KERRY ON A CLIFF EDGE
Teenage star has lived up to hype but Fitzmaurice is in need of much more
EATEN bread is soon forgotten. Eamonn Fitzmaurice received a stark reminder of that this week when it comes to All Ireland success in certain counties.
Winning the Liam MacCarthy in his first season did little to guard Michael Ryan against criticism when Tipperary crashed and burned this summer.
Less than two years after trouncing Kilkenny in an All-Ireland final, he resigned from the Premier helm on Thursday. Perhaps the only set of supporters more demanding than Tipperary are down in Kerry.
‘Animals’ was how they were memorably described by one former manager. It is four years since Fitzmaurice masterminded that most unlikely of All-Ireland titles (as Colm Cooper recovered from a cruciate ligament injury), by playing Jim McGuinness’ Donegal at their own game in a turgid final.
But what the Kingdom feasted on back then has long been forgotten. A reflection of where Kerry stand at this point of the summer is that their odds for the All-Ireland are as long as 8-1, despite only six teams left in the race for glory.
For the first time in living memory, Kerry don’t have their fate in their own hands when they meet Kildare this evening. They are relying on a favour from Galway but it is difficult to remember a time when the Kingdom were around in August and so unfancied to claim the All-Ireland title.
Of course, they are the masters of taking the big cup when nobody expects it. Not just four years ago, when they won it without Gooch, but nine years ago, when they stumbled and stuttered their way through the qualifiers.
Only a missed penalty late on saved them against Sligo and they still ended up with Sam Maguire by beating their neighbours in the final.
Three years earlier, Cork consigned them to the qualifiers where Kieran Donaghy emerged as the saviour against Longford.
There was a spark in each of those three years that can be traced as the starting point for eventual glory. Donaghy coming off the bench and changing the game in 2014’s drawn encounter with Mayo.
In 2009, it was crushing a fancied Dublin team by 17 points in the quarter-final. In 2006, it was finally getting the better of Armagh at the same stage.
Maybe David Clifford’s moment of magic in Clones will be what ignites Kerry’s summer, provided that Galway offer an escape route by beating Monaghan in Salthill.
Even if they find themselves in a semi-final against the Dubs next Saturday evening, there is an awful lot of things that Fitzmaurice and his backroom team have to work on.
The same problems continue to dog Fitzmaurice during his tenure. There remains uncertainty over goalkeeper Shane Murphy. So impressive in Dr Crokes’ All-Iredefenders land club campaign last year, he was handed a Championship debut this year and played the first three games of the summer before making way for Brian Kelly in Clones.
In an era when kick-out strategy is often the winning and losing of games, it is odd to alter goalkeepers this deep into the season.
Goalkeeping uncertainty also creates unease within the defence. Fitzmaurice knows the importance of having a full-back line that can be trusted.
The Kerry team of the 2000s that he played in had Mike McCarthy, Tom O’Sullivan and Seamus Moynihan. Warriors that could be trusted. Chopping and changing was rare.
Another Tom O’Sullivan has put his hand up as a possible defensive mainstay with his performances in the past few weeks, but his two points against Monaghan suggest he is more of a ball-playing wing-back than a corner-back.
The rich seam of talent that Kerry have been able to mine from those four minor All-Ireland titles are all ball-players, like Gavin White. Jason Foley aside, there seems to be few of the hard-nosed needed in senior football.
There have even been suggestions that Kerry need to look at the type of footballer that is coming off their conveyor belt, especially if Gaelic football is going to continue down the road of becoming a sport where it is about stifling opposition rather than letting your best players express themselves.
It is a wonder how they continue to produce these remarkable forwards. Clifford is the latest in a long line and the angle of his shot – and the certainty which he hit it – in Clones was a joy to behold.
It may be unfair for a county like Kerry to expect Clifford to carry them forward, but there’s no signs that he’s feeling the pressure.
‘It’s incredible, really,’ Fitzmaurice said of the teenager’s rise. ‘He’s a unique talent and he’s a unique personality in that he’s able to have such an impact at this level, already.
‘We are delighted with him and, as he has been all year, his feet are on the ground, he is working hard and contributing.’
It has been well documented since their opening two Super 8s games, but it has been the younger
The same problems are still dogging the manager We trust the lads, we are not a million miles away
generation that has saved Fitzmaurice’s, and Kerry’s, bacon in these games.
This evening in the Fitzgerald Stadium may be the time for the older brigade to step up and play for the manager who has shown so much fate in them.
Fitzmaurice does believe a big performance is just around the corner from his team. And down through the years, Kerry have summoned magnificence from somewhere, often just muscle memory, when nobody suspects it.
‘It’s a thing we are close to, getting a performance,’ Fitzmaurice insists. ‘We are not a million miles away. In sport, you are going to get these situations and you just have to be resilient. You have to dig in. You have to trust your ability as an individual and keep trying to do the simple things well.
‘From our point of view in the management, we trust the lads. We got a big reaction in Clones in terms of the spirit, in particular, and the fight that was shown at the end when it looked like it wasn’t going to be our day.
‘You just have to keep going and eventually, you do turn the corner. We’ve seen it hundreds of times before but we need to turn the corner and I just hope it happens against Kildare.’
If Clifford is kept quiet this evening, Kerry supporters will want to see Paul Geaney or James O’Donoghue step up. They will want to see assuredness and authority across their defensive unit from goalkeeper up to the half-back line. They could do with a big performance from Jack Barry, if he is alongside David Moran.
The Kingdom need to see all this and more, or else the knives will continue to be sharpened down there, irrespective of whether Galway do them a favour or not.