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Post by Mickmack on May 19, 2019 17:51:03 GMT
I would like to see the maoir foirne done away with.
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Post by Mickmack on May 22, 2019 22:02:00 GMT
Darragh Ó Sé: Dublin must improve in new ways to win five The Dubs are getting younger as they get older - Jim Gavin has very few sacred cows
Yesterday morning, I collected Mikey Sheehy in Tralee and pointed the car for south Kerry. We had a couple of very important jobs to do, the second of them being a lunchtime tee-time. But first, Mikey had a date to keep. He had to drop in and take tea with Mick O’Dwyer.
Micko will be 83 next month and he’s still going strong. Mikey is pushing for 65 and he’s in good working order too. In that sort of company you have to know your place so I sat back and stayed quiet and watched the two of them, chatting and ball-hopping with each other. Micko would tease Mikey about missing the penalty in the 1982 final and Mikey would only be delighted to take it on the chin from him. He mightn’t take it from too many other people but he’d take it from Micko.
The bond between these fellas is still there, unbreakable all these years later. It’s the sort of thing that gets deeper over time. I guarantee you that if you asked any of the Dublin lads training away this week about the sort of bond they have with Jim Gavin, they’d look at you like you had two heads. But they’re in the middle of it now. Micko’s bond with his players wouldn’t have been there when they were in the middle of it, or it would have been a different kind of thing anyway.
For the Dublin players, this is the time of their lives – 3½ months from now, they will either be the first team in the history of the GAA to win five All-Irelands in a row or they will go along with Micko’s team and Brian Cody’s Kilkenny one as another great side who just came up short. They start along that road with a game against Louth on Saturday night.
Some of them have been playing for Dublin for over a decade. Some of them only got in over the past few seasons. All of them know the rhythm of it now. You start off the summer saying all the right words and doing all the right things. You know you’re going to beat Louth by a cricket score and that the exciting stuff is going to come later.
Stupid rows That doesn’t mean you take them lightly – it means the opposite, if anything. Get in and get out quickly and without any messing. Don’t be complicating things. Don’t be getting in stupid rows. Do your scoring early and often and put any ideas they might have of making a name for themselves out of their heads.
The Kerry team I played on never threatened a five-in-a-row, but we did make it to six consecutive All-Ireland finals. So we got a fair notion of how to pace ourselves and what to look out for. You knew what each new year brought about and what you were facing into when you got to this point.
For the Dublin players, this part of the year isn’t enjoyable. You know who you are. You know what your standard is. You know that the thing you’re going to be remembered for – good or bad – is a long way down the road. The only interesting thing that can happen at this stage is for it to go wrong.
It’s not a matter of disrespecting Louth or anything like that. It’s a matter of getting over yourself and the fact that you nearly resent having to go through the motions in these games. Jim will be very sincere and very Jim Gavin about it all and everybody will play their part.
D But the honest truth of it is that the big event in Dublin football this week was Anton O’Toole’s funeral. The game against Louth on Saturday is there to be won quickly and quietly and remembered by nobody. What will we know about the Dubs after this weekend? Not a whole lot more. What will they know? Nothing they don’t already.
At this point in the life of a team that’s been on the go for a long time, the big driver is your own personal competitiveness with those around you. Think about it – you know that as a collective, you’re in the top rank of teams in the country. There might be one crowd better than you out there somewhere but know there probably aren’t two and there definitely aren’t three.
Getting jiggy So you’re not dismissing the teams you play early on. It’s more that you’re holding yourself to a standard above what those teams are able for. If you start getting jiggy over winning a game in May or June, then what are you saying about yourself? That this is enough? If that’s the case, then what are we here for?
The longer you’re at it, the more you compare yourself to those around you in your own circle. By the time we were in our fourth, fifth, sixth final in a row, we were looking around our own dressingroom for motivation. I knew I was playing with some of the best, most proven, most ruthless players in the country. So how was I shaping up, compared to them?
By that stage, you’re older and you’re usually a bit crankier too. And even if you’re spending loads of time with all these fellas, you’re still you at the back of it all. Even if I’m in your company for four hours in a day, I’m still in my own for the other 20. So no matter how tight we are as teammates, I spend a lot more time thinking about me than I do about you.
Everybody does. That’s how they get there in the first place. You get help, you get coaching, you get all the advice and guidance in the world from those who did it before you. But the thrust of any career is making yourself the best you can be. No matter how much of a team player you are, that’s a personal thing.
So when you get to this point, after all these years, what are you finding to light a fire under yourself? Very often, it doesn’t have to be anything more complicated than a bit of bruised pride. You’re looking around you going, “How come yer man is getting all the plaudits? I hear plenty of sweet words for the new lad – I don’t hear many for me.”
Blood is up And so you horse the new lad out of it at training some night and if he has anything about him, he horses you back and maybe a bit of a scrap breaks out. And just like that, the blood is up and the game keeps going and the intensity rises. You come off the pitch thinking to yourself, “Mighty stuff, now we’re getting places.”
Fair enough, you can’t be at that every night. But it’s the kind of thing that gets you through the early weeks. And you need it because when it comes right down to it, part of you is tormented by the whole thing at this stage.
You’re still at it because you know there’s a serious chance of another All-Ireland and that trumps everything. But are you loving it the way you did when you’re 22? Not a hope. Are you dying to spend time around the group three times a week and all day Sunday? Christ, no. You’ve heard every fella’s go-to joke a hundred times at this stage. You know what’s coming out of everyone’s mouth before they say it.
You’re so familiar with these guys that no matter how much to like them, you’re enduring them now to a certain extent. And they’re enduring you, if you’re lucky. It’s nobody’s fault. It happens.
This is why Jim Gavin is so good. Go through his teams year by year and what jumps out at you? The freshness of the whole set-up. Every year, he has a couple of new lads in and a few older faces fall away. Paul Flynn is gone now and him only 32. I know he had injuries but to walk away on the brink of five-in-a-row? The only conclusion you can draw from that is Gavin wasn’t on his knees begging him to reconsider.
Kept refreshing Far from it, I’d say. Under Gavin, Dublin have kept refreshing. The team is getting younger as it’s getting older, if that makes any sense. Gavin has very few sacred cows. Diarmuid Connolly wasn’t one. Bernard Brogan isn’t one. We’ll find out as the summer goes along whether Philly McMahon is. Gavin knows everyone has a sell-by date and you can see he prefers to clear the shelf too early rather than too late.
So the task for Dublin’s players this summer is to keep finding new ways to improve. In our time, we were lucky to have a seriously good Cork team with us in Munster. It meant we would get a test early on to tell us where we were. If we won, well and good. If we lost, well and good. One way or the other, you were coming towards the end of June and you were getting serious about getting better.
Where is that for Dublin? Being realistic about it, it won’t come until the Super 8s. So regardless of what we see on Saturday night, their summer will stay in a bit of limbo. This could be the greatest summer of their lives and if they could play an All-Ireland final tomorrow, they would. But it doesn’t work that way.
Anton O’Toole I only met Anton O’Toole twice, both times in Neary’s pub off Grafton Street. I didn’t know him overly well but what I took away from both encounters was what an easy-going, popular person he was. He was great company, someone who everyone wanted to talk to and be around. None of the older Kerry fellas I’d talk to ever had a bad word to say about him and when you saw the outpouring of good wishes for him during the week, it was easy to see why.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
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Post by surfdude62 on Jul 4, 2019 10:31:29 GMT
Can someone upload last weeks and this weeks articles from Darragh? Cheers
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trevor73
Full Member
Team Of The Decade
Posts: 195
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Post by trevor73 on Jul 4, 2019 14:09:46 GMT
Yes it's about meeting Mayo
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Post by Mickmack on Jul 4, 2019 21:36:06 GMT
Darragh Ó Sé: Super-8s clash with Mayo is exactly what Kerry need
When the farmer sees you robbing the orchard he tends to fire a shot overhead but the second bullet is coming straight at you. The time for warnings has passed and not just for Mayo, Galway and the remaining qualifier teams.
Kerry people are extremely interested in Saturday night’s Connacht affair in Limerick. You couldn’t write that sentence until 2019 but the road thereafter leads to Killarney for the opening round of Super 8s.
And if last year taught us anything it’s to avoid, at all cost, losing that first game. The rough and tumble of championship is upon us. No higher stakes can be imagined for Galway and Mayo. Everything is on the line. Everything for Mayo. Inter-county careers could end, a team could permanently break apart.
Galway must show more if they are to progress. Their supporters turned against them after losing the Connacht final to Roscommon. That result put Kevin Walsh in an almost inescapable position. Does he change the way they play due to public opinion or does he hunker down and stay true to the chosen philosophy?
Really, the only answer is a little bit of both. The simple solution is to beat Mayo. Do it by any means, just do it.
The problem with Galway is they look like a team with the handbrake half up. I wrote about this a few weeks back – before Roscommon beat them – but when a player of Shane Walsh’s calibre turns away from goal and moves the ball laterally something is seriously wrong with the style of play.
Walsh, a gifted player who can move effortlessly off either his left or right, should only have two thoughts when the ball comes to him: how do I score or how to I create a score for someone else? Seeing him slow the pace takes any good out of the game. It’s not football at all. Head above water stuff.
But there is no easy way to alter how Galway are playing. It’s like a boat in the water. There are no sharp turns.
Kerry and Mayo find themselves in similar predicaments. It’s too late for radical change but Kerry’s defensive frailties – never mind 3-10, Cork should have scored 5-10 in the Munster final – and whatever happened to Mayo down the stretch against Armagh both appear deep-rooted.
No sharp turns then. More a hope that overall progress will get them where they need to be – safe passage secured towards an All-Ireland semi-final.
Disastrous memory I put these three counties together as their fates are unavoidably linked over the coming fortnight. The immediate prize for the winner of Galway versus Mayo in the Gaelic Grounds is a trip to the Kingdom seven days later.
This Saturday is do or die, obviously, but there will be a similar enough feel in Fitzgerald Stadium a week later. Non-stop season defining games. If you aren’t ready for the football championship to ignite you never will be.
But first Mayo must return to the scene of the 2014 crime that ended James Horan’s previous stint as manager. That crazy defeat to Kerry remains a disastrous memory for them.
Kerry want, almost need, Mayo to stay alive. They want the type of challenge only they are guaranteed to bring. They represent the ideal test to see if we’ve got our own house in order after the Munster final raised a load of concerns.
You need between 10 and 12 players motoring all summer long to escape the Super 8s. That’s the minimum requirement. Dublin would probably expect 17, 18 lads to be on the same level but Kerry – all of a sudden – need more men to step up. The goalie, Shane Ryan, is doing grand. Tadhg Morley looks solid enough. Tom O’Sullivan, no complaints. Up front, David Clifford and Stephen O’Brien, you’d be happy with their contributions. That’s it. Another five or six players must reach the same standard.
So Kerry definitely want Mayo, even to atone for the league meetings when they horsed us out of it, first in Tralee and then in the league final in Croke Park. We owe them. We know what’s needed to beat them. It will instantly lift standards in the panel and Mayo could well be jaded.
We don’t know what’s left in an ageing group that have been on the road for several weeks now, never might the previous five years since Horan walked after losing to Kerry in that All-Ireland semi-final replay.
What we know with certainty is we don’t know enough about any team, bar the Dubs. That’s the real reason Kerry need a run at Mayo. It’s a gift-wrapped test. Who believes the same challenge will come from Galway?
What we also know is you can’t be stumbling on the opening day of the Super 8s, like last year’s defeat to Galway in Croke Park when Kerry and Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s reign never recovered.
Enormous advantage God, the home tie feels like an enormous advantage. I expect a performance of real substance from Kerry. The flaws exposed by Cork can be flipped into positives. Peaking in July seems more important than ever in the new system.
But we are leaping ahead of ourselves. All eyes are trained on Mayo v Galway. Certainly down here.
It’s the same old story for Mayo. The same, yet older, faces remain as key figures. With Lee Keegan definitely out that’s more weight on Aidan O’Shea and the returning Cillian O’Connor. Other veterans like Chris Barrett and Brendan Harrison also need to keep performing unlike the fresh blood infused into Dublin’s panel each and every season by Jim Gavin.
Same goes for Kerry’s list of minor winners seeking to transform into senior footballers. Mayo haven’t got anywhere near the same talent bursting through. At least they are still doing what makes so many neutrals love them. Scraping by. Surviving.
Time keeping is a controllable. It shouldn’t be an opinion Maurice Deegan may avoid the south Armagh borderlands for a while. They won’t be happy with his refereeing performance in Castlebar last Saturday night. Kieran McGeeney said as much about the time keeping.
We have banged this drum enough times and still no change. This is not a shot at Maurice. Time keeping is a controllable. It shouldn’t be an opinion! It’s an exact science in all the other serious sports and shouldn’t be lumped on the referee as the seconds tick away in a nail-biting qualifier. The fourth official could be whispering in his ear and Maurice could be relaying to players, as we see in rugby, precisely how long remains. Armagh deserved more time to finish off the old heavyweight they had up against the ropes.
But, instead, Mayo were allowed spoil the extra minutes to end Armagh’s season. The game keeps changing, the pace keeps going up a notch, yet the GAA stays the same on this instantly solvable issue. “Injury time” should be a dead phrase years ago. That, in one fell swoop, would remove the blatant time wasters.
Dublin are the best at it, along with everything else, as from 60 minutes they can mesmerise the opposition with how they kill the clock. They do it with ball movement and they do it by trespassing deep into your land. If they sense a team is settling for the moral victory, they will destroy that illusion on the scoreboard.
Dublin play to the death. Mayo survive. Horan has returned, after five seasons, to find a very familiar panel of men. Take Andy Moran. A man who owes Gaelic football nothing at this stage, guaranteed hall of famer if we had such a thing, Andy even added that wonderful Indian summer in 2017. But there he was last Saturday, central to the cause until Horan pulled him before half-time.
Last stand Moran should still have a role to play for Mayo. A very important one too, but closer to the cameos we saw from Bernard Brogan and Gooch Cooper at the tail end of their inter-county days. Phased out but useful, like the fella who has paid his dues still coming into the office on a three day week. Strolling around with cup of coffee in hand yet well able to put a few neat points over the bar or thread a pass, so the last medal feels earned.
That Andy Moran remains the first port of call in Mayo’s inside forward line does not bode well for them.
Now, I’d be a fool to write these men off, but every battle represents a last stand for the Mayo team we have witnessed, with jaws to the floor at times, since 2011.
They are still standing. And the irony of having to return to the Gaelic Grounds will not be lost on any of them. Mayo folk must grimace at the mere mention of 2014 because that was the All-Ireland that slipped through the fingers of Horan, Moran, O’Shea, Keegan, O’Connor and Keith Higgins into the lap of Fitzmaurice and Kerry.
More misery or the chance to exorcise some ghosts while dumping out Galway in the process? I’d say the latter.
Kerry calmly await the winners down in Killarney. Yes indeed, we are entering deep championship waters.
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Post by buck02 on Jul 10, 2019 9:04:20 GMT
Can somebody with an Irish Times subscription put up this weeks article please
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Post by Mickmack on Jul 10, 2019 9:15:21 GMT
Darragh Ó Sé about 3 hours ago
Everything comes back to brass tacks eventually. We can come up with structures and formats and tiers and all the rest of it until we’re blue in the face, but there comes a time every summer for every team where today is the day. Speak now or forever hold your peace. Somewhere along the way championship always becomes championship.
That is what is happening in Killarney on Sunday. Forget the Super 8s, forget the two games that come after it. It looks fairly clear-cut to me that only one of Kerry and Mayo will make it through to the All-Ireland semi-final. Lose on Sunday and you’re like a racehorse with a bust leg. You’re not dead yet but the vet knows where to find you.
In Kerry we don’t know what we have yet. That’s why the visit of Mayo is the best thing that could have happened. Peter Keane’s team beat Cork eventually but what was that worth? Cork might be coming good finally but hammering Laois proves nothing and there’s a fair chance the Dubs will remind them of their place in the world on Saturday night.
So we can’t say for sure yet what Kerry beat the last day. We’ll have a much better sense of it at teatime on Sunday. Playing Mayo is like getting a dose of cod liver oil. You don’t enjoy one bit of it but you’re the better for it afterwards.
In Kerry winning the war is always measured in terms of the All-Ireland, and right now that means how they are fixed to play Dublin if and when it happens. But the right to fight in that war is earned by coming through a battle like this one against Mayo. If they’re not good enough for this, there’s no point wondering how they would cut it against the Dubs.
Ups and downs What makes this such an exciting prospect is that you can say the same for Mayo. They’ve had their ups and downs under James Horan in his second spell but they are where they’re supposed to be, safely in the Super 8s with a few old ghosts buried along the way.
They won the league – and loved it, which was important. Beating Kerry that day and lifting a cup in Croke Park wasn’t a small thing. They enjoyed every bit of it, and damn right they were too. And even though they lost in Connacht they’ve come through the qualifiers and have beaten probably the two best teams outside the Super 8s in Armagh and Galway.
Are Mayo All-Ireland contenders?
Hard to say for sure just yet, but you’d imagine so. They’re on the road long enough and have proved themselves enough times to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor celebrates his team’s win over Galway in Limerick. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor celebrates his team’s win over Galway in Limerick. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Nearly all the old soldiers are still on the go in one shape or another, and they’ve added good new players who are making an impact in games.
Sunday is where we find out one way or the other. If they don’t win then the answer is probably a no. Whereas if they do then it’s on for them.
Imagine the bounce Mayo will get coming out of Killarney with a win and then heading to Croke Park to play Meath the following Sunday. You couldn’t send away for it.
One thing we know for sure is that Mayo will love the thought of having this game first up. Look around the Super 8s and outside Dublin is there another team you can see relishing the challenge of playing in Killarney in the first Super 8s game? Or put it this way – given the choice would Kerry pick Mayo as their first opponents, coming in cold after a three-week break? Maybe they would all say they would, but I reckon there’d be a bit of bravado in the answer.
Horsed out of it Kerry have played Mayo twice so far this year and were horsed out of it twice. When you’re playing Mayo you need to boss the physical battle. Or you need to make a right shape at it anyway. That’s not just a matter of strength and conditioning, it comes down to mindset and personality.
You’d love to have Kieran Donaghy around the place this week for Kerry. Mayo always hated seeing him coming, and had to try a million different things to contain him. That wasn’t just because he was able to expose a weakness under the high ball in the full-back line, it was about his personality too.
Mayo are great at bullying – and I say that in full admiration. But Donaghy wouldn’t be happy in any game unless he was annoying fellas all around him. Catching high ball and laying it off and throwing his arse around the place was only part of it. Being full of lip and bad manners, living in the ear of the referee, making sure Kerry got their share of justice and everyone else’s as well – that was what made him a kind of a force of nature.
Kieran Donaghy and Aidan O’Shea during 2017’s All-Ireland semis. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho When you’re playing Mayo you need all the fellas like that you can find. Someone who is going to stand up and cause a bit of wreck even in the face of the brilliant support they bring with them. That’s where Donaghy was a great weapon for Kerry. He didn’t give a fiddlers how loud the crowd were or how much they thought they hated him. He was going to plough into everything regardless.
The Kerry set-up he has left behind is lacking in that force of personality just at the moment. Stephen O’Brien showed plenty of leadership against Cork but he’s a different sort of animal to Donaghy. Most people are, says you. But even when you look at Kerry’s two best players – Seánie O’Shea and David Clifford – they’re still only 20. You can’t be expecting them to bring that kind of presence on top of everything else.
Lee Keegan treatment Keane has a decision to make with young O’Shea. In the league final he got the full Lee Keegan treatment playing at centre-forward. That will do him no harm in the long run – players with more years behind them and more medals won have had to endure it and came out with very little to show for their day’s work. But in the biggest game of the year, do Kerry really want that for O’Shea on Sunday?
I’d move him out to midfield and kill a few birds with one stone. For a start Kerry’s midfield is looking shaky at the minute. David Moran isn’t back up to full tilt yet after he was out with injury, and Jack Barry hasn’t kicked on after that impressive first season a couple of years ago. With a new goalkeeper in there in Shane Ryan there are glitches that need working out. So it’s an area that’s in need of improvement however Keane goes about it.
The big thing for O’Shea himself if he moves out to play in midfield is that it changes both his position and body shape when he gets on the ball. Even if Keegan is sent out to do the usual job on him, at least now O’Shea isn’t spending his day taking possession with his back to goal and Keegan taking lumps out of him from behind.
I’m not saying it’s an easier job out around the middle, just that it’s a different one. For someone as good on the ball as O’Shea, facing forward as soon as you get the ball might feel like a nice luxury. Let’s say he gets on five balls a half where he can get his head up straight away – I’d make a fair bet he’s going to serve Clifford with at least three of them in space. I wouldn’t have the same confidence in him getting that opportunity playing on the 40.
Kerry need to make the best of their best players. The feeling down here is that we don’t have the pure one-on-one defenders that other teams do – and we certainly don’t have them at the level that Mayo do.
Go through the Mayo defence and look at the defenders they are able to put their trust in – Chris Barrett, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Keegan. And all that with Aidan O’Shea patrolling around and filling in when he is needed.
Direct battles I’m not saying those defenders won’t get burned from time to time. If good forwards get served with decent ball they’ll do damage. But in general, game after game and year after year, the Mayo defenders tend to come out better than 50/50 in their direct battles.
That’s what allows Horan – and the managers who have been there in between his two spells – to send Mayo out to play the sort of football you need to win an All-Ireland. The rest of the team have confidence to play open football, to have a go, to make those forward runs in the knowledge that if they get caught and turned over, the likes of Barrett and Harrison and Higgins will be up to the job.
Kerry don’t have that yet. There isn’t a proven, aggressive lock-down defender in the team. There are quality footballers and fine athletes and lads who can be expected to turn into what’s needed in time. But it does take time. All those Mayo defenders have been on the go for the guts of a decade. More in some cases. That’s where I see a huge edge for them on Sunday.
How will it go?
I’m hoping is the best way I can describe it. For Kerry this is all duck or no dinner. This could all be over very quickly. Lose to Mayo and they go to Croke Park the following Sunday against a top-class Donegal team. We could feasibly be looking at a winter that starts on July 21st. That can’t really be allowed to happen.
So I’m hoping. I’m hoping that a Donaghy figure emerges to stand up to the bullying. I’m hoping Kerry can start well and quieten the crowd that will travel in numbers like no other county.
I’m hoping David Moran goes after Aidan O’Shea and that Kerry find a couple of man-markers for Darren Coen and Cillian O’Connor.
In the cold light of day a betting man would have to go with Mayo. But as a Kerryman, I’m hoping. We are a championship county, and this is the time to show it.
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Hicser
Senior Member
Posts: 381
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Post by Hicser on Jul 13, 2019 8:06:38 GMT
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tpo
Senior Member
Posts: 504
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Post by tpo on Jul 17, 2019 11:15:05 GMT
Anyone to put up this weeks ?
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Post by Mickmack on Jul 17, 2019 11:44:04 GMT
The big thing to remember about the Super 8s is that it’s relentless. You play your game, you eat your meal, you get on the bus and you go looking to the next game.
I thought James Horan was very impressive after the game against Kerry on Sunday. He didn’t make a big deal out of it at all. Bad game, bad performance, beaten by the better team. Now on to Meath.
This is the one time of the year that managers have to react like they’re in the Premier League. It’s different to February and March because even though there are games week after week in the league, you’re not going into any of them locked and loaded. You’re trying things here and there, you’re getting lads back to full fitness, you’re keep different tactics and strategies back for the summer.
But here and now in the middle of July, this is when management really comes into it. Look at Horan on Sunday – as soon as he saw the ship was going down after Mayo made no real impression early in the second half, he started taking off lads to lighten the load ahead of this week. Kevin McLoughlin, Darren Coen, Lee Keegan, all gone before the hour mark. The Meath game is huge for them now – no point flogging a dead horse below in Killarney ahead of it.
Peter Keane was very impressive in the calls he made all day. He made four changes before the game, putting his neck on the line with them. He sent in Shane Enright to do a job on McLoughlin and moved Gavin White to wing-forward. McLoughlin was subbed off in the 48th minute, marked out of the game by Enright. Three minutes later, Enright’s number went up and he was replaced by Graham O’Sullivan. Keane picked Enright to do a specific job and took him off when it was done.
Playing White in the forwards was all part of the tactic that won the game – pushing away up on the Mayo kick-out with everybody involved. Keane picked out David Clarke as a weakness and Kerry put all their money down on exploiting it. They got their reward and Keane will get huge mileage out of it. He made a plan and it worked perfectly, he shuffled his deck and got a big win out of it.
In saying that, football is ultimately a player’s game. When you go out there and the ball is thrown in, you’re in a pair of boots and everybody else can wear sandals if they like. Only you and the other 14 around you can decide what’s going to happen. It’s a big responsibility and, in any intercounty career, you’re asked again and again to prove that you’re up to it.
That’s why I loved the few seconds of pushing and shoving and horsing in midfield before throw-in last Sunday in Killarney. You can roll your eyes all you like and I’m probably totally old-fashioned when it comes to this stuff. But that, to me, was as important as anything that followed it.
David Moran has had plenty of critics over the past few years. He’s 31 years of age and he’s been a Kerry senior since back when I was playing. He’s a big man, the biggest and most senior player Kerry have. And right from the off, before the referee even bent his knees to pick up the ball, he and Aidan O’Shea had a bit of sorting out to do amongst themselves.
That’s what I mean about being asked again and again to prove you’re up to it. Here’s two fellas who have been on the scene for a decade apiece. They’ve fought all the wars and done all the dances and come out the other side. But they still had to stand up to each other at four o’clock on Sunday and go at it with everybody watching.
No messing They knew the story. They knew this was non-negotiable. All the talk in the build-up – from me and from everyone else – was about how Kerry would be going nowhere if they weren’t able to stand up to some bullying from Mayo.
That’s all fine and well when it’s talk, when it’s just washed up old ex-players telling you what’s what. But when you’re in the middle of the pitch and 31,000 people are roaring their heads off and the referee is delaying the throw-in a couple of seconds longer than he usually would just to let you and your man blow off steam, that’s pure fight-or-flight stuff. You’re either up to it or you aren’t.
It radiates through your team. The cheer that went around the stadium when Adrian Spillane caught the kick-out after it deflected off Moran and O’Shea was massive. It actually didn’t matter a damn in terms of the general play – Kerry’s attack came to nothing and Mayo scored the first point of the game after 40 seconds – but it established something fundamental about the afternoon.
Moran went on to have a great game in midfield and I’d have made him man of the match Kerry would not have won without it being obvious from the outset that they were taking no messing from Mayo. They had to show they were the physical equal of a Mayo team that had so much more experience than them. They were going nowhere unless they made that clear both to Mayo and to themselves. Everything flowed from that.
Every young team has to do this at a certain point, or else people will keep dismissing them. The general sense has been that Kerry will need another year or two. Well, a day like last Sunday speeds up that process. Not just through the football, which we know they have. But through attitude and spite and bouldness. As a Kerryman, you could only be delighted to see it.
Playing-wise, I didn’t think it was perfect but it showed they’re moving in the right direction. Moran went on to have a great game in midfield and I’d have made him man of the match. Stephen O’Brien has become Kerry’s most consistent player and he was top-class again. And David Clifford showed again how exceptional he is.
Paul Geaney had a decent game, even though he still has a few kinks to iron out. His shot against the crossbar that went over for a point probably separated a good day from a great day but he still scored 1-2. He gets a fair amount of stick in Kerry and you hear plenty of fellas saying they wouldn’t have him on the team. But you can see he has a bit of class about him that’s hard to choose to be without.
His fist-pass to James O’Donoghue in the first half that should have led to a goal was a little piece of quality that probably went under the radar. It’s just a punch-pass, so what about it? But I’d love to put 20 inter-county forwards in that spot and see how many of them could pull it off successfully. It’s fewer than you think.
Geaney got in around the back of the Mayo defence with a lovely dummy-run that outfoxed Keith Higgins. Moran spotted him and put in a long kick-pass from his own 65 that landed on the Mayo 20-metre line. Geaney had to stutter his run to collect the ball so that when he got it, he was right on the point where the D meets the line. O’Donoghue was 20 metres away, with three Mayo bodies between him and Geaney.
For Geaney to collect with his back to goal, turn and play that pass right into O’Donoghue’s chest without James having break stride was some piece of skill. If you watch it again, he has to put a whole turn of his body into it to get the distance. Brendan Harrison is sprinting across to cover O’Donoghue so it has to be right on the money. David Clarke makes the save in the end but Geaney couldn’t have done any more.
Different challenge Right there is the difference between a fella who is finding his game and one who is still a bit below his best. The James O’Donoghue who was player of the year in 2014 wouldn’t have given Clarke a sniff there. You can tell he’s not as confident as he was back then because of the way he just put his boot through the ball and tried to find the net as quickly as possible.
Now, far be it from me, a man whose only goal for Kerry went in off his shin, to be telling James O’Donoghue how to do his business in front of goal. But when he was full of confidence, he was curling that sort of chance in with the side of his foot, passing it to the net. He still has a bit to go to get back to his that point.
Kerry can’t go to Croke Park and push 13 men up against the Donegal kick-out Donegal will be a totally different challenge for Kerry this Sunday. Everything is horses for courses now. Kerry can’t go to Croke Park and push 13 men up against the Donegal kick-out because Shaun Patton will just kick it over their heads. He has a monster kick of a ball and could bypass most of the Kerry team if they did that.
It will be interesting to see do Donegal try to suck Kerry into pushing up, maybe by taking the first six or seven kick-outs short. Like they showed against Dublin in 2014, all they need is one chance and it will be a long kick from the goalie, a knock-down from Michael Murphy and suddenly Ryan McHugh is breaking into a world of space.
Everything this week is foot to the floor, trying to out-think the next crowd. The video analysis would have been manic since Saturday afternoon and by the time teams landed into training on Tuesday night, the game plans had to be in place, ready for action. Sunday’s games would have been hardly mentioned at all.
Time is short and getting shorter.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Jul 17, 2019 12:07:37 GMT
Mickmack; with all this content you are really spoiling us.
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Post by Mickmack on Jul 17, 2019 12:19:57 GMT
Mickmack; with all this content you are really spoiling us. I am on hols at the moment.
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fitz
Fanatical Member
Red sky at night get off my land
Posts: 1,719
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Post by fitz on Jul 17, 2019 12:56:01 GMT
Mickmack; with all this content you are really spoiling us. I am on hols at the moment. MickFerrero
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Jul 17, 2019 13:03:23 GMT
I am on hols at the moment. MickFerrero 👏👏👏 Why didn't I think of that?!
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Post by buck02 on Jul 17, 2019 13:53:47 GMT
Must have hurt Darragh giving a bit of praise David Moran in that article.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2019 14:52:56 GMT
Must have hurt Darragh giving a bit of praise David Moran in that article. Pretty sure Darragh has been quoted as saying that skill wise David Moran is way ahead of what he was capable of. Fielding, scoring, foot passing, difference was Darragh did it every day. Moran on his day is up there with Fenton.
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Hicser
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Post by Hicser on Jul 17, 2019 21:35:04 GMT
Thing is Darragh was never bullied
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Post by royalkerryfan on Jul 17, 2019 22:20:33 GMT
Must have hurt Darragh giving a bit of praise David Moran in that article. Pretty sure Darragh has been quoted as saying that skill wise David Moran is way ahead of what he was capable of. Fielding, scoring, foot passing, difference was Darragh did it every day. Moran on his day is up there with Fenton. No hes not up there with Fenton. Lets be fair here he matches fenton with fielding and kick passing but Fenton has a serious engine that David cant match. Im not knocking David for one second but Fenton is up there only with Jacko in my opinion.
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kot
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Post by kot on Jul 18, 2019 0:03:20 GMT
Thing is Darragh was never bullied Ahhh now. darragh was a hero but to say he was “never bullied” is plain wrong. ‘02 & ‘05 finals? Most certainly was outplayed and outmuscled at least!
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Post by Kingdomson on Jul 18, 2019 0:29:16 GMT
Thing is Darragh was never bullied He got a right schooling from John McDermott of Meath in 2001.
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Post by Ballyfireside on Jul 18, 2019 1:38:18 GMT
I would like to see the maoir foirne done away with. Wouldn't be at the top of my list!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2019 7:37:26 GMT
Pretty sure Darragh has been quoted as saying that skill wise David Moran is way ahead of what he was capable of. Fielding, scoring, foot passing, difference was Darragh did it every day. Moran on his day is up there with Fenton. No hes not up there with Fenton. Lets be fair here he matches fenton with fielding and kick passing but Fenton has a serious engine that David cant match. Im not knocking David for one second but Fenton is up there only with Jacko in my opinion. Ah here, who has Fenton marked? No one, free run at it in a slick drilled side, he knows his role and does it well. But he’s never been in a battle. To be comparing to Jacko is way off. He’s the best today in an era where the midfield role has been diluted. I’d compare him to Nicholas Murphy who was also top player until he got bullied out of it. Fenton has no challengers, hopefully Moran gets the opportunity the square up, I’d love to see that in 50/50 game.
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Post by royalkerryfan on Jul 18, 2019 8:11:13 GMT
No hes not up there with Fenton. Lets be fair here he matches fenton with fielding and kick passing but Fenton has a serious engine that David cant match. Im not knocking David for one second but Fenton is up there only with Jacko in my opinion. Ah here, who has Fenton marked? No one, free run at it in a slick drilled side, he knows his role and does it well. But he’s never been in a battle. To be comparing to Jacko is way off. He’s the best today in an era where the midfield role has been diluted. I’d compare him to Nicholas Murphy who was also top player until he got bullied out of it. Fenton has no challengers, hopefully Moran gets the opportunity the square up, I’d love to see that in 50/50 game. Ahh come off it... Fenton is like Nicholas Murphy my god. Fenton has not lost a championship match yet. Fenton has played against Moran and we didnt win BTW.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2019 8:19:02 GMT
Ah here, who has Fenton marked? No one, free run at it in a slick drilled side, he knows his role and does it well. But he’s never been in a battle. To be comparing to Jacko is way off. He’s the best today in an era where the midfield role has been diluted. I’d compare him to Nicholas Murphy who was also top player until he got bullied out of it. Fenton has no challengers, hopefully Moran gets the opportunity the square up, I’d love to see that in 50/50 game. Ahh come off it... Fenton is like Nicholas Murphy my god. Fenton has not lost a championship match yet. Fenton has played against Moran and we didnt win BTW. Who has he marked? Takes handy passes from his backs and gives it to Kilkenny. Robot stuff. No way he would outfield Darragh or Jacko. Again hes a good player but way off the greats.
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Post by Mickmack on Jul 18, 2019 11:45:43 GMT
Bit early to be comparing Fenton to Jacko. Fenton has not even reached his peak yet.
Is Fenton at the moment better than Sean Cavanagh was.
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Post by dc84 on Jul 18, 2019 13:51:17 GMT
I'd say Jacko would have been even better in the modern era with the s&c available now. No offense to anyone but Fenton is amazing the archetypal midfielder of his generation dublin most important player at the moment. He can however get lost in a dogfight as he isn't as robust as an o Shea or Moran. But his skill and athleticism are top notch
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Jul 18, 2019 14:34:40 GMT
I think Fenton is in the same conversation as Jacko all considered.
However consider for a moment what Darragh would do to Fenton.
Think about that and Jacko edges Fenton.
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Hicser
Senior Member
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Post by Hicser on Jul 19, 2019 21:49:52 GMT
Thing is Darragh was never bullied Ahhh now. darragh was a hero but to say he was “never bullied” is plain wrong. ‘02 & ‘05 finals? Most certainly was outplayed and outmuscled at least! I think he was beaten but never bullied, our lads were bullied by Mayo, that happens with boys v men, honestly I don’t remember Darragh getting that treatment,
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Hicser
Senior Member
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Post by Hicser on Jul 19, 2019 21:51:16 GMT
I think Fenton is in the same conversation as Jacko all considered. However consider for a moment what Darragh would do to Fenton. Think about that and Jacko edges Fenton. Possibly but I’m not sure Darragh would catch Fenton,
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brigid
Senior Member
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Post by brigid on Jul 20, 2019 10:47:08 GMT
On page 4 of the early edition of the Times to-day Saturday 20 July 2019, Sean Moran has All Ireland Super 8s preview All Ireland SFC quarter-finals Group 2, Phase 2 Cork V Tyrone Dr Hyde Park 5.0 (Live, Sky Sports) I don't have Sky but I had planned to go to Croke Park to see the game.
Good news, the Times are incorrect (as is often the case) so I hope to be in Croke Park.
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