When the draw was made for the All-Ireland SFC series, there was a mixture of disappointment and indifference in Kerry.
There was no Division 1 team on the immediate horizon. Everyone started to look further down the road, presuming progress. Barring a major shock Kerry were going to comfortably beat each one of their 2025 Division 2 opponents.
They are currently locked in a series of matches, of the damned-if-you- do and damned-if-you-don’t variety. Win well and the opposition are useless. Don’t blow them away and you are going bad. They are getting the job done but it is very hard to know where they are at. The challenging thing from their perspective is what are they learning along the way?
So far they have not been tested. Are they holding back for the big days, intentionally or subconsciously? When they finally get a big dog coming down the tracks are they going to explode into life? Will they be able to? It is extremely difficult to turn on that kind of form when it is necessitated.
Sunday’s facile victory in Navan had very much the feel of a challenge match about it. While heat may have been a factor, the match was played at a pedestrian pace. Prior to the game as I walked across the pitch, both sets of players and managements were floating. Neither struck me as if they were in that heightened state of focus, unique to knockout championship.
There was little ferocity in the challenges. Searing pace on the ball happened too sporadically and Kerry were passive without it, with much fewer than normal turnovers being forced emphasising the timidity of the contest.
At times in the opening 35 minutes Meath took the ball through the middle of the pitch without a hand being put on them. A combination of missed tackles and a lethargy in getting to the tackle in the first place were features of this laissez-faire approach.
I imagine this could have been mentioned at half-time and Joe O’Connor did put in a couple of big hits early in the second half and he got a great steal for David Clifford’s first goal. Louth will present a very different challenge in a fortnight. They remain unbeaten and are still in the hunt to top the group. They are physical and well organised, meaning Kerry will have to respond in kind. Big picture wise that is no harm whatsoever.
When Kerry analyse their performance this week they will definitely look at their shooting accuracy. Interestingly they finished up with an overall accuracy of 56%, which surprised me. They had 13 wides and dropped three shots short. What saved their metrics were the number of attacks they had in the match, 45, and they managed to get 36 shots away from this. It is similar to the John Kiely model with Limerick. Don’t worry about the wides, just keep shooting as we will create enough chances to win the match.
Kerry did end up with 2-18 and 2-14 from play. Most days one would be delighted with this and it will win nearly any match. But Jack and the lads will know not everyone will be as compliant as Meath, and it’s not hurling. They will need to be more efficient going forward. Considering the normal quality and accuracy associated with their forwards this will be an easy fix.
Another issue that I feel is causing them problems – and has been a feature for much of the season – is their lack of depth when dealing with a set defence. They are superb at generating width, as they did for a couple of the early scores such as for the excellent Brian Ó Beaglaoich’s points in the first half. While width is great, and their is an obsession with it in coaching in general, I would argue depth is as important.
There were plenty of other occasions when the majority of the outfield Kerry players were sandwiched into an area between the 45 and 13 metre lines, while they left a couple of pivots outside that 45 metre line to rotate the ball from side to side. They are shortening the pitch for themselves, making it easier to defend against and ruling out more goal chances. Because of the clear and present danger associated with so many of their players, anyone that takes up residency inside the 13 metre line will have to be accounted for. This will create more space and more one-on-one contests further out and should allow them to get easier scores. Maybe it is something they are holding for Croke Park.
A quick word on Tom O’Sullivan. The Dingle man continues to play at an exceedingly high level, augmenting his man-marking with his now customary couple of points in every game. It has gotten to the stage where the opposition will start to detail someone to mark him like a forward when Kerry have the ball. He is a joy to watch as he effortlessly cruises up and down the pitch. He had an injury enforced break earlier in the season and it has done him the world of good. He was coming off an interminable couple of years that showed no signs of abating and it got him off the hamster wheel for a while. His freshness and appetite is helping him to perform at the very top of his game.
Cork were first out of the traps with a big result on Saturday, to finally propel the championship to the forefront of people’s minds. It was clear post-match what it meant to the players, management and to the Cork football supporters.
It was a match and result that the championship has been crying out for. Their plan clearly worked to perfection and in particular their work on tackling, of stripping the opposition of the ball and at breaking at pace is starting to pay major dividends. It was tailor made for Donegal. It was a great sign of John Cleary’s men that they had the belief and knowhow to go and win the game again after Donegal had equalised through Aaron Doherty in the 68th minute.
The Leesiders now need to build on this. They need to follow up at least the performance and if possible the result against Tyrone. There is no reason they can’t. Traditionally they always liked playing Tyrone, even when they were at the height of their powers in the noughties. Cork’s running game has always troubled them.
The thing with Cork is their current standard of performance is what we all expect of them. It is why some of their displays over the last few years have been so puzzling, externally at least. They have a great mix of experienced and emerging players with quality and legs all over the field. They have an excellent management team. They now have an opportunity to go straight to the quarter-finals. Win against Tyrone and they will hit Croke Park rested and with momentum and belief. A new brash Cork team coming to play with confidence is to be avoided.
The Pairc Uí Rinn result was rivalled by Armagh’s big win in Derry in terms of the story of the weekend. Kieran McGeeney’s men have finally won one of those significant tight matches. A battling away day victory that emboldens them and can make a group. They will grow from this and now come up against their old foes Galway in the final match to decide who tops the group. What a cracker that will be.
And while both will progress regardless of the result, recent history and the value of a weekend off means there won’t be a backward step taken. For Derry it is hard to know what to say. Their collapse since winning the league final has been nothing short of remarkable. The post mortem will last long into the winter. Westmeath have continued with their ultra competitive performances this season, as they did last, without managing to win a match though. They will be no pushover in that final match. Even though they have been beaten three times already Derry can limp on with a win. Even if they do, at this stage it looks merely like a stay of execution. Who would have been saying that after the League final?
