Suspense is the key in getting best out of Star
NOBODY knew better than Alfred Hitchcock how to build suspense, how to get people on their nerves, feeling jittery, ready to jump up out of their seats.
Hitchcock, you see, doled out information slowly, cautiously, deliberately. A glance at this, the shadow of that, a silhouette against a shower curtain. Slowly, slowly, bit by bit building up to the suspense.
Doing so in such a way as to have the most effective pay-off when the reveal finally came. Those movies still pack a punch today, Psycho,
The Birds, Vertigo. Down through the decades the wisdom of Hitchcock – although, obviously, not the movies – seems to have been forgotten.
That Hichcockian subtlety has largely disappeared to be replaced by an orgy of graphic violence. Along the way most of us have become desensitised. Hardly anything shocks us any more.
It’s a similar issue for Kerry and Kieran Donaghy. Everybody knows about him now. Nobody is shocked any more. The trouble is when Kerry place him anywhere near the small rectangle any subtlety in their game goes out the window.
Bomb after bomb after bomb is rained down on top of the Austin Stacks man, giving defences plenty of notice and time to set out their stall. They double mark him, they drop a sweeper in front and break it off him.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice can complain all he likes about the treatment he feels Donaghy has to put up with in that scenario, but really it’s his fault as much as anybody else’s. He puts Donaghy in that position to be exploited.
With Donaghy Kerry fall victim to the need for instant gratification. Almost as soon as play reaches the half-way line you can practically see players itching to launch it long towards the big man.
Most of the time that ball is appalling bad. That Donaghy is able sometimes to do something useful with it is a testament to his enduring ability. What that doesn’t do is justify the tactic.
Sometimes that can be read as a criticism of the man himself – it really isn’t meant to. The problem with Donaghy at full-forward isn’t Donaghy, it’s with everybody else. It’s with an approach that removes all suspense from the equation, that robs Donaghy of what makes Donaghy Donaghy.
On Sunday Kerry need to be more Hitchcock than slasher movie. There is a potential vulnerability in the Dublin full-back line and Donaghy might well be the key to exploiting it.
By all means Kerry should plonk Donaghy on the edge of the square, lining up against Philly McMahon at full-back. What they mustn’t do is what they’ve done before.
Donegal occasionally tried that with Michael Murphy in the quarter-final and got precisely nothing out of it. Dublin can deal with that sort of threat, we saw it in the All Ireland final, we saw it in the National League final. No Kerry instead need to bide their time. They need to keep Cian O’Sullivan and the other guys on the Dublin half-back line occupied. Play the ball through – we presume – Darran O’Sullivan at eleven. Pop ball into the corners to Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue. Stretch the Dublin defence, give defenders things to do. Switch it up. Start with Donaghy at full-forward. Move him to wing-forward for the occasional kick-out, shunt him into the corner, get him involved in the game with passes other than a long one. Keep Dublin guessing all the time. Make it so that when the ball is finally played long into Donaghy – sparingly we would suggest – it’s as close to a one-on-one situation as possible, if only for the simple reason that Dublin can’t afford to leave others unmarked for fear of the damage they might do. It’s about keeping the Dublin defence on edge, keeping them guessing, building up that suspense bit by bit all the time. It’s an approach that would require patience. The more patience Kerry showed the more jittery Dublin are likely to become, the more likely a long ball into the area is to be effective. Geaney too could be called upon to field high. Against Clare in the quarter-final Kerry, fleetingly it must be said, lofted some beautiful ball in his direction. The Dingle man can field as well any. With all eyes on Donaghy he could prosper, the promise of the twin-towers approach has never fully been explored. It just goes to show what a variety of attacking options Kerry have. They can run hard. They can play more intricate stuff (Colm Cooper is likely to feature at some stage). They can go long – to a number of different targets. It’s an embarrassment of riches and, yet, there have been times in Kerry’s last two big time meetings with Dublin when the Kingdom have appeared one-paced and one-dimensional. Up and under stuff simply won’t cut it against this Dublin team. Naturally enough all of this is easier said than done. All of this depends on a wider game plan, on kick-out strategy, defensive solidity, etc, etc. It’s predicated on Kerry getting on the front foot, approaching this game positively and aggressively – basically being bold enough to leave bodies in offensive positions. Kerry need a lot to go right for them this weekend, but they have it within themselves to overcome the odds if they play it smart, if they knock Dublin off balance. It’s been too long since anybody has. The ever-green Donaghy could be just the man for the job.