Colm Cooper: Jack O'Connor has managed new format cleverly

Colm Cooper reckons Kerry manager Jack O'Connor has managed the year cleverly after the defending champions demolished Tyrone last Saturday to bound into the last four in the All-Ireland SFC.

After a fairly unremarkable league campaign and a sluggish enough showing in the first two rounds of the new All-Ireland group stage, during which they suffered their first championship loss in Killarney since 1995, Kerry hit peak form at the weekend to devour their long-term irritants Tyrone in the quarter-finals.

The 2022 champions registered a whopping 24 turnovers to shut out Tyrone's attack, racking up 2-18 at the other end to run out 12-point winners.

For Cooper, the timely nature of the display indicated that the Kerry management had managed the demands of the new structure well.

"We have to remind ourselves that this is a brand new structure this year. And teams have approached it differently," Cooper said on Game On on RTÉ2fm.

"Perhaps Jack O'Connor - and this is perhaps - might have said to himself, 'we don't need to be ready until we get to Croke Park. Realistically, we need to peak for three games'.

"Maybe that's the approach Kerry have taken. That's maybe why they've been rusty. They weren't bouncing in the Munster Championship and not in the group stages either.

"They appear to be bouncing off the ground (now)."

When Kerry were ambushed by Tyrone in the 2021 semi-final, a result which proved fatal to the Peter Keane regime, they shipped three goals in a surprise loss.

Since O'Connor returned for his third stint in charge, improving their defensive solidity has been a priority, with Kerry now much more miserly and effective at the back.

"The two things I would take from the Kerry performance were the defensive aspect - where they