Score difference not favourable to Kerry in quest for final berth
NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 2A
Kerry v Antrim
Sunday, March 1 Austin Stack Park, 12.30pm
THERE’S a chance that what Kerry have done so far in the National Hurling League will have been enough to secure them a place in the Division 2A final. There’s at least equally as big a chance that it won’t.
Having won their opening four games, including one over fellow title contenders Offaly, victory over Antrim this weekend in the final group game is not strictly necessary to reach the final, but defeat would leave things conditional.
It would leave Kerry’s fate very much out of their own hands and having done so much to ensure their fate is in their own hands so far this year that would be a pretty intolerable situation for Fintan O’Connor and his men.
Should Kerry fall to Antrim this weekend there remains the chance that, coupled with a win for Offaly over Antrim in the back game, all three title contenders would finish level on points meaning the final berths would be decided on score difference.
Even with both Offaly and Antrim having two games on hand on the Kingdom, it wasn’t looking too bad for them on score difference after their win over Wicklow on Saturday afternoon. Kerry were plus 33, Antrim were plus 33 and Offaly were minus one.
Sunday’s results changed that calculus. Offaly basically wiped out their deficit in one single game against Mayo to move to plus 27, while Antrim’s win over Meath saw them push out to plus 57. Score difference is not Kerry’s friend.
At this stage pretty much the only way Kerry can be certain of their place in the final is to beat or draw with Antrim on Sunday afternoon. Otherwise they’ll be left hoping that Antrim do the business on the road to Tullamore in the back game and with their superior scoring difference Antrim wouldn’t have quite the same level of motivation as Offaly would likely have – which is precisely the worry Fintan O’Connor had about the back game when he spoke last week.
So to all intents and purposes it all comes down to this and maybe that’s no bad thing either. This Kerry team have proven in each of their games so far that they have the stomach for it. They may not, as O’Connor sometimes suggests, make things easy on themselves, but they do have the fortitude for battle.
Kerry don’t have a bad record at all against Antrim it should be remembered – despite last year’s Joe McDonagh Cup defeat up north – but Antrim seem to be moving really well at the moment judging by their 5-27 to 1-15 victory over Meath on their home patch.
We should bear a couple of things in mind about that disparity in Kerry’s performance against Meath and Antrim’s over successive weekends. First off Kerry played Meath in Trim. Secondly the Kingdom played the Royals on the worst weekend of the year and thirdly Meath were down to thirteen men last weekend.
Still Antrim are impressive and with Neil McManus in their ranks they’re going to be able to score – he nabbed 2-9 against the Royals. All the same there’s a determination and grittiness to how this Kerry team have gone about their business so far this year. They’re not going to give Antrim the run of Stack Park.
Anything but. Not with Mikey Boyle in the kind of form he’s in, not with Jason Diggins and Bryan Murphy back and reporting for duty, not with Shane Conway pulling the strings and dictating terms.
It’s a game Kerry have absolutely to win, while for Antrim they can lose and still be in with a chance of reaching the final. That alone might be enough to tip the tie Kerry’s way.
Verdict: Kerry