The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Royal visit is ideal game for Kerry to get two points in
Seán O’Sullivan Kerry football is a way of life for so many people in this neck of the woods as the passing of a family friend reminded me this week
OUR house in Cromane would be a hive of activity when I was younger. My father, along with his good friend, the late John Arthur McCarthy, set up Cromane Seafoods back in the mid 1970s and I had learned how to weigh salmon and write dockets from a young age. I had no choice!
My two older sisters, along with myself and my brother, were fulltime employees of the company, which meant if fishermen came early or late we would take turns in doing the necessary. We encountered some fantastic characters in the yard who always had stories to tell from their time out at sea.
With it being so busy, the phone, the old landline one (remember those?), never stopped. In many cases we got to know the voices and names, and over the years eventually the faces. One of those great men left us last week: Danny ‘Bob’ McCarthy from Kenmare.
Danny owned the well-known Star Seafoods and worked tirelessly throughout his life to build that business into the huge success that it was. But when I ever answered the phone to Danny, seafood was the furthest thing from his mind. The topic was football and Kerry football in particular. He was a character and much of our chat would be full of laughter, but he knew his stuff. Later, if my father had asked who called, I wouldn’t be able to tell him what exactly Danny had wanted because it never came up!
He was immensely proud of all the players who wore the green and gold from his own area and was a huge supporter of local GAA in Kenmare. He sponsored Tuosist and the Kenmare District sides, and when any local school put a call in needing a dig out Danny never refused.
I only learnt recently that when my own club was getting started
Danny helped out in his own generous way. He had a larger than life personality and will be sorely missed by people all over the Kingdom.
I’m sure Danny would have been an onlooker in Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday as Kerry look to bounce back from that narrow defeat to Tyrone. They will be expected to have too much for a Meath side who sit rooted to the bottom of Division 1. I’m sure the Kerry fitness coaches were busy during this mini break and worked the players hard.
Usually these couple of weeks would be used to get some sustained endurance work done, and considering Kerry started their league preparations a bit later than last year this period was vital to get the work in. It’s a horrible time as a player as it’s hard training, but you know deep down it has to be done.
The downside to doing it is that it can affect the performance in your next game. There is no doubt that legs will be that bit more heavy going into Sunday but it is what it is. Having a home game helps massively as the last thing Kerry would have wanted was a long journey after a tough few weeks.
Meath will know how difficult we are to beat on our own patch and won’t be relishing the journey south. You can be sure their manager Andy McEntee used this time to work his charges hard too, and a trip to Killarney is not a place you’d pick to try and get your first win of the campaign.
Kerry and Meath last met up in Navan on the August Bank Holiday weekend lasy year with Sean O’Shea inspiring us to an eightpoint victory in our third and final Super 8 fixture. There’s no reason why Kerry can’t repeat something similar on Sunday. Meath are very open at the back and have conceded five goals already in their three games. They did put in a really impressive display last time out against Mayo and were unlucky not to come away with at least a share of the spoils.
Midfielder Bryan Menton is a player who has always impressed me and seems to be their natural leader. He was excellent against Mayo and will be a handful for any opponent, most likely Jack Barry, on Sunday. They have some lively forwards in Cillian O’Sullivan and Thomas O’Reilly, but nothing that would represent massive danger to Kerry.
In saying that, it will be interesting to see if the Kerry defence show improvement. It’s been well detailed after the past few games that they are coming under some pressure and they will be looking to put in good performances all over.
Of course, the forwards can help them out too. Looking back at the Tyrone performance I felt the work rate from our attackers could have been better. During the league last year our forwards showed huge desire to get back and turnover the ball when we had lost possession. So far this season I haven’t seen enough of that.
There is no doubt that fitness levels aren’t where they were compared to this time twelve months ago, but we need our front men offering more from a defensive perspective. The major difference I can see from last year’s league is our hunger to tackle. Our forwards are getting back and making hard runs to do so, but when they do get back are they doing enough to try and get the ball back?
During last year’s league they were doing it time and time again. Hopefully they rediscover that appetite once their fitness levels get better. It will definitely help us concede less as a unit.
We should have too much guile and should put enough scores up to win well. Two points would be welcome with such a tight looking division. One area that Mayo really focused on against Meath was pressing up on Marcus Brennan’s kick out.
Kerry will be looking to do similar and if they can win ball high up the field then scores are there for the taking. Mayo worked very hard on getting into zones so that when Brennan looked for an out ball it just wasn’t there.
Meath have some very honest hard working defenders in Conor McGill and David Toner but if we can get ample supply to our danger men then I can’t see them living with us.
As I touched on last week, our dependency on David Clifford can be worrying. It would be great to see others chip in on Sunday. I would expect James O’Donoghue to return if his injury has cleared up, which will strengthen us even more and hopefully take some of the pressure off Clifford.
All in all, Kerry to win with a good bit to spare.
When I ever answered the phone to Danny ‘Bob’, seafood was the furthest thing from his mind. The topic was football and Kerry football in particular