Job is done but
Expert analysis from All-Ireland winner Sean O’Sullivan
Shane Murphy (0-1f), Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Jason Foley, Ronan Shanahan, Paul Murphy (0-1), Peter Crowley, Fionn Fitzgerald, Jack Barry, Barry O’Sullivan, Micheál Burns (0-1), Dáithí Casey (0-2), Kevin McCarthy (0-2), David Clifford (0-6, 4f), Paul Geaney (0-3, 1f), Barry John Keane (0-2) David Moran (0-1) for B O’Sullivan, 45, Matthew Flaherty for M Burns, 51, Adrian Spillane for K McCarthy, 56, Mark Griffin for P Geaney, 60, Johnny Buckley for BJ Keane, 62, Tom
O’Sullivan for F Fitzgerald, 66
ON an evening when the result was far more important than the performance, Kerry did just about enough to overcome a wasteful Kildare team and secure their Division 1 status for another season.
With Donegal losing to Monaghan on Sunday, Kerry’s survival was confirmed and they can now head to Omagh this weekend knowing that the meeting with Tyrone is nothing more than match practice.
In a way it’s not a bad position to be in with the management now having the option of giving returning players like David Moran, Johnny Buckley and Stephen O’Brien much needed minutes on the pitch.
Mark Griffin returned against the Lilywhites also so he could be in line for a starting berth up north. Darran O’Sullivan played county league with his club a few weeks back so again it may be an ideal opportunity to ease him back in. It will be Kerry’s final competitive game for a while and even though the result won’t matter it’s important we get as much out of it as possible.
Éamonn Fitzmaurice described the win over Kildare as ‘scratchy’ and it summed it up perfectly. There were periods of the game when Kerry threatened to really hit top gear and run riot.
They enjoyed a real purple patch in the second quarter when they notched seven unanswered points and showed real class up front. Kevin McCarthy, who had a fine game, popped over two of those scores and looked very confident in a wing forward position. He won some vital ball and took the game to Kildare with his direct running.
Dáithí Casey can be also pleased with his night’s work. There is no doubting Dáithí’s ability or class. We have seen him as one of the top club footballers not only in Kerry, but the country. The question mark over him has always been can he bring that to the inter-county scene.
He showed on Saturday that he can. Again, like McCarthy, he was always an outlet along the half forward line and what I most like about his style is that he plays with his head up. His kicking is second to none and the score he kicked in the second half just demonstrated what he can do.
Carrying the ball on the run