To give fringe players a run?
Moynihan and Adrian Spillane, who returned to the first fifteen on Sunday, chipping in with a point each.
It’s something that Kerry have struggled with at times over the last couple of seasons, which has in turn allowed the opposition to double team the likes of David at times.
When five or six forwards can chip in consistently with scores, it keeps teams a lot more honest and also opens up more space for Kerry’s danger men inside. Hopefully it’s something that Kerry can continue to do going forward.
Another positive that Jack will take from the game is Kerry’s greater urgency around the middle to die on the breaking ball. It was something that was seriously lacking eight days earlier in Croke Park so it was good to see players had the stomach for the fight and were willing to put their bodies on the line for the cause.
Man-of-the-match Diarmuid O Connor encapsulated this with his ball winning and work rate around the middle, which helped set the platform for the comfortable Kerry victory.
Jack made four changes to the team that started against Dublin. Paul Murphy came in at corner-back and was given the tough job of trying to curb Tyrone’s star man Darragh Canavan.
Canavan kicked three from play, but I thought Paul stuck to the task admirably and will be happy with his day’s work. He used all of his experience and guile to make a couple of vital interceptions at times and is one of the leaders on this Kerry team.
Seán O’Brien also got another chance to stake a claim and did well. He kicked Kerry’s opening score in the first minute and worked hard throughout. Adrian Spillane showed his usual battling qualities, he works hard, tackles tirelessly and provides that extra physicality at wing forward.
I believe Cillian Burke picked up a hamstring injury in the Dublin game, which is frustrating with the condensed season and the championship on the horizon.
ALLIANZ NFL DIVISION 1
P W D +/- Pts 5 4 0 1 23 8 5 3 0 2 17 6 5 3 0 2 10 6 5 3 0 2 3 6 5 2 1 2 -5 5 5 2 0 3 -4 4 5 1 1 3 -4 3 5 1 0 4 -40 2 ROUND 4 FIXTURES
Derry Dublin Mayo Kerry Galway Tyrone Roscommon Monaghan
He was having a good league and making a name for himself, and Jack will hope that he recovers sooner rather than later. He may be an integral part of this Kerry team if they are to be successful at the business end of championship.
Dylan Geaney also missed out with a hamstring injury,
Lwhich will be disappointing for him personally as he was another man looking to stake a claim for later in the year and was doing well in his first league campaign.
Jason Foley put in a much improved performance on Sunday, nullifying Darren McCurry for most of the game after finding Con O’Callaghan a little too hot to handle the previous week.
Another man who deserves special mention is Gavin White. As Jack O’Connor pointed out after the game, he showed great ‘cut’ coming out of defence and driving Kerry forward at every opportunity and wasn’t too far off receiving the man of the match gong himself.
So, plenty of positives from the game and certainly a huge morale boost for a lot of players as they face into the final two league games.
Winning becomes a habit and throughout last year’s league and again this year Kerry have been quite inconsistent. It’s interesting to hear that Kerry have booked their warm weather training camp in Portugal for around the same time as the league final.
With Jack’s record in relation to winning championships after coming off the back of also being victorious in the league, I felt he may have targeted a league final spot this year at the start of the season. Seemingly not though.
He spoke after the game at their being a number or different options available to attack the last two games. One obviously would be to go at it all guns blazing and see where two wins from two games they’d be expecting points from would take them.
The other is to give more of the fringe players valuable game time that may be the difference when the chips are down later in the season. It’s one thing that I’ve noticed about Dublin over the last couple of games where they have been very impressive, there fringe players from the past couple of seasons are really starting to stand up.
It has taken time and to be fair to Dessie Farrell he has stuck by the likes of Seán Bugler, Ross McGarry and a couple more, but they are beginning to pay back the faith he put in them. Does Jack need to do something similar?
It may not be this year that some of Kerry’s fringe players will shine. It may well pay off in spades down the line, however. The league is all about building blocks and getting the foundations in place for the bigger tests that lie ahead.
It’s intriguing to see just how the end of the league will play out for Kerry in terms of personnel. Players like Paul Geaney, who returned to the panel at the weekend after a long lay off, as well as Stephen O’Brien and Brian Ó Beaglaoich are players that could do with some much-needed game time during the last two league games if they are to prove they are ready come championship.
Two wins may still not be good enough to reach a league final. Even if it was, the question is does four or five days in a professional environment with no distractions trump a league final anyway in terms of preparation for the championship?
Darragh Canavan kicked three from play, but I thought Paul Murphy stuck to the task admirably well and will be happy with his day’s work