The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
O’Brien and co undaunted by final prospect
Damian Stack runs the rule over this weekend’s county final and finds that, despite certain reservations, Kenmare District have what it takes
IT was too much surely to expect of him at eighteen years of age. This was a county senior football championship semi-final. These were grown men and this was the crunch point in an epic contest.
For much of the game it looked theirs to lose. For a lot of the second half it looked as though Kenmare District were shaping up to do just that. Rathmore were, if not exactly surging, then gradually clawing their way back into contention.
With only a handful of minutes remaining Denis Moynihan’s men levelled it up through his Kerry minor colleague, Mark Ryan. Thirty six scores shared equally between the sides and the momentum of the contest going only one way. Or so it seemed.
Kenmare desperately needed somebody to step up to the plate. They needed somebody to assume the mantle once held in the game by Adrian Spillane, before a second half knock negated his effectiveness.
Nobody had any right to expect Seán O’Shea to be the player to do so. Nobody would have pointed the finger of blame at him had this glorious opportunity slipped through Kenmare District’s fingers.
None of which concerned him. Leadership is something intrinsic. It finds you, you don’t find it. From somewhere deep within himself O’Shea conjured up two points of the utmost quality. In the moment he was exactly what his team needed him to be.
In the moment, when they needed to rally and shrug off the malaise that effected them for much of the second half, Kenmare did what they needed to and that, perhaps, more than anything else is what should give them confidence ahead of this weekend’s county final.
People will rave (rightly) about how good they were in the first half of the game. People will talk about how effective Adrian Spillane was and swoon. The Templenoe man won four kick-outs in the first half and kicked three points from play in a performance that knocked Rathmore right off their equilibrium.
John Galvin’s men played some of the best football we’ve seen in this championship in quite some time. There is simply no comparison between it and some of the football played in this championship just twelve months ago.
Kenmare District play football the way you’d want to see it played. Their first half performance was exhilarating. Strong, powerful, confident, direct. For a divisional side – heck for any side – the coherence of their football was remarkable.
At their best, as they were during those opening thirty minutes, there isn’t a side in the county to come close to them and, yes, that does include their opponents in next Sunday’s final, Dr Crokes.
Kenmare District at their best are better than Dr Crokes at their best. That’s our contention at any rate. Why, then, do we hesitate in declaring them the likely winners this weekend?
Well because for all the coherence of their football when they’re on song, Kenmare District lacked consistency over the hour. They went from very good to downright indifferent.
Worse than indifferent, Kenmare turned in a sloppy second half performance, especially when it came to their discipline. Galvin’s men gave way a whopping twenty eight frees over the course of the hour – on a perfect day for football remember – and nineteen of those came in the second half.
Crokes’ discipline wasn’t great either (they gave away twenty five frees in their game) and finished the game with thirteen men with Colm Cooper and Fionn Fitzgerald walking (although neither on a straight red card).
Pat O’Shea’s side didn’t hit the same heights in their victory over Dingle as Kenmare District did in the first half of their victory over Rathmore, but they held a relatively steady level of performance through-out.
Dingle did look to have them on the rack at times, but never to the extent that Rathmore had Kenmare District. Rathmore fashioned five goal chances in the second half – bringing three saves out of Kieran Fitzgibbon, striking the angle at one stage and having Paul Murphy’s late effort deflected over for a point.
It’s fair enough to point out that Kenmare had two goal chances of their own in the first half – and another two in the second half – but it does suggest they’re vulnerable when they’re on the back foot and you can be absolutely certain they’ll be on the back foot at some stage in this county final.
You can also be pretty certain that Dr Crokes will have a greater capacity for goals than Rathmore did. Give Crokes and Colm Cooper et al five goal scoring opportunities in a half of football and you’ll be dead and buried.
Kenmare District’s best hope is to dominate primary possession to a similar extent as they did last weekend and, perhaps, push up on Dr Crokes short kickout strategy (Pat O’Shea’s side won 70% of their own kick-outs short on the weekend).
Given that Kenmare play something close to a traditional six man attack (Teddy Doyle does tend to drift deep) that’s not beyond the bounds of possibility. The counter point to that is that Kenmare District will be left to sweat this week on the availability two of their main ball winners – Adrian Spillane and Tadhg Morley.
Both teams have room to improve. Crokes really need to find a place on their team for Micheál Burns. Burns would provide a real focal point to their attack at centre-forward and should Crokes include him Kenmare could find Crokes too hot to handle.
If not then Kenmare will have every chance of taking something from this game. The Crokes full-back line is potentially vulnerable – a vulnerability that Dingle didn’t try to exploit nearly enough, Paul Geaney had to come deep at times to get on the ball.
On paper and everything going according to plan (including the fitness of key players) Kenmare are the better team and ought to win. In what’s their first county final since 1987 and what’s likely to be their last for a while, expect Kenmare District to leave no stone unturned.
While we understand why you would make Dr Crokes the favourites, something tells us that the year belongs to Kenmare.
Verdict: Kenmare District