Huge test of Kerry with visit to Headquarters to face the champs
NFL DIVISION 1, RD 5 Dublin v Kerry
Saturday, March 3 Croke Park, Dublin at 5pm
KERRY’S next outing is a mouth watering clash with top of the table Dublin in a double header with their male counterparts at Croke Park next Saturday. All-Ireland champions Dublin come into the game in a rich vein of form and sit proudly at the top of the Division 1 table after four straight wins with impressive victories over Westmeath, Donegal, Cork and Mayo.
When these sides last met in the All Ireland quarter final at Thurles last August, the sky blues destroyed the Kingdom on a 5-10 to 0-11 scoreline. Kerry couldn’t cope with Dublin’s pace and power that day, and will be hoping for a much improved performance this time around.
Whether they can achieve that or not is very much open to debate as this is a serious Dublin outfit that appears to be getting stronger with every outing.
Central to their game plan is a ferocious work ethic that manager Mick Bohan demands. This, allied to their ability to score goals (they have scored nine in their four league games so far) makes them formidable opponents.
Central to their attacking prowess is corner forward Noele Healy. The 2017 Players player of the year covers every blade of grass on the field, and is the link to everything good that Dublin create in attack. Healy picked up another player of the match in her side’s most recent victory over Mayo, and will have to be contained.
Equally so will Sinead Aherne. The experienced attacker has broken Kerry hearts many times over the last few seasons and she is well capable of punishing any chinks in the Kingdom defence.
Dublin have quality in the likes of Lauren Magee, Niamh McEvoy Olwyn Carey, Lynsey Davey and Oonagh Whyte and are a team that are well capable of moving through the gears when needed.
Kerry have suffered two defeats in a row, and last Sunday’s capitulation against Galway is bound to have affected their confidence. There is quality in the side, but players like Lorraine Scanlon,Sarah Murphy, Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh and Sarah Houlihan will need to recover their best form for the encounter. Former All-Star Aislinn Desmond’s loss was sorely missed against Galway, and it remains to be seen if she will be fit enough to face the Dubs. Desmond is the glue that holds the Kerry defence together, and if she is ruled out then alarm bells could once again be ringing for Kerry.
Kerry manager Graham Shine is a shrewd operator and he is bound to have a strategy to try and counter Dublin’s running game. Kerry will certainly need to show better ball retention than they did against Galway or they will once again be put to the sword. Any sloppy turnovers or poor set piece retention will be punished brutally.
Shine has just six days to get his side ready for the visit to Croke Park to take on All-Ireland champions Dublin. While he has no doubt that his side will lift their performance for the game, he said that management will have very little time to work with the team’s preparation.
“The girls have been looking forward to the game in Croke Park since the fixtures came out. Today was a bad day but I know that we will raise our game for next Saturday.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to work with the girls before then. We will train next Tuesday, but with so many away in college there’s not a massive amount we can do.
“An hour and a half won’t fix the problems that we had out there today, but the girls are much better than this performance so we will give it our best shot.”
Shine was not a happy man after last Sunday’s Galway game and was at odds to explain how his side were so flat throughout the contest.
“We came in to the game full of confidence. The girls were sharp and focused in the warm up but then as soon as the ball was thrown in we were way off the pace. In fairness to Galway they had a very good defensive structure and the ball just wouldn’t stick up front.
“They hit us on the break at pace and we couldn’t cope with it. It was just one of those days.”
Dublin
Verdict: