The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
NHL Report Card: Plenty of positives for hurlers
Damian Stack takes a look back at the Kingdom’s National Hurling League campaign and finds plenty to be positive about
ITwasalwayslikelytobea tricky sort of a campaign for Fintan O’Connor and his players. Having operated at a higher division for the last two seasons, expectation was always likely to outpace reality.
Bouncing back straight away and gaining promotion is an exceedingly difficult thing to do at the best of times, doubly so when you’ve got a team in a transition. Failure to regain their Division 1 status is by no means a stain on this Kerry team.
The league gone by was as much about development as anything else. In it the Kingdom blooded several players, while giving more game-time to others who have featured intermittently in the last couple of years.
Jack Goulding and John Buckley aren’t new players the way Shane Conway and Tomás O’Connor are, but they are young and relatively inexperienced and, yet, with injuries to some senior players – not to mention retirements – the burden of leadership fell on them more so than it had in the past.
For the most part those younger players and newcomers – St Brendans’ Dáithí Griffin is in his mid twenties – have stood up to the challenge really well. They’ve provided a level of leadership and solidity that got Kerry to within shouting distance of a place in the league final.
There were times when Kerry were near sublime over the past couple of months and there were times when they were quite indifferent. The defeat to Carlow could have derailed them – and in the strictest sense it probably cost them a place in the league final – but O’Connor’s men dug in after that.
These guys have a grit to them. It’s the kind of grit they showed up in Mullingar just a
week and-a-half ago after Goulding got sent off on a second yellow card. They could have folded there and then. Instead they battled on and came closer to causing an upset than the final scoreline suggests.
After the game Fintan O’Connor cut an understandably dejected figure. To have come so close and to have it snatched away in injury time with five unanswered Westmeath points is going to be a bitter pill for anybody to swallow.
With a little more time to consider things, however, he’ll realise that the positives from the league far outweigh any negatives. He’s got players of quality and promise, a team that can sing when on form and six weeks to iron out a few kinks in the system.
All in all that’s not a bad place to be. Not a bad place at all.
HIGH POINT
THE first round win over London in the newlook Ruislip might qualify – it was, after all, the Kingdom’s biggest win of the campaign – but for us it’s either their victory in Newbridge against Kildare or their victory over Meath in Austin Stack Park.
The win in Newbridge got the Kingdom back on track with a certain amount of aplomb after a disappointing set-back at home to Carlow. They hurled well in the game, but admittedly Kildare were dreadfully poor.
That leaves the game against the Royals in Stack Park as the Kingdom’s stand-out moment of the league. It was probably the best they hurled over the five rounds and they did it on home soil with a big crowd in attendance for the footballers’ game with Galway later that afternoon.
The hurlers got a chance to show the wider Kerry public what they’re all about and they grabbed it with both hands.
LOW POINT
IT’S undoubtedly the defeat at home to Carlow in the second round. The disappointment comes less from the fact of defeat and more from the fact that the Kingdom didn’t hurl nearly as well as they’re capable of.
The disappointment also comes from the fact that things had been looking so good leading up to that game. In the four weeks before it Kerry had put in a performance against Limerick, beaten Cork (both in the Munster senior league) and won big in the first round of the league proper. The defeat sundered Kerry’s momentum at a crucial moment of the campaign and, as we’ve noted above, de facto cost them a place in the league final.
STAND-OUT PERFORMER
EVEN though he missed the opening couple of rounds through injury, Mikey Boyle made a decent stab at being Kerry’s stand-out performer. From centre-back – starting in Newbridge – he provided great leadership in the most critical position on the pitch.
Another to impress consistently was full-back Bryan Murphy. The Causeway man is a really combative and effective presence on the edge of the square. Brendan O’Leary, meanwhile, provided a good physical presence for Kerry on the half-forward line and scored well too at times.
In the end though we’ve got to give the nod to Seán Weir. He’s the kind of player who wears his heart on his sleeve and gives it his absolute all every single time. When he bursts out of defence and carries the ball it helps rise the entire team. A leader.
NEW BLOOD
KERRY had a new-look midfield for much of the league with Dáithí Griffin partnering Brandon Barrett. Both play football with Ardfert – but hurl for St Brendans and Causeway respectively – and teamed up well in the engine room. They had size and power and pace on their side.
Barrett is a former All Ireland minor medal winner and so too is Tomás O’Connor. The Ballymac man, who hurls with Crotta O’Neills, slotted in really well on the half-back line alongside Mikey Boyle and Daniel Collins.
A third All Ireland minor medal winner, Barry Mahony, made a couple of cameos, but one feels we’ll have to wait a little longer to know just what he can do.
The stand-out newcomer was Shane Conway. The Lixnaw youngster is so composed on the ball and capable of doing things with it that can leave you in awe. The encouraging thing is he’s just scratching the surface of what he’s capable of.
MANAGER’S PERFORMANCE
FINTAN O’Connor is doing a fine job with the Kerry senior hurlers. He took on the role in difficult circumstances in December 2016 and has steadied the ship admirably. More than just steadying it he’s getting Kerry into a good position for the next couple of years.
The players he’s blooding – Shane Conway especially – are going to be fixtures on the starting fifteen or in and around the starting fifteen for some time to come.
Tactically too Kerry seem to be playing a nice brand of hurling, passing and moving well and utilising the space. One does wonder, however, whether he could occasionally go a little more direct to a target man. There were times in Mullingar when the ball just wouldn’t stick inside.
Overall though he’s doing well.
LONG TERM VIEW
THE focus now is 100% on the Joe McDonagh Cup. It’s a competition that the Kingdom should be able to do well in, the teams are all at a similar level to Kerry. The worry is that out of five games Kerry have three games away from home, including a trip to the Glens of Antrim in the last round.
Kerry have the ability to beat all these sides, but can they do it consistently?