What we learned in Clones...
Young guns are leading the way
It was another poor day at the office for the Kingdom, a day when they came perilously close to being dumped from the championship. That Kerry survived by the skin of their teeth is due in no small part to the leadership provided by players who have back-boned the Kingdom’s underage success.
Really and truly those were the guys who stood up and were counted in Clones. Guys like Gavin White who in just his fourth championship game was close to being the Kingdom’s top performer on Sunday afternoon.
Guys like Tom O’Sullivan who did more than anybody to take the fight to the Farney. Guys like Seán O’Shea – who did more to put a structure on Kerry’s attack than anybody else. Guys like David Clifford who, even before the goal, fronted up in a major way.
All of that is really encouraging, but it does leave one to worry about the reasons for why the older players aren’t offering as much leadership as guys much younger than them. It’s got to be a bit of a worry that it’s left to the young bucks to carry that much water at this stage of their career.
Fortune favours the brave
The Kerry management team is coming in for a bit of stick again this week because of some of the calls they made in the build up to Sunday’s game and calls they made during it.
Some of that criticism is probably justified – starting Mark Griffin on Conor McManus was always likely to end in tears (and that’s no criticism of Griffin, he just wasn’t the man for the job), taking off Seán O’Shea and Paul Geaney during the second half was equally baffling – but it’s only right we acknowledge what they got right too.
The decision to start Brian Kelly paid off. The decision to start Ronan Shanahan paid off. The decision to start Tom O’Sullivan paid off. The decision to start Kieran Donaghy paid off. Having come in for a lot of stick last year for the changes he made for the Mayo replay it took courage by Fitzmaurice to shake things up – even if some of those changes were enforced. On this occasion fortune favoured the bold.
Finish Kerry when you have a chance
Monaghan were clearly the better team in Clones on Sunday evening. We’d argue they were four, five or maybe even six points the better team and, yet, they made the error of not driving a stake through Kerry’s heart when they had the chance.
We’re not even talking about the missed chances here – disappointing as they must be for Malachy O’Rourke this week – no we’re tlaking about the timidity they displayed in the final six or seven minutes of the game. Instead of taking the game to Kerry, Monaghan retreated into an ever more defensive posture. With Kerry giving away a lot of frees during that second half they likely would have drawn another free or two down the other end to make absolutely certain of victory.
Against Kerry – and David Clifford – attack really is the best form of defence.
Clones is a brilliant venue
We can’t have been the only one for whom last Sunday represented a first visit to Clones for a championship match. There was quite a decent – all things considered – Kerry crowd at the match. It’s just a shame it wasn’t earlier in the day as we could have had an even better atmosphere at the ground with a bigger Kerry turnout (and it was already quite electric).
The natural bowl shape of St Tiarnach’s Park really generates a great atmosphere and great vantage points. It’s days like Sunday that show the folly of the GAA’s salvish devotion to putting as many games as possible on in Croke Park. Provincial venues are the way to go before the semi-final stage.