Kerry dig deep to hold off Galway

NHL DIVISION 1B

IT wasn’t – if we’re being brutally honest – what most of us expected.

Going into the game Kerry had the worst defensive record in the division and Galway the sharpest set of shooters. Putting those two things together and the out-come was obvious to most.

When the mused that a “turkey-shoot was on the cards” it wouldn’t have stuck even most Kerry folk as that far beyond the pale. It was, after all, the most likely outcome, even considering Kerry’s strong showing in Wexford Park the week before.

What they or we didn’t reckon with was the massive spirit and determination of this bunch of Kerry hurlers, or indeed the shrewd management of new boss Fintan O’Connor. As a result of both there was no turkey-shoot.

Perhaps there was a touch of complacency on Galway’s part, but to suggest that was all it was about would be to deny Kerry’s agency. They were masters of their own destiny on Sunday, let nobody tell you otherwise. For fifty minutes Kerry were well in this game. Few would have anticipated a Galway lead of just six points at that stage of the game. The breeze, of course, played a role. Stiff enough into the Horan’s End, Kerry played with it in the first half. It boosted their competitiveness and confidence in those early exchanges.

Kerry’s first score of the day – a free by Shane Nolan – certainly was wind-assisted as the wing-forward struck over confidently from inside his own half to reduce the margin to a single point after seven minutes, two points to one.

A Joe Canning free extended Galway’s lead again before Jordan Conway scored one of the best scores of the game. The Crotta O’Neills man caught it straight from the puck-out, turned and shot over the bar in one smooth clean movement.

Galway, despite hitting a number of first half points, always seemed capable of scoring when they needed to. In response to Conway’s brilliant point they hit two quick points through Joe Canning and Paul Flaherty.

The Kingdom, however, weren’t overawed by the challenge. Conway won a free for Nolan to point. On twenty three minutes Nolan pointed another free to make it five points to four.

Coming up to half-time the Kingdom managed to close the gap between the sides entirely. A Padraig Boyle point from play – he came deeper than he had been playing and swung it over his shoulder masterfully – levelled the game at seven points apiece.

It was no less than Kerry’s efforts deserved. They were working like dogs. They got in Galway’s grill. Players like Seán Weir and Bryan Murphy got stuck in, while the decision to play Daniel Collins as sweeper was an inspired one. Sunday was one of Collins’ best ever performances for the Kingdom, possibly even the best considering the quality of the opposition.

All over the pitch Kerry players were fronting up. At midfield Jack Goulding and Paudie O’Connor combined well, working their socks off, running relentlessly. The scoreboard was a reflection of all of this.

Kerry even had a couple of chances to take the lead before the break. Unfortunately both were spurned and from the second of those fluffed chances Galway went down the pitch and scored a goal through Padraig Brehony.

A three point lead for Galway at the break probably wasn’t undeserved – they had as many missed chances in the first half as Kerry did – but it did remind Kerry of the differences between the best and the rest.

One little mistake against a team of Galway’s quality is always likely to be punished. That’s the learning curve. The good news is that Kerry do seem to be learning, there were far fewer of those kind of sloppy mistakes in this game, nor did Kerry heads drop when Galway started the half with three of the first four scores of the second half.

A Nolan free and a point from Colum Harty – a brilliant team move down the left flank into the Mitchel’s end – kept Kerry in touch, so much so that with fifty minutes gone Kerry were within two pucks of a ball off of their illustrious guests, 0-9 to 1-12.

The final twenty minutes were always likely to be the most difficult for the Kingdom and that’s how it turned out with Galway finally finding their groove. The introduction of Conor Whelan and Conor Cooney around this time showed the quality they have at their disposal.

With five minutes to go Galway opened out a more substantial advantage – 0-9 to 1-18 – and were beginning to craft goal scoring openings in front of the sticks. Eventually they did get in for that goal... except that it wasn’t given.

Canning got in behind the cover and blasted to the back of the net, but the umpires apparently missed the sliotar bouncing back out of the goal having made contact with a bunch of hurls behind Martin Stackpoole.

It was a stroke of luck, but given the effort Kerry had put in it was not an undeserved one. Sure Galway were the better team, nobody would dispute that, but Kerry could hold their heads up high at the end of the match.

Indeed it was they who rounded out the scoring with a final point by second half sub Brendan O’Leary.