THE BIG SHOWDOWN
Brilliant All-Ireland SFC semi-final special in your Title pullout
THE 2014 All-Ireland semifinal replay in the Gaelic Grounds was the highlight of my football career. Yes, I have won a lot of All-Ireland finals and Munster finals but nothing stands out in my memory like that Saturday evening, the feeling of absolute elation at the final whistle.
There was an electric atmosphere that whole day in Limerick and it rubbed off on me. I don’t think I ever celebrated a win as much.
The RTÉ cameras captured me making this leap in the air after the game, for which the lads slagged me unmercifully for weeks. But it was such an epic night.
Of course, that week hadn’t started too well for me. On the Tuesday before the replay, I remember taking a phone call from Éamonn Fitzmaurice and he informed me that I wouldn’t be starting.
It was like a bolt from the blue. I genuinely didn’t see it coming. At the time, it felt he was taking my dream away from me.
I had thought I did okay in the drawn match. I had the task of keeping tabs on Andy Moran, always a difficult assignment.
Moran is excellent at making clever runs and his ability to win the ball out in front meant he was always a nightmare for a defender.
Playing Mayo at that time, the short straw for any corner-back was being asked to mark Moran. I was on him for the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final and his ability to take me on at every opportunity ensured it was one of my most difficult days in a Kerry shirt.
Moran is still there and still vitally important to Mayo, but he’s lost half a yard of pace over the years. He is still able to win his own ball but he’s finding it harder to beat defenders. That’s why I believe Mayo would be better served, bringing him on with 20 minutes left as the game opens up rather than hauling him off in the 50th minute.
Of course, when you are so accustomed to starting, it requires a different mindset to sit on the bench. As I discovered before that replay.
I felt aggrieved at being dropped but I couldn’t let that mood fester. There is nothing worse than seeing a team-mate in bad form. It can spread like a cancer across the dressing room.
I had seen it often in my career, the player who feels hard done by and wants his team-mates to feel sorry for him, that I was determined I wasn’t going to do it.
But it was still strange before the game, warming up for the first time in years, knowing I was going to be sitting down and unsure when I would be called upon.
In the game itself, Shane Enright was blessed not to get sent off and Fitzmaurice sent me on after 20 minutes. That was so lucky. Defenders rarely get the chance to get into the game so early.
It was a game that we never looked like we were going to lose, even when we were seven points down. How many times have we seen Mayo five or seven points up in a match and not holding onto the lead? That was the case here again.
The ruthless streak that we see in Dublin, Kerry and Tyrone seems to be missing with them,
This game will go down to the wire, but I still fancy Kerry. Kieran Donaghy has been outstanding all season and there’s no reason why he can’t play for another year. And Mayo have never truly got to grips with him.
They still have an issue at fullback. They don’t seem to trust Ger Cafferkey and you wonder if they have another defender who will be able to hold Donaghy.
The duel between Keith Higgins and James O’Donoghue in 2014 was fascinating, and these two players seem to be rediscovering their form from that summer.
James was man of the match in Kerry’s two games in Munster while Higgins was my man of the match against Roscommon.
That Kerry will be fresher after playing just 215 minutes of football compared to 600 for Mayo might not be as much of an issue as some are making out. The men from the west have ironed out a lot of issues in those 600 minutes and found out a few things about themselves when games have been tight.
Kerry must devise a plan for Lee Keegan. As we saw against Roscommon, and all of last year, he can destroy teams. I love watching him on the ball, everything comes so naturally to him. He is two-footed and has serious physical strength.
It will be interesting to see what Kerry do to curb Keegan. Do they put Paul Murphy in the half-forward line or will they give Donnchadh Walsh the job of trying to curtail him? Mayo could easily play Keegan in midfield and if that happens, Fitzmaurice will need to be careful with how his side approach that. Do they send Jack Barry to go after him?
Midfield will be fascinating this afternoon. Mayo need to go well in that sector. Barry, David Moran and Anthony Maher are all in a rich vein of form and Seamus O’Shea and Tom Parsons will need to be at the top of their game to handle whatever combination Fitzmaurice selects.
Kerry’s bench is where I see them taking control of this game, espe-
Mayo have never truly got to grips with the outstanding Kieran Donaghy
cially if it is in the mixer with 20 minutes to go.
They have developed a strong, deep bench now. Darran O’Sullivan, Barry John Keane and Bryan Sheehan are all eager to get on the field and prove themselves. In Anthony Maher, Fitzmaurice has the equivalent of Michael Darragh Macauley waiting in the wings. And then you have youngsters like Seán O’Shea, from Kenmare, who are hungry for their opportunity.
Fitzmaurice has a lot more options on the bench than Stephen Rochford and ultimately, I think that will decide the game.
But no matter what happens, I expect this to be a rip-roaring contest. Whatever it is about Kerry and Mayo, the two teams always seem to bring out the best in each other and Croke Park should be no different today.
We might even get another classic. But even if we do, it won’t touch the epic that took place in Limerick three years ago. There will never be another game like that one.