The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Due diligence can see minors make history
Damian Stack takes a look ahead to this weekend’s big game and comes to the conclusion that, while Kerry have it all to do, they’re more than capable
OF all the famous minor teams of the last four seasons, this year’s side is probably the most low profile of the lot. There’s this sense that – David Clifford aside quite obviously – the team’s the star.
In other years names of up-and-comers would trip off the tongue readily. That’s not really been the case this year (not yet anyway). Probably quite a bit of that is down to the fact that they’ve had a relatively straight-forward path to the final.
Apart from a few spells here and there – against Cork in the Munster semi-final, the second half against Louth and the second half against Cavan – this year’s minor side have been relatively unperturbed on their path to the final.
You see it’s in those crunch games and crunch moments that we get to know a team and know its players. Without those moments – the 2015 semi-final with Cork in Austin Stack Park stands out as one where we learned a lot – we struggle to put them in context.
None of which is to say that there isn’t a hell of a lot of talent in this side. There is, loads of it. They wouldn’t have gotten as far as they have without it. It’s just that to truly know a team you need to see it under sustained pressure. Of all the things that give one pause about Kerry’s chances on Sunday, that’s probably the biggest.
It might seem a bit perverse to view that fact Kerry have won their games by an average of fourteen points as a potential weakness, but if you’re to consider Derry’s tougher run to the final as an advantage to them (and we do), then the opposite must hold some value too.
None of this is Peter Keane’s fault. None of this is the players’ fault. They beat what was in front of them and they beat them well. They did everything that was asked of them and then some.
It’s just a shame that, as they prepare for a final against a really solid – not to mention battle-hardened – Derry side, that they don’t have a real dogfight under their belts. Our suspicion is they’ll be more than capable of dealing with the crunch when it comes, but until they do that’s all it will remain: a suspicion.
There have been moments in games when they’ve responded just the way you’d want to a set-back. In the semi-final they struck back hard at Cavan following their second half purple patch, but even then there’s a difference between having a lead reduced and having a deficit created or extended. There’s a difference between taking your foot off the gas and not being able or allowed to put your foot on it.
It’s good Kerry had that test in the semi-final, but it’s nothing in comparison to what Derry had to contend with against Dublin in
their semi-final. Derry went in as underdogs and battled their way to a famous victory.
They’ve done it once, they can do it again and there’s nothing pejorative about saying they battled to that win. Derry are an extremely well-drilled, well-prepared side who work really hard for everything they get, every ball, every break. Kerry will know they’ve been in a real game.
Damian McErlain has done a really fine job with the Oak Leaf county. They’re all the things we’ve already said and more. Derry, no more than Kerry, have a lot of seriously talented footballers at their disposal.
Most importantly of all they’ve got a seriously strong spine to their side. Full-back Conor McCluskey, centre-back Pádraig McGrogan, midfielder Oisín McWilliams and full-forward Lorcan McWilliams (Oisín’s twin brother) are all brilliant footballers.
McCluskey will probably be given the task of marking Clifford (with a sweeper likely to drop in front of both) in what could prove to be one of the game’s defining battles, while down the other end McWilliams has the ability to cause all sorts of bother for Kerry’s full-back line.
Derry will provide Barry Mahony and Diarmuid O’Connor with by far their sternest test to date and as their semi-final with Dublin proved, Derry are willing to break it if necessary in the knowledge that with ground hogs like Conleth McShane in the vicinity they’ll win more than their fair share.
The thing is though one shouldn’t underestimate the grit of this Kerry minor squad. They’ve been described to us as ‘hard as nails’ and given that Peter Keane is the man over them it should come as no surprise.
Both teams have players to call off the bench – Callum Brown, Declan Cassidy and John Paul Devlin are all potential impact players for Derry – but when it comes down to it, it could be that if Kerry can live with Derry, their extra little bit of class will see them over the line.
And it’s not just David Clifford who the Kingdom can call upon. There’s Donal O’Sullivan, Brian Friel, Donnchadh O’Sullivan and Fiachra Clifford. We’ve seen them all do special things at various times this year.
Clifford could be the winning of the game for Kerry even if he doesn’t shoot the lights. By tying up a couple of Derry defenders he might well create the space for either or both O’Sullivan to cut loose. What’s more it wouldn’t bother Clifford in the slightest if that’s what he had to do. He’s shown himself more than once to be a more than able team player.
That said it wouldn’t surprise any of us if the Fossa man was to kick the winning score would it?
Verdict: Kerry
Derry went in as underdogs and battled their way to a famous victory. They’ve done it once, they can do it again