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Post by ardfertnarrie on Aug 23, 2019 15:42:05 GMT
That last substitution for Kerry doesn't half make me angry all over again. Imagine scoring 1-04 in a tight game and being taken off for a back!
Anyway, water under the bridge now. It struck me the number of frees Dublin scored from. I think we now have a place kicker to match them, perhaps even slightly better in fact. I think Dublin are probably slightly better alright with their forward line, but Kerry are far more mobile in every line now than they were then. Let that water flow back for a minute. Look at Dublin's subs and remember what happened. O Gara came on for Mc Auley, James McCarthy pushed up into midfield and Dublin essentially played with 7 forwards pushing up on Mahony who was sweeper. Up front after 66 minutes we had a forward line of Gooch, Geaney, Steven O Brien, BJ Keane and James Donoghue. We were under serious pressure and Geaney was on his last legs. I always thought too much was made of that sub. Fair enough, they could have taken off Gooch but the switch of a back for a forward was probably the most sensible thing to do at the time. Just didnt work out! Possibly you are right, but taking off our most dangerous forward was the wrong option, in my opinion. Hindsight is a fine thing, but that decision sticks in the memory.
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Post by colinsworth1 on Aug 23, 2019 17:32:53 GMT
Let that water flow back for a minute. Look at Dublin's subs and remember what happened. O Gara came on for Mc Auley, James McCarthy pushed up into midfield and Dublin essentially played with 7 forwards pushing up on Mahony who was sweeper. Up front after 66 minutes we had a forward line of Gooch, Geaney, Steven O Brien, BJ Keane and James Donoghue. We were under serious pressure and Geaney was on his last legs. I always thought too much was made of that sub. Fair enough, they could have taken off Gooch but the switch of a back for a forward was probably the most sensible thing to do at the time. Just didnt work out! Possibly you are right, but taking off our most dangerous forward was the wrong option, in my opinion. Hindsight is a fine thing, but that decision sticks in the memory. I have a different take on that series of subs late on The mistake that was made was that Mark O Se wasn’t brought on instead of Brian O Besglsoi for Morley . We all saw how Brian was blackguarded by Costello that would not have happened to a more experienced player like Mark I think Mark would have had more time to give us a life line had he been given time Remember how he rescued the first semi in 2014 in Croke Park even though he was Corner back he chased an impossible ball over the end line at the forwards end and set the the equalizer . Cometh the hour cometh the man Brian was only a boy that time . As for the actual sub at 67 min I would have backed Mark to do more than Geaney at that point the sideline knew he was done and acted fast I have no prob at all with that move depending on what instructions were given to Mark But generally EF tended to set up conservatively that won’t work we have to go at them all guns blazing but minding the house at the same time
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 23, 2019 18:35:29 GMT
The big difference between Dublin 2016 and Dublin 2019 is Con's ability to manufacture and score goals.
They got no goal v Kerry in 2016. They got 2.09 in the first game v Mayo...both own goals by Mayo. Hennelly gifted them a peno in the replay which was scored and that was their only goal.
Con is a feckin nightmare now though. All he thinks of is the green flag. What can be done?
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Post by colinsworth1 on Aug 23, 2019 18:55:13 GMT
The big difference between Dublin 2016 and Dublin 2019 is Con's ability to manufacture and score goals. They got no goal v Kerry in 2019. They got 2.09 in the first game v Mayo...both own goals by Mayo. Hennelly gifted them a peno in the replay which was scored and that was their only goal. Con is a feckin nightmare now though. All he thinks of is the green flag. What can be done? I ll tell you what can be done we can fight fire with fire and go strategically for a few goals ourselves we have to shoot the lights out ,points and plenty of them but we haven’t been scoring enough goals two or three goals would be a great help but we’re well capable of getting 20 points if our mid fielders and backs contribute here which I think they will and possibly get their scores easier than the forwards Also need to pick a penalty taker
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2019 19:31:46 GMT
Penalty taker? What do you mean ?
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Aug 23, 2019 19:46:13 GMT
I'm getting seriously delusional and thinking of backing Kerry.
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Post by clarinman on Aug 23, 2019 20:03:22 GMT
Are Kerry and Dublin better than in 2016. Mannion was a sub in 2016. Con hadnt arrived nor had Brian Howard. I think Dublin are better now in 2019 because of those 3 upfront. I think Kerry are better too though. I think Dublin's forwards are better now but I think they have regressed at the back. Philly and Cian o Sullivan not starting now. I don't think Fitzsimmons and Byrne are at the level those 2 boys were at in 2016.
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Post by Ard Mhacha on Aug 23, 2019 20:08:54 GMT
What's with the painted sheep? 😁 Ah jaysus, no sheep was safe up here back in the day. Lads going mad with paintbrushes
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Post by Ard Mhacha on Aug 23, 2019 20:19:10 GMT
That last substitution for Kerry doesn't half make me angry all over again. Imagine scoring 1-04 in a tight game and being taken off for a back! Anyway, water under the bridge now. It struck me the number of frees Dublin scored from. I think we now have a place kicker to match them, perhaps even slightly better in fact. I think Dublin are probably slightly better alright with their forward line, but Kerry are far more mobile in every line now than they were then. No wonder he gets a lot of frees, he takes them from wherever he likes. Something to watch out for. That’s mad. He nearly carried the ball home with him there! All frees within the 50 should be off the ground in my opinion.
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Post by colinsworth1 on Aug 23, 2019 20:21:08 GMT
Penalty taker? What do you mean ? I m hoping we’ll be very busy in the full forward line going very direct at times Fitzsimmons and Cooper very prone to over the top tackles so if we going for the jugular like we should I can see a penalty coming our way and if so be ready for it .
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Aug 23, 2019 20:24:19 GMT
Dean Rock probably best freetaker I've ever seen.
However, I can see SOS combining his consistency with the flair of Brian Sheehan and yes M Fitz.
Not yet though.
The consistency takes time.
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Post by john4 on Aug 23, 2019 20:28:43 GMT
I'm getting seriously delusional and thinking of backing Kerry. 9 Dublin players and David Clifford (@ 8/1) in the top 10 betting for the RTE MOTM. Sean O'Sé and Stephen O'Brien next @ 16/1, The handicap is out to 6 points now from 5. We're completely written off!
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peanuts
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Post by peanuts on Aug 23, 2019 20:29:21 GMT
I hope the occasion doesn’t overawe our younger lads and they perform to the best of their abilities. Most of them won’t have played in front of a full Croke Park before.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2019 20:31:45 GMT
Dublin have beaten the spread all year so not surprising the bookies are upping their views on the winning margin.
The problem with Dublin is that you could compete well with them for 60 minutes yet they could win by 8-10 points very easily
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Aug 23, 2019 20:42:58 GMT
Dublin have beaten the spread all year so not surprising the bookies are upping their views on the winning margin. The problem with Dublin is that you could compete well with them for 60 minutes yet they could win by 8-10 points very easily Correct. But the amount of cash on Dublin says that odds will slash... same for the handicap I suppose.
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Post by Kingdomson on Aug 23, 2019 22:15:11 GMT
The big difference between Dublin 2016 and Dublin 2019 is Con's ability to manufacture and score goals. They got no goal v Kerry in 2019. They got 2.09 in the first game v Mayo...both own goals by Mayo. Hennelly gifted them a peno in the replay which was scored and that was their only goal. Con is a feckin nightmare now though. All he thinks of is the green flag. What can be done? What indeed? Damage limitation like with Paul Mannion is the best we can hope for. We know these guys are going to put scores on the board but hopefully nothing outrageous. In a portent for the year ahead, I remember Kerry were 4 points clear and looking the much better team after about 20 minutes back in our league game in Tralee and then out of nothing Con strikes for goal and Dublin come to life. We squeaked home that evening but Con has been lighting the torch paper up front more than once for Dublin all season.
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Hicser
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Post by Hicser on Aug 23, 2019 22:16:29 GMT
As long as Gaelic football is played, the 1955 All-Ireland final between Dublin and Kerry will be used as one of the definitive examples of that old truism that you should never write off a Kerry team. I am old enough to remember more of the detail of that famous occasion than I have a right to expect; the build-up, the rumours, the star names of both teams, the different styles and of course the radio commentary. The Dublin team was regarded by most 'experts' as being practically invincible. Full forward, Kevin Heffernan had developed a new ‘roving’ style of play that was revolutionary at a time when contesting 50/50 balls was seen as the essence of Gaelic football. His tactic of moving out the field was seen as anatomy of that fundamental responsibility to the game. It had worked in the semi-final and a Kerry team, trapped in a time warp, would be destroyed. History tells us that our boys won that day despite all the ballyhoo about the superiority of the Metropolitans. Six points from Tadghie Lyne sent Kerry on their way to their 18th All-Ireland title. They would do the same in 1975 under many of the same circumstances. The performances of those Kerry teams of ‘55 and ‘75 have made a fine cushion for my old age and some of the great highlights of my life revolve around the very special times I was fortunate enough to share with a special generation of people that I am privileged to belong to. As I grew older and had a family of my own I began to realise the importance of this generation in my life - a rare breed of men and women who did not know when they were beaten. I was fortunate once to have an insightful conversation with a legendary great Kerry footballer who was minded to speak honestly to me at that time. His self-confidence resonates with me to this day. He told me that he never expected to lose. Even when he was the underdog, he still prepared his victory speech. If I were fortunate enough to have the privilege to speak our boys before they go out to play on Sunday I think I would probably say: - There is something that the people of Kerry want you men to know: They are proud of you all to a man and believe we can do this. Remember who you are. You wear the green and gold geansai. You have Kerry across your chest. That means something. You're Kerry men and this is our game. We are underdogs today, but in our greatest moments of success, we were always the underdog. Today is a great day to be the footballer you always believed you would be. Go out on that field and become one of that rare team of men who do not know when they are beaten. Today is one of those occasions when you must give 100 percent all the time, not just when you feel like it. Don't let those guys take these things from you. Remember who you are and give the people of Kerry something we can’t get in any other way. Go out on that field, spit on your hands and get busy. Get the ####### job done” Some would have you believe that Dublin of today is a team that would cause mere mortals to despair, and are, once more, such hot favourites that it might require the second coming of Christ to dethrone them. Nonetheless, you hear chatter all over our county about how it could happen “this year.” and we nurse faith in our troops and hope of victory. At least we are not burdened by the superstitions that weigh so heavily on others. Nevertheless, I will bend my arthritic knees and pray to the Carpenter’s Son again tonight, as I have always done. Ciarrai Abu. Tears came in to my eyes when I read the 3rd last paragraph, I imagined myself in the changing room with you, fantastic post,
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Post by Kingdomson on Aug 23, 2019 22:31:55 GMT
I'm getting seriously delusional and thinking of backing Kerry. 9 Dublin players and David Clifford (@ 8/1) in the top 10 betting for the RTE MOTM. Sean O'Sé and Stephen O'Brien next @ 16/1, The handicap is out to 6 points now from 5. We're completely written off! Based on all known evidence it's fair. Dublin go 5 to 6 points clear at any stage and it's game over, they'll shut it down and control. If we can be nose to nose as the game clock enters the redzone like in 2016 I'll be delighted and hopefully we might see a different result. What about Gough makes up for past sins and we get an injury time free to win it? Seany O'Shea sends it high and handsome to win it for Kerry! Dream on that!!
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Hicser
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Post by Hicser on Aug 23, 2019 22:45:34 GMT
Penalty taker? What do you mean ? I m hoping we’ll be very busy in the full forward line going very direct at times Fitzsimmons and Cooper very prone to over the top tackles so if we going for the jugular like we should I can see a penalty coming our way and if so be ready for it . Very possible, one option is Clifford at full forward, high ball in on top of him. If he wins the ball 15 yards out, complete havoc, then you bring Tommy in,
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Post by colinsworth1 on Aug 23, 2019 23:21:09 GMT
I m hoping we’ll be very busy in the full forward line going very direct at times Fitzsimmons and Cooper very prone to over the top tackles so if we going for the jugular like we should I can see a penalty coming our way and if so be ready for it . Very possible, one option is Clifford at full forward, high ball in on top of him. If he wins the ball 15 yards out, complete havoc, then you bring Tommy in, Havoc ,if Clifford get s the ball any where inside 30 yards And once in a while Tommy instead of a nice offload to the incoming David Moran can fool everyone turn and go hard I don’t see how you could stop him he only has to do it once . Either way I ll be mystified if we don’t keep a full forward in position we played the first 50 minutes against Tyrone with no one in the 14 slot may have been 14 on someone’s back but didnt get played into the game . Another time probably 2016 we played Donaghy at 14 but sent him to the 40 and kicked long and high to the Gooch where he got beat over his head for every high ball over f ing. Complicating the full forward thing absolutely no reason why Clifford couldn’t be very effective there just not all the time as it’s too predictable and we know what Tommy can do there apart from brilliant leadership so we have options that will cause havoc and havoc is good for us .
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exiled
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Post by exiled on Aug 24, 2019 0:53:47 GMT
As regards Rock and the freetakin from wherever he wants. Check the first half v Mayo and he gained at least 10 metres for 2 frees.
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Post by skybluezone on Aug 24, 2019 7:37:31 GMT
Dublin have beaten the spread all year so not surprising the bookies are upping their views on the winning margin. The problem with Dublin is that you could compete well with them for 60 minutes yet they could win by 8-10 points very easily Correct. But the amount of cash on Dublin says that odds will slash... same for the handicap I suppose. Dublin are always unbackable odds in a straight win bet. That is why the handicap bet has become so popular with supporters. Ger Brennan did an interview with Shane Stapleton during tbe week. He said that Dublins scoring average this year is 27 pts. Kerrys is 22. A 5 pt difference. He reckons Dublin to win by 5, but they wont get to 27 and Kerry wont get to 22. 5 pts is the spread with Paddy Power. Personally I like 1st goalscorer bet. Some value to be had with Fenton or Jack Mc from a Dubs perspective. Con and Rock are the go to guys at shorter odds.
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Post by buck02 on Aug 24, 2019 9:16:28 GMT
Keith Duggan has a piece in the Times today about Tommy Walsh and Dublin (perceived) vulnerability in their full back line under the high ball.
I recall after the Munster final and following on from the league final and Galway league game, how Kerry were seen as extremely vulnerable in this area.
Dublin seemed to be trialling out the long high ball a few times in the Roscommon game, probably with an eye to playing ourselves at some stage down the line.
I hope we are prepared for this cos I'd say Jim Gavin and Co don't have the same short memory that many GAA supporters seem to have.
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 24, 2019 10:16:57 GMT
Irish Times Logo User Menu NEWS SPORT
Keith Duggan Follow about 5 hours ago 0 In September 2006, Kerry and Roscommon played out a gripping All-Ireland minor football final which ended in a 0-15 to 0-15 draw. The Kerry team was auspicious because it contained a dynastic element: the midfield pairing of David Moran and Tommy Walsh were sons of two key members of the iconic Kerry team. “Tommy Walsh was a colossus at midfield,” was the verdict in The Irish Times on the following Monday. “Soon the Kerry seniors will have a Donaghy clone.”
It was a prophetic assessment, and has never been more relevant than this weekend ahead of next Sunday’s definitive game in the Dublin-Kerry rivalry.
Rarely has any Kingdom football team approached an All-Ireland final as such outsiders. It’s a position that will please them.
All through the championship observers have scanned for evidence that there are realistic contenders to Dublin. Kerry’s appeal was based primarily on their dynamic win over Mayo in Killarney, and the minor classic shoot-out with Donegal in Croke Park in which they put up a total of 1-20.
Anyone searching for the why behind Dublin’s radical reinvention has identified that 2009 game as a turning point Yet at half time in the All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone, in which they struck just 0-5, all of that counted for nothing. They looked suddenly young and lost and mired in Ulster quicksand. Peter Keane knew he needed to change things up.
Walsh had been more or less invisible all summer: he had been given 20 minutes against Meath in the final Super-8s group. But that game was off-Broadway. This was different.
Few players have had such an interesting career trajectory as the Tralee man. He played 15 championship games for Kerry from 2007 to 2009, finishing with 4-23 as a midfielder used as a forward. His athleticism was strikingly superior to most of his peers at that stage, and there was no real surprise when, along with Moran, he was offered trials by St Kilda, an Australian Rules club.
Moran was home that December in time to line out against Kilmurry-Ibrickane in the Munster club championship. Walsh, though, was gone.
His departure hurt Kerry, but the feeling was that they could absorb his absence. They were All-Ireland champions for the fifth time in the decade, and were favourites to defend their crown. It was a period when their fabled rivalry against the Dubs was little more than a fond conceit: the city team hadn’t beaten Kerry since 1977, and had been left bewildered by their latest encounter that August, a game which finished 1-24 to 1-7. With Tyrone beginning to age, Kerry’s horizon looked cloudless.
On the hoof Anyone searching for the why behind Dublin’s radical reinvention has identified that 2009 game as a turning point. That was their low: the point to which they would not return again.
Kerry have landed just a single All-Ireland in the 10 years since Walsh last started a championship game for them. That 2014 campaign was remarkable and under-valued as Éamonn Fitzmaurice, the rookie manager, and his makeshift team of kids and veterans learned and adapted on the hoof. It was a surprise All-Ireland, one the cognoscenti had not bargained on. Apart from that the decade has been an exercise in frustration.
Keane knew the lie of the land when he took his role on. His decision to call Walsh in for training in January was low key and understated. He then gave Walsh a full league game early in the season against Galway in Tuam: significant opposition on a low-key day. It was a brutally tough match on a heavy afternoon.
Anyone who watched the veteran that afternoon could see the potential he still had to offer: a wrecking ball in the air, physically imposing, smart in his positional sense and distribution and, best of all, a proper grown-up on a team of youngsters.
Because Walsh harked back to a different era it was easy to forget that he was just 30 years old himself. Speaking afterwards Walsh could not contain his delight. His first attempt at a comeback, under Fitzmaurice in 2015, had been aborted. He was 26 and just back in the county, his professional career behind him.
“I think when I came back at the start I was very anxious to get back with Kerry and they were very anxious for me to come in,” he told Colm Parkinson years later. “Looking back I probably would have done things a bit differently, and I’d say the management would as well. I just didn’t get the run after that.
“I was probably putting pressure on myself, and trying to do things at a hundred miles an hour, and things just weren’t coming off. There were phases when I felt I was playing well enough to get a go and I just wasn’t.”
Private life The pressure had begun to tell on his personal relationships and his private life, and he could sense that his presence was becoming a downer in the dressing room. In April 2016, after failing to win much game-time in the league, he decided to leave.
It wasn’t acrimonious and there was no outburst. He just stepped away. So Keane’s phone call was on the back of a revitalised club campaign with Kerins which included Walsh’s eye-catching 2-2 from play against Dr Crokes, the 2017 All-Ireland club champions.
The recall must have felt like a last chance. “I was surprised to get the call, but maybe the next time they will be calling me is to collect the footballs,” he said that day in Tuam.
Would Keane be willing to go for broke and unleash Walsh from the start? The main reason Walsh didn’t become the Donaghy clone in the second part of his Kerry career is that they squad had someone else to fill that role: Kieran Donaghy himself.
When you look at Donaghy’s football life he single-handedly changed Kerry’s fortunes in two distinct periods, bursting into life in the 2006 championship when Jack O’Connor decided to try him at full-forward, a switch that gave Kerry the turbo-boost to change from an uncertain qualifier team into All-Ireland champions.
In 2014, Donaghy had been sitting on the Kerry bench almost as an afterthought when Fitzmaurice fired him in as a last-gasp substitute in the All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo. He literally changed the championship: earning Kerry 1-1 in a draw, haunting Mayo in the replay, and shocking Donegal with two goals in that year’s final. So Kerry had their totemic big man when Walsh returned. They could find no role for him.
Big time It was significant that the most enthusiastic response to Walsh’s spectacular return to the big time against Tyrone was from Donaghy, who was working with Sky television. The pair are friends, but the urgency in Donaghy’s voice was genuine.
Walsh’s presence had given Kerry’s inside line a substantive and authoritative look, he had kept Ronan McNamee busy, he threw his weight around in a confrontation with Niall Morgan, but most of all he looked at home: winning possession and distributing it and coming deep to make himself available for two restarts when Kerry needed an outlet.
“He has got to start the final for Kerry,” Donaghy declared. “You got to go with your size, with your big guys. He’s an experienced player and a leader in the dressing room.”
Would Keane be willing to go for broke and unleash Walsh from the start?
Certainly he is now a key part of Kerry’s plans. Either scenario gives Jim Gavin and the Dublin fullback line a new worry to consider.
It’s true that they dealt with the Donaghy threat in 2015, but the composition of their defence has changed since then. What Walsh gives Kerry is the one thing Dublin can’t plan against: the element of the unknown.
Tommy Walsh’s role in this All-Ireland is one of the many fascinations. He won’t have to worry about collecting the footballs for a while.
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 24, 2019 10:20:31 GMT
Irish Times
Eamon Donoghue Follow Thu, Aug 22, 2019, 06:00 2
Jack McCaffrey had only five possessions in general play during Dublin’s semi-final win over Mayo – the reigning champions still won the match by 10 points.
That transpired even with the 2015 Footballer of the Year held by Patrick Durcan to four hand passes, no assists and no attacking contributions.
Mayo needed to get every single match up right, and then be more clinical than ever before. One huge individual battle was won but it was not nearly enough. There were too many fires but not enough Durcans and Lee Keegans.
In the final Kerry will also identify Dublin’s main threats, but their approach will be less reliant on match ups, more about defending and attacking as one with, they will hope, ferocious intensity and conviction. They have firepower of their own and they’ll back those lads to do more damage, if they can get their share of quality possession.
To do that they’ll need to win midfield where, this time, one major match-up could prove the difference between threatening an upset or allowing the prescribed script to run out.
Against Mayo, Brian Fenton was given a tough battle by his midfield opponent Séamus O’Shea who scored a good point and stuck tight before being taken off on the hour mark.
By then Fenton had caught two spectacular marks and claimed another kickout after a bit of juggling with it on the way down. He’d just scored a goal, kicked a wide in the first half and had been pulled up for charging on another surge into the scoring zone. After O’Shea’s departure he broke through again but had his second goal effort tipped over for a point by an excellent Rob Hennelly save.
How do you stop that? Well, Kerry have actually been doing a pretty good job of it in their recent meetings.
Fenton has contested 33 kickouts this summer and made seven catches Kerry’s last four clashes with Dublin have all been in the league – and in all of them Jack Barry has marked Fenton. The Kingdom have won two, drawn one, and lost the other. Barry has held Fenton to 0–1 across the four contests.
When you consider he has scored 3-8 from play in six matches this summer – making him Dublin’s third top scorer from play – that is quite the achievement.
The Raheny man scored that one point in the last meeting between the teams, Kerry’s win in Tralee six months ago. It came in the 66th minute of the match.
Fenton is an incredible athlete for a big man – 6ft 4in and 90kg. He never stops moving and can go from a jog to flat out sprint with ease. And on repeat, changing direction and pace as if he was being controlled by an analog stick. Few midfielders can stay with him around the field, especially not over the full 70 minutes.
Final quarter He has scored 3-5 in the second half of matches this summer, and seven of those eight scores came in the final quarter of the match.
In Dublin’s league defeat in Austin Stack Park, Fenton’s individual involvements coincided directly with Dublin’s scoring, highlighting his importance.
During the closing 10 minutes the big midfielder had 10 touches and Dublin outscored Kerry 0-4 to 0-1. Dublin won no other 10 minute period by any more than a point, and on the two occasions they did so he recorded his next two highest involvements. Four touches between the 10th and 20th minute and six between the 30th and 40th.
Against Galway a week earlier he’d had 19 involvements in the final 20 minutes as the Dubs outscored the visitors 1-6 to 0-1 in Croke Park. So Fenton’s strongest period is the final quarter, and that’s when Barry will have to be most aware of the threat he poses.
Kerry have been limiting Fenton’s two main outputs, his scoring and also, his fielding. Fenton never contested a single kickout in Tralee. Against Galway a week earlier he had ruled the skies after contesting 10, nine of them were Galway restarts.
In this year’s championship semi-final Mayo kicked four long kickouts on top of Fenton, three of them in the second half. The Dublin midfielder came down with two. Keeping your own kickouts away from him is half the battle.
Despite clearly avoiding Fenton’s zone, Kerry still retained over 81 per cent of their own kickouts. And only a third of them were taken short. While Dublin, as usual, went short or targeted a free runner for the majority of their restarts. Only two of their restarts made it past their own 65 in Austin Stack Park.
Fenton has contested 33 kickouts this summer and made seven catches. Exactly two thirds of those contests were from opposition restarts as were four of his catches. Catches in the modern game are at a premium but still a massive momentum catalyst when they are made.
Jack Barry is another rare sort of midfielder. A half back for much of his Kerry underage career, he is a very disciplined team player. A powerful runner with a big engine, he’s physical too and will track Fenton’s long bursts and stick touch tight and goal side as he floats around the middle trying to link the play.
And like any good marker, he is well able to attack himself and put his man on the back foot. Barry’s pace and ball carrying, as well as his ability to contest kickouts, particularly on the wing side, asks unique questions of Fenton.
The former UCD Sigerson Cup winner came on as a substitute in the win over Tyrone and if he’s fit to start the final he most definitely should.
Midfield is not the only place where an intriguing aerial contest is expected. If the league encounter is anything to go by, Dublin’s full back line will be well tested too.
The engine In that match eight long balls made it in to the Kingdom’s inside line – Kerry won seven of them and scored 1-4 off those. For only two of the balls kicked in did the forward contesting actually win the ball themselves. Over the years this Dublin defence has expertly bunched out aerial threats such as Aidan O’Shea and Kieran Donaghy - but in Tralee the Kerry forwards gambled. They raced in under the breaks and got their rewards.
To give their forwards the same chance again though, and stop the Dubs from opening up at the other end, winning the midfield battle will be decisive. David Moran will have to get on top of a highly motivated and in-form Michael Dara Macauley, but most importantly of all, Brian Fenton will have to be effectively shackled. For the first time ever in a big championship match.
In the past the likes of Moran and Kildare’s Kevin Feely have matched him, but he’s never been nullified. The Dublin machine has many weapons, but Fenton is the engine. Stop him on the big day, and, well nobody knows.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Aug 24, 2019 11:37:52 GMT
Not sure is it true to say Dublin "coped with the Donaghy threat" in 2015.
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Post by Kingdomson on Aug 24, 2019 12:17:21 GMT
Not sure is it true to say Dublin "coped with the Donaghy threat" in 2015. Nope it certainly ain't true. In 2015 Donaghy made havoc and in a game where Dublin were the better team he caused nervous wreck and gave Kerry a punchers chance to draw it. For Dublin, it was more of case of putting human scaffolding around Donaghy and climbing all over him and a bit of eye-gouging thrown in for good measure. Dublin got away with an awful lot and repeated the dose in the 2016 league final where a clearly frustrated Fitzmaurice used a rather unfortunate but understandable turn of phrase and claimed Kieran Donaghy was subjected to “rape and pillage” Dublin fouling to the media. www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/eamonn-fitzmaurice-there-was-basically-rape-and-pillage-going-on-731259.html
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Post by oldschool on Aug 24, 2019 13:08:30 GMT
Not sure is it true to say Dublin "coped with the Donaghy threat" in 2015. If K. Donaghy got the frees and penalty (penalties) he deserved Dublin would not be on the Drive for 5. Just a thought
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Post by wideball on Aug 24, 2019 13:15:07 GMT
Not sure is it true to say Dublin "coped with the Donaghy threat" in 2015. If K. Donaghy got the frees and penalty (penalties) he deserved Dublin would not be on the Drive for 5. Just a thought Add to that, if Mayo hadn't scored 2 own goals in 2016 and if Lee Keegan had got a penalty instead of a 13 yard free late in the 2017 final then Dublin would only have 3 all Ireland's this decade.
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Post by oldschool on Aug 24, 2019 13:21:11 GMT
If K. Donaghy got the frees and penalty (penalties) he deserved Dublin would not be on the Drive for 5. Just a thought Add to that, if Mayo hadn't scored 2 own goals in 2016 and if Lee Keegan had got a penalty instead of a 13 yard free late in the 2017 final then Dublin would only have 3 all Ireland's this decade. Very true
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