The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Mayo expose weaknesses
THERE was a creeping unease in the Kingdom the longer the month wore on.
At the beginning there was typical Kerry confidence. Anybody who was in Croke Park for the quarter-final game with Galway would have seen Mayo’s game with Roscommon in the flesh.
Kerry folk left with a pep in their step. Neither side looked particularly frightening from a Kerry point of view. An All Ireland final appearance in September against the reigning champions looked all but assured.
Less than a week later, however, on a Bank Holiday Monday Mayo rocked up to Croke Park for the replay and made short work of the Rossies. It was the type of performance to make the entire country sit up and take notice.
After months in the doldrums, could it be that Mayo were finding form at exactly the right time? Or the wrong time if viewed through a prism of green and gold? The closer to the All Ireland semi-final between Kerry and Mayo the more nervous people became.
That easy confidence was replaced by something else entirely. Sure most people still thought Kerry would triumph, but Mayo were seen as dangerous. Those flaws in the Kerry game exposed by Clare, Cork and Galway were a worry.
Rightly so as it turned out. Mayo tore into Kerry in the first half of the drawn game and scored two first half goals – one for Colm Boyle and one for Andy Moran. Kerry despite a first half goal from the in-form Stephen O’Brien were in trouble – 1-8 to 2-5 at the break.
Mayo, of course, would have hoped to have been ahead at the break given how well they were playing, but Kerry stuck to their task gamely. Indeed it was that dogged determination that allowed them secure a draw – 2-14 each – despite not playing particularly well.
It was a game Mayo really should have won – the decision to play Aidan O’Shea at full-back on Kieran Donaghy was widely assumed to have backfired – and that being the case it was widely felt that Mayo had missed their chance. The replay seven days later disabused us of the notion. Eamonn Fitzmaurice went for broke with his team selection, dropping James O’Donoghue, playing a sweeper, starting Tom O’Sullivan in his first every championship game... and in the first half it failed to have the desired effect. Mayo were rampant – 1-8 to 0-6 at the break.
Kerry did improve in the second half somewhat – they even had a couple of goal chances to bring them back into the game after Andy Moran got a goal at the start of the second half – but they were clearly second best in the game. The defeat – 0-17 to 2-16 – left many to consider that the time had come for change in the Kerry squad. Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice, meanwhile, was undecided upon his future in the job after the game.