O'Rourke: McGuinness hype played into Kerry's hands

Colm O’Rourke has described the hype surrounding Jim McGuinness’ coaching record in the build-up to the All-Ireland SFC final as ‘over the top’.

And he believes it played into Kerry’s hands as they romped to a 10-point victory over a disappointing Donegal side.

“Jim McGuinness has taken plenty of criticism and at least some of it is deserved for getting it badly wrong,” the Meath legend wrote in the Sunday Independent.

“However, the build-up in terms of his coaching ability was over the top. None of this was down to McGuinness himself, he was very quiet in advance of the game, but Jack O’Connor must have been both amused and delighted.

“All the pre-match focus was on McGuinness, who had won one All-Ireland. There was very little written or spoken about O’Connor, who had won four. This suited Kerry just fine and they were ready to do their talking on the pitch.”

O’Rourke added: “In the long run this defeat will do McGuinness no harm. There will be far less fascination with him as a manager and he can work away without some people — inside and outside of the county — considering him some sort of guru.”