Kerry will front up but that still may not be enough

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 1

JUST how important is this game?

Forget about the league table, forget about striving for a place in the league final, forget about the potential relegation battle Kerry could find themselves in if they were to lose the game. Forget about all of that and just concentrate on the game itself.

Concentrate on Kerry v Dublin. Concentrate on what this game means for the balance of power between the bluest of blue bloods. Stripped back from the here and now and viewed in its proper context this game becomes much more significant than two league points won or lost in the month of March.

Then again we can recall making very similar arguments two years ago when the Dubs came to Fitzgerald Stadium for a game in and around the same point of the season. At the time it felt as though Kerry’s victory was a significant milestone.

It was the one and only time we’ve seen Jim Gavin get a little bit ratty in his tenure as Dublin boss. It seemed to grate on him, Kerry seemed to have got under his skin... and what difference did any of that make come September? Very little as we recall. Dublin were still comfortably the better side.

All the same it does feel as though there’s something significant at stake this weekend and, no, we’re not talking about Dublin’s thirty three game unbeaten run. Of much more significance to Saturday’s match is the Dubs’ run of four games unbeaten against the Kingdom (two in league, two in championship).

The last thing Eamonn Fitzmaurice and co want is for that run to stretch to a fifth game and two years plus. Eventually that sort of a run has to sow seeds of doubt and for Kerry to triumph in a potential All Ireland final such thoughts simply cannot be entertained.

The best way to prove they can beat Dublin is to go out and do it. Saturday evening should afford the Kingdom a reasonable chance of doing so. Fitzmaurice’s side are the bookies underdogs and, we would argue, that’s fair enough.

Of course that’s not to say they can’t win. To do so the Kingdom will need to play much, much better than they have in any of their games to date. They can’t afford to fade late in the game as they did against Donegal or Mayo. They can’t afford to play below themselves as they did against Monaghan.

Kerry will have to be psyched up and tuned in. They will also need to get their tactical approach spot on. Finding that perfect balance between defence and attack, between caution and aggression is much easier said than done.

The impulse to be somewhat defensive when faced with the full barrage of what Dublin can bring to the table is understandable and, yet, at the same time adopting too defensive a posture simply invites Dublin onto you.

Our hope would be that the manager will err more on the side of attack than defence. The best way to keep Dublin at bay is to keep them on the back foot. What sort of a half-forward line the Kerry boss opts for could be telling. Does he go with worker bees like he did against Monaghan or for a little bit more élan as he did against Roscommon?

Dublin, meanwhile, will do as they always do – play their own game and seek to play it on their own terms and that’s the trap Kerry must avoid. Dublin are that good. We really don’t envy Fitzmaurice and his management team their job this week of all weeks.

Our suspicion would be that, having seen the fate which befell Mayo, Fitzmaurice will name the strongest possible side he can for the game. That will likely mean the return to the side of Anthony Maher in place of Jack Barry. It could even mean the return to the starting fifteen of Darran O’Sullivan (fitness permitting).

O’Sullivan would be a huge asset to Kerry in the number eleven shirt. His direct running and pace caused all sorts of problems for Dublin in last year’s All Ireland semi-final and it was a big blow to Kerry when he had to go off injured.

Dublin for their part look set to be even stronger for this game than they were for their crushing victory over Mayo. There’s even a good chance Diarmuid Connolly will feature. Same goes for Cian O’Sullivan who warmed up but didn’t feature against the westerners.

Jack McCaffrey is said to be approaching full fitness, but the game is likely to come too soon for Ballymun’s James McCarthy. Even without McCarthy that’s a formidable set of options Gavin has at his disposal. So for all our optimism about Kerry’s ability to raise their game, it remains the case that (until proven otherwise) this Dublin squad and team is better and stronger than Kerry’s.

Kerry can win this game. The odds remain against it, however.

Dublin