Numbers Game

The foundations for Kerry’s victory in Newbridge on Sunday were laid with a very solid first half performance in the middle third of the pitch.

Out of twenty five first half puckouts the Kingdom claimed four teen – 56% – claiming half of Kildare’s sixteen and six of nine of their own. That was a very solid return, facilitated in no small par t by the return to the side of Mikey Boyle.

The former Kerry captain slotted in really effectively on the half-back line alongside the impressive new-comer Tomás O’Connor and Daniel Collins (another former Kerry captain).

Boyle more than shored up matters in the centre claiming six puck-outs in all and two of those against the head, so to speak, on Kildare puck-outs in the first half alone.

Kerry’s dominance was par ticularly pointed in the mid period of the first half and forced a reappraisal by Kildare keeper Paddy McKenna. Up until that point the Kildare shot stopper had been going long more often than not with his puck-outs, but by the final ten minutes of the half had rever ted to a shor t-puck out strategy – hitting corner-back Paul Sullivan and fullback John Doran late in the half.

McKenna carried that through to the second half when the Lillywhites claimed eight of twelve of their own restar ts shor t with Kerry opting not to press.

That improved Kildare’s stats – despite a shaky star t they ended up claiming a higher percentage of their restarts than Kerry did, but given that Kerry claimed just four puck-outs uncontested and Kildare claimed eleven we probably shouldn’t read too much into that.

The real story of the match is that in a tight ground, against a physically imposing side, Kerry more than held their own in the middle third of the pitch forcing Kildare to change their approach to the game. Dáithí Griffin and Brandon Barrett continue to impress.

The one worry for Kerry was the relative lack of joy they got from their full-forward line in the game – both Pádraig Boyle and Shane Conway did their best work when they drifted out from goal – and by the number of chances they failed to take advantage of during their first half purple spell.

Kerry’s rate of return was just fifty five percent in the first half and in a tighter game that could have come against them. That said Kerry were far more efficient in the second half. Out of fifteen scoring chances they took thir teen, firing just two wides for a 87% scoring return.

Meath will have to be really on their toes next weekend.