.
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There are three basic stages in the development of a successful team.
First you have what is called ‘forming’, where players and management come together, outline their goals and motivation, and put their plans in place for the season ahead.
Teams then can go through a process of ‘storming’, which may sometimes manifest in internal friction and in-fighting, but can also be an important part of the team-building process.
And the final stage is what is described as ‘norming’, where the behaviour from the first two stages are normalised and it becomes a pattern and the identity of the team.
The process isn’t linear, of course, and there can be different phases of each in a successful team’s lifetimes. However, I think it’s a good starting point when looking at this Sunday’s All-Ireland final between Tyrone and Kerry.
For me, Tyrone look to be a side that has reached ‘norming’ in the last few weeks. Mickey Harte has already formed what appears to be a new team, they have had their internal problems and they are now coming to Croke Park after beating Monaghan in a very Tyrone-like way.
Kerry are a little bit more developed and are fully at the norming stage. Closing the doors at training means that we have been spared the ‘storming’ phase, while Eamonn Fitzmaurice, and Kerry in general, has changed its identity in the last few years to go from a team that couldn’t handle defensive football to masters of playing that style now.
But the events surrounding Tiernan McCann are a threat to the stability that they have managed to develop since the loss to Donegal in May. They could be dragged back into the phase of ‘storming’ unless they choose to ignore what is such an obvious external factor.
And that is the biggest question ahead of Sunday.
Can Kerry and Tyrone avoid being distracted by various external factors? My mantra is always focus on the preparation and focus on the task but that’s not as easy when one of your players was in Croke Park until 1am on Wednesday night at a disciplinary hearing to overturn a ban.
Tyrone have been surrounded by negativity, or the perception of negative press, and that always suits the underdog
It is a cosmetic effect but it actually unbalances your opposition more than you. It’s an outside perception of a team that might indirectly seep into the thinking of your opponent.
The motivation of both sides on Sunday is very much the same you’d imagine – both will want to be in All-Ireland final.
But where there is a blurring of lines around the negativity surrounding Tyrone affecting Kerry is whether the all-Ireland champions will get distracted or be too worried about their opponents, and start to think Tyrone are more motivated/dirty/cynical than us.
If Kerry do get sucked into that then Tyrone will be delighted. Eamonn Fitzmaurice needs to ensure, this week, that his players will be prepared for what Harte’s men will throw at them, or what may go on during the game that they may not have experienced before this season.
I was interested to see how Kerry kept hounding down Kildare even when the game as clearly over. Take for instance Darran O’Sullivan, a former All-Ireland winning captain. He came on, got a goal, but he didn’t stop there. He created another goal, scored another one too and was very busy. That’s high motivation.
Tommy Walsh, the same. That’s a guy that wants to perform, and not to get revenge or humiliate an opponent. They are selfish in the best sense of the word in that they are focused only on them and only on impressing.
Tiernan McCann will be under a massive amount of focus on Sunday and I really hope that Tyrone have been keeping an eye on him and how his mental state is ahead of the game.
Social media can be wonderful but it can have a big affect on it too. McCann won’t be the first or last player to find himself in a media storm only to add to it himself.
It was done in the moment and there should’t be a big thing made out of it. He’s quit Twitter and no-one knows what affect its had on him really. People look at him young, good looking athletic man and it’s not fair to assume the abuse levelled at him has had no effect.
The tension surrounding him will have to be neutralised or normalised in someway and perhaps humour, or an incident early on, may well help to do that.
Finally, after watching the hurling last week, it would be great if both sides could remember that sport is meant to be enjoyed too amid all the negativity and tactics talk. The four key elements to any successful side are discipline, resilience, enjoyment and freedom.
It doesn’t always have to be intensity and harsh reality and what really helps a performance is that players enjoy what they are doing.
You can contact Emmett Hughes here
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