Jack O’Connor prepares for All-Ireland reunion with ‘cranky’ Jim McGuinness

Kerry boss Jack O’Connor has given his side the underdog tag ahead of their Division 1 clash with Donegal on Sunday, labelling Jim McGuinness as ‘cranky’.

The Kerry boss and All-Ireland winner picked up his fifth Sam Maguire in July against McGuinness’ Donegal as the Kingdom won by 1-26 to 0-19 in Croke Park.

Speaking to the media after their 2-18 to 1-20 win over Roscommon, O’Connor called the Glenties man ‘cranky’ in reference to his press conference last Saturday night, as he expects his side to be up against it in Ballyshannon.

“Sure they’ve hit the ground running, like they always do. Clearly Donegal have a lot more work done than we have, so we'd be well up against them next week, and they obviously have the added incentive of trying to get one over us after last year.

“I saw where Jim (McGuinness) was fine and cranky with the media, which means he's well up for it again. So that's great. It’ll be a good test for us.”

O’Connor’s Kerry got two points on the board, despite him feeling they are a bit behind some teams, but the match against the Rossies wasn’t without its fair share of controversy.

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With five seconds left, Seanie O’Shea fired the ball into a dangerous area, and Tomás Kennedy fisted over the winning point as the hooter sounded, leaving the Roscommon players very unhappy as they felt time was up.

But O’Connor was more aggrieved with other rules, as referee Brendan Cawley brought a Roscommon free forward by 50m as Mike Breen tried to hand the ball back to an opponent.

“I said from day one, why can't the player just leave the ball down on the ground, where the foul occurs, and back off? Even the very fact of holding the ball out to a fella, he can run into you, and what are you supposed to do? Hand him the ball and vanish at the same time?

"I've said this from the start, I can't understand how intelligent men allow that rule to go through. And I said this to them from the very beginning, that this rule would cause desperate trouble.”