The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Defensive frailties need addressing
AT half time of the minor game on Sunday I was approached by an American gentleman and his daughter.
It turns out they are here on their travels and on arriving in Killarney decided to follow the crowd to Fitzgerald Stadium to see what was going on.
“Can you explain the rules to us?” “Where do you start?” So I used the second half of the minor game to get them up to speed before the main event got underway. As Kerry and Tipperary lined up after the anthem the father asked me who they should root for?
“Kerry will win this one pretty easy,” I replied.
Less than 40 seconds later the ball was in the Kerry net.
“The other team just scored, right?” noted our visitors with a puzzled look on their face.
That was as good as it got for Tipperary, in fact it was as good as it got for the game as a spectacle. A subdued atmosphere in the crowd led to a similar performance on the field, or was it the other way around?
It was perfectly set up for a decent game. A sun kissed pitch with little or no breeze. The raging hot favourites being hit with a sucker punch by the under dog. Here we go, we all thought.
Yet it fizzled out before the break had even come.
Kerry settled in. Tipperary went away from what they were doing well, primarily winning the midfield battle especially from their own kick-out. Why they then started to go short to their corner-backs puzzled me.
With the greatest respect to all the number twos and fours out there generally they are not regarded as fantastic ball players under pressure (Marc Ó Sé being an obvious exception!). Why then did Liam Kearns’ men persist with that tactic when they had Kerry in trouble when they went out the middle?
Once Kerry got into their stride and started stringing their combinations together it looked very clear they were going to open up. The two Pauls (Murphy and Geaney) duly obliged and notched a goal each.
I was particularly impressed with Geaney’s finishing overall. He is a poacher in every sense of the word and has that clinical streak that separates a special forward from your average Joe. His second half goal was poetry in motion and he backed it up with some sweetly struck points as well.
He stood out in what was an overall dour affair and if he can stay injury free it promises to be a good summer for him. Likewise Murphy, who seems to be revelling in his new role of wing-forward, is a crucial cog in Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s machine, but well oiled we certainly are not.
For all our prowess and accuracy going forward, question marks still remain as to why we are leaking scores at such an alarming rate.
Tipperary aren’t even a top eight side in my opinion and yet they could have had at least two if not three more goals on the board come full-time.
The same issue still exists for Kerry and it’s when we are ran at we can’t seem to deal with it. In fact Tipp let us off the hook a little bit by going long and direct in the second half, trying to hit the impressive Michael Quinlivan, who gave Mark Griffin a tough test. If they had kept taking us on in one on one situations they could have got more joy and I’m sure other counties will have picked up on that.
We just don’t seem to be able to stop the opposition running from deep. Both Tipperary goals were scored by defenders, with Jimmy Feehan and Robbie Kiely arriving onto the end of moves to finish.
This is a real area of concern and will be exploited more frequently by better teams. I thought Mikey Geaney and Donnchadh Walsh worked extremely hard to stop this from happening, but when Tipp managed to get through that cover we looked in real trouble.
Peter Crowley will come back in I’m sure for a quarter-final as he is an excellent stopper, but if the opposing team is coming in twos and threes then it’ s hard to stop.
The burning question is: are Kerry working on a system that will make them difficult to break down? We did see it in patches on Sunday yet Tipp ended up scoring 2-10. Everyone knows there will be tougher tests coming down the tracks and with that in mind we need to really become miserly when conceding scores.
With the forward line we possess – and now with the likes of James O’Donoghue and Barry John Keane pushing hard – we will always be capable of putting up scores. It’s working as a unit to stifle the opposition that needs to be worked on.
Being in control of the game allowed Eamonn to empty the bench and give much needed game time to players that badly need it. Our squad is getting stronger with the injured players returning and that bodes well.
All of them made an impact on Sunday and with places still up for grabs on the team it should bring a real edge to training in the coming weeks.
The Kerry machine is purring going forward, but if we continue to be opened up at the other end of the field things could grind to a halt quicker than we think.
We just don’t seem to be able to stop the opposition running from deep. This is an area of concern