NFL Rd 2 - Kerry v Dublin - Austin Stack Park Sat 5 Feb 7pm

[kerrybhoy06]

An Interesting team is how I would put it.
We are obviously going with 3 men in midfield with Spillane dropping in and paudie dropping to wing forward.

I would have thought that negated the need for someone like Moynihan to be there in a work horse role.

Spillane sitting, Barry tagging and Diarmuid + Seanie with licence to attack while still putting in a shift is probably enough to commit to that structure but time will tell.

Both Geaney and Killian Spillane, when he comes on, really need to do something in this game as we really lacking support for Clifford inside

I am getting a slight feeling that we may be slipping back into the Peter Keane mode of being more concerned with trying not to lose rather trying to actually win as this is 2 team selections in a row that prioritised the former.

[Whosinmidfield]

I hope Barry doesn’t just go out tonight to mark Fenton. He needs to play his own game. We need him catching kickouts, being an option in possession and tackling with intensity. He’s there too long now to just mark a player who’s influence is very overblown.

[southward]

Feb 5, 2022 9:57:41 GMT Whosinmidfield said:

I hope Barry doesn’t just go out tonight to mark Fenton. He needs to play his own game. We need him catching kickouts, being an option in possession and tackling with intensity. He’s there too long now to just mark a player who’s influence is very overblown.

Exactly. Let Fenton mark Barry if he wants.

[mike70]

Dessie is keeping us in suspense.

[kerryman99]

Feb 5, 2022 10:12:50 GMT mike70 said:

Dessie is keeping us in suspense.

Its a joke. I thought the rules were you had to name a team by a certain time beforehand? Even if its not strictly accurate at least it gives the fans to talk about possible match ups etc.

[kerrybhoy06]

Feb 5, 2022 10:03:09 GMT southward said:

Feb 5, 2022 9:57:41 GMT Whosinmidfield said:

I hope Barry doesn’t just go out tonight to mark Fenton. He needs to play his own game. We need him catching kickouts, being an option in possession and tackling with intensity. He’s there too long now to just mark a player who’s influence is very overblown.

Exactly. Let Fenton mark Barry if he wants.

Ah lads, seriously?
Fenton playing his own game and Barry playing his own game means that we start the game around 4 points down

[brucewayne]

SAT, 05 FEB, 2022 - 06:00

Éamonn Fitzmaurice

We expect a reaction from both Dublin and Kerry tonight in Tralee. Neither will be happy with last week’s results or performances, though they both will probably have had a little smile to themselves when they saw subsequent commentary, after one game in January.

Question marks hang over Kerry, and Dublin are being written off.

First things first. It is important to give some context with regard to where the top teams are at right now as they focus on the big picture. Both Kerry and Dublin have designs on the All-Ireland and will have worked their training plan backwards from July to ensure they are peaking when it matters most.

What that means for their training at the moment in such a condensed season I’m not sure, but both teams looked as if they have done a block of work recently. The panel is tight at this time of the year with some players club-tied, injured, or returning late. Sigerson Cup is also a factor for Kerry. The Sigerson players won’t have been training as they were playing games midweek. It won’t affect their individual preparation but it does affect the collective session.

Throw in the few knocks and bruises and sessions can be seriously compromised. Numbers will be well down and playing full football to work on match-specific aspects, which is exactly what is required, can be challenging. Finally with a tight squad, a lot of the players have played a huge amount of football in January. For many of the Kerry players, this evening’s Division One game will be their fifth in six weeks. When players get back to playing matches after a lay off they are mad for road, are fresh and hungry.

However, playing this volume of games so close together without being up to full fitness dulls the appetite. This is why I never liked the McGrath Cup as a manager. That new season bounce and mad hunger for football had often dissipated by the time the league came around and players were a bit jaded when it mattered most. For all these reasons there will be little or no panic within either camp. That doesn’t mean that anyone gets a free pass this evening as both managers and sets of players will be really up for it and will be anxious to win. To lay down a marker if nothing else.


Dublin have come back to the pack and it means that this year’s league and championship are as open as they have been in quite some time. However, they are still well capable of winning the All-Ireland, if and when they get all their key players back on the pitch together. On the evidence of last Saturday, they have plenty to be working on.

They are a distance away from the swashbuckling Dublin that I remember coming up against, where you had to be right at the top of your game to beat them. With that group, I think of how good they were all over the field and on the bench, their power plays when the crowd got behind them and when they did serious damage on the scoreboard. I can recall the excellence of their manager and his selectors. Most of all I remember a determination and bloody-mindedness that meant they were never beaten and this set them apart. That is what I grudgingly admired the most about them and respected them for.

Last Saturday night in Croke Park, with the ball they were passive and unimaginative, without it they lacked structure and their work rate all over the pitch was conspicuously absent. Rian O’Neill’s goal was a perfect illustration of all that is currently wrong with Dublin.

After a period of ineffective handpassing in the final third Niall Scully recycled the ball to Brian Howard who in his attempt to play Scully in handpassed the ball straight to Rory Grugan. He was able to take three solos at his dead ease without a hand being put on him before he popped the ball to Aidan Nugent in space in front of the Cusack Stand. Nugent in turn was able to give a great diagonal ball to take out Davy Byrne and put O’Neill through.

After the initial turnover Dublin’s reaction is shocking. No one tries to get to the ball to put heat on Grugan. There is no attempt to tactically foul to get back in shape. There is zero reaction to the turnover with none of the players between Grugan and their own goal sprinting back to help Byrne. There isn’t a pre-planned solid structure in place to deal with this exact eventuality. Nugent has time to get his head up and make the pass. Byrne is playing from way out in front even though there is no pressure on the ball. Of course, the initial turnover came from a static attack that they had bored themselves to death with, by the repeated recycling of possession with no one coming on the burst in support to break the line. There was so much wrong and un-Dublinlike about the whole move.

Dessie Farrell won’t be able to click his fingers and get all this right in a week. So what exactly can he do in seven days to get a tune out of his team and at the very least make them harder to play against?

As outlined Farrell has a lot to think about but to improve for tonight he will focus on a couple of key areas. Long term his biggest challenge is to find a way to attack and defend with intent as a group, again. For Tralee tonight, the biggest changes will come in terms of attitude, shooting accuracy, and tackling. I’m sure the video session after last week’s game was an uncomfortable experience for many of the Dublin players.

Mistakes on the ball may have been illustrated but it is their attitude and workrate off the ball that Farrell will have highlighted and gone after by calling players out and wondering what in the name of God they were doing. He would have plenty of ammo by just showing the O’Neill goal and nothing else. He will demand that they tackle hard and aggressively tonight and I expect them to. He may make personnel changes to bring a bit of a physical edge to them. He will get plenty of bodies into their own half when they don’t have the ball.

The last thing he will want to do is give confidence to the Kerry forwards and allow them to grow. They will also have spent plenty of time on their shooting as their accuracy against Armagh was way below the normal level. By simply improving these couple of areas they will be a different prospect. They may also look to go long more often from their kickouts. The constant chips short are no longer effective and by going long to Brian Fenton it may allow them to play some front-foot football.

Meanwhile, on the Kerry side, Jack O’Connor is getting to know his players. He has seen plenty of them already but to really get to know a player you have to be in the trenches with them. He is looking for men that he can trust on the big days in Croke Park. That trust is earned on nights like tonight with a big home crowd watching every move closely. He will expect much more from his forwards, will want them to be way smarter in possession and cut out the fatuous and costly turnovers.

They should have more space to operate in Austin Stack Park and he will expect them to move the ball on quicker. He will have spent time on his inside forwards this week and will demand that they secure the ball when it is put inside and go from there. He will be happy with the workrate in general and the shape at the back in particular. Dublin will provide a different test in this regard and it will be interesting to see how they free up Tadhg Morley to help on defence.

Jack felt last year with Kildare he had the blueprint in the Leinster final to beat the Dubs.

He will feel he has the players to do just that now.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2022 9:38:50 GMT kerrybhoy06 said:

An Interesting team is how I would put it.
We are obviously going with 3 men in midfield with Spillane dropping in and paudie dropping to wing forward.

I would have thought that negated the need for someone like Moynihan to be there in a work horse role.

Spillane sitting, Barry tagging and Diarmuid + Seanie with licence to attack while still putting in a shift is probably enough to commit to that structure but time will tell.

Both Geaney and Killian Spillane, when he comes on, really need to do something in this game as we really lacking support for Clifford inside

I am getting a slight feeling that we may be slipping back into the Peter Keane mode of being more concerned with trying not to lose rather trying to actually win as this is 2 team selections in a row that prioritised the former.

I was thinking the same thing, this is a very PKesque looking team.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2022 7:47:13 GMT Chinatown said:

So folks looks like the weather could be wild enough this evening. I am travelling down from the pale with two garsuns this pm. If wanted to try and get seats in stand, would you need to be there before 6?

Any thoughts? Thanks

where is animal gone?

[Mickmack]

Malachi Clerkin

We were on the train to Tralee, the day after Patrick’s Day 2017. The Dubs were playing Kerry that night and an intrepid gang of explorers were striking out from the city in search of adventure. They were each nursing two things – fuzzy heads from the night before and bottles of Heineken for the day ahead.

“Here lads, just remember,” one of them said, entirely in earnest. “It’s Tralee we’re going to. Every woman down here has been called a rose at least once in her life. We’ll need to come up with better lines than that.”

League game or no league game, you’ve got to put in the hard yards.

Five years on, that game sticks in the memory for two reasons. One, it was the night Dublin equalled the 34-game unbeaten streak that belonged to the Kerry team of the 1930s. It was Jim Gavin’s Dublin at their grittiest, nuttiest best. Their starting 15 scored just two points from play and still they didn’t lose. They had no reason to chase down the four-point lead Kerry had built up after half-time other than that it was there to be chased.

Had they come up short, they would have been criticised by nobody, other than themselves. They scored the last two points of the night, into the wind and deep into injury-time, eking out the sort of draw that had kept them unbeaten in league and championship for two years. It was one of those nights where the rest of the game could only look on and despair of them ever being toppled.

However indirectly, that sense of inevitability fed into the other reason it was a game to remember. The performance of Jack Barry in Kerry’s midfield that night was a revelation. It was his debut season and this was just his fourth start as a senior footballer. He spent the night thundering into Brian Fenton, invading his space and roughing him up, making it the first time anyone could remember seeing Fenton thrown off his game in his young career. And still the Dubs weren’t beaten.


All the same, Barry looked like the future of the Kerry midfield that night. He was 22, bull-headed and raw and exactly what Kerry had been missing. Their midfield since Darragh Ó Sé’s retirement in 2009 had essentially been David Moran (when fit) plus one, with that one being variations of Micheál Quirke, Kieran Donaghy, Bryan Sheehan, Anthony Maher and Johnny Buckley.


They all had their qualities – Sheehan and Maher won midfield All Stars and all five of them were classier footballers than Barry – but none of them had his dynamism or his aggression. He combined the stamina of a long-distance runner with the lust for contact of a blindside flanker. Kerry people looked at him and surmised that if all he did with his career was annoy Brian Fenton, it would be plenty.

In the wake of their draw with Kildare in Newbridge last Sunday, Jack O’Connor was keen to stress that Kerry were short anything up to seven or eight of their desired panel. He may well have been gilding the lily a touch – it would be no surprise if anything up a dozen of his starters last Sunday are key men come summer – but he clearly had missing midfielders in mind. Kerry won’t challenge later in the year without coming to an accommodation there.

Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor were on duty for Na Gaeil, the Tralee club that won the Kerry intermediate championship over the winter and whose All-Ireland run finished at the semi-final stage last Saturday. The Kerry manager said in Newbridge that he will ask them if they want to be involved against Dublin – you’d imagine it will be a short conversation.

A longer one concerns the shape and make of the Kerry midfield for the rest of the season. A fit Moran would usually be set in stone but he picked up a bad groin injury early in the Kerry county final. He isn’t expected to feature until the end of the league, if at all. Even when he returns, Moran will be 34 in the summer. Whatever contribution he is able to make, it probably won’t be a great sign of Kerry’s prospects if he is still their go-to man.


Also on the injured list is Stefan Okunbor, recently repatriated from Geelong in the AFL. He may or may not have been earmarked for midfield – although he played there during the McGrath Cup, O’Connor was likely to give him a whirl at centre back at some stage this spring as well. Either way, it’s all immaterial now. Okunbor dislocated his shoulder in the final minute of Na Gaeil’s defeat last Saturday and, like Moran, is expected miss pretty much the whole of the league.

The Kerry midfield that did turn out last Sunday was Seán O’Shea and Adrian Spillane, a partnership that actually worked out reasonably well for the first half and the early parts of the second. They combined to start the move that led to the Kerry goal just five minutes in, Spillane doing the grunt work in turning over Paul Cribbin just inside the Kerry half before feeding O’Shea to get Kerry on the move.

Three passes and 15 seconds later, Killian Spillane was turning to flick home a fairly scrappy goal, a score that owed most to Gavin White’s flashing run down the left side of the Kerry attack. But it started with Kildare possession in the middle third and it was the industry and accuracy of Spillane and O’Shea that turned it into a Kerry opportunity.


It immediately got better from there too. As Kerry pressed up on Mark Donnellan’s kick-out, Spillane was able to rise to take a mark from the very next play. He fed the younger Spillane inside, who transferred to Paudie Clifford, making space for O’Shea just inside the Kildare 45. All it took was a neat sidestep to dodge past Cribbin and O’Shea was able to convert from around 40 metres out on an angle.


Midfield crisis? What midfield crisis? In the space of no more than two minutes, Spillane and O’Shea had done everything you could wish from a centrefield pairing. Defence and attack, tackles and turnovers, processing ball and delivering end product. If it was like that all the time, Kerry would have a crucial component of their championship team locked down. But it isn’t and they don’t.

As the clock ticked past the hour mark last Sunday, Kerry led by four points, 1-10 to 0-9. Not only did Kildare retrieve what should have been a doomed situation, they did so by demolishing the Kerry midfield for the rest of the game. Spillane in particular got a roasting from Kevin Feely, whose introduction at half-time was the crucial factor in the turnaround.

With five minutes of stoppage-time added on by David Coldrick, there were 15 minutes left in the game. Spillane got on the ball six times in those 15 minutes, O’Shea five. Of those 11 possessions, all but two were lateral or backwards passes. Spillane did put in one ferocious turnover tackle in the 69th minute with the game in the melting pot but otherwise, he struggled to have a positive impact.

Instead, it was Feely who dominated the closing stages. He took two marks from Kildare to begin moves that ended in scores, beating Spillane in the air for both of them. Feely broke another long kick-out – this time from a Kerry kick-out – down to Jack Sargent and Kildare were away again in the 65th minute. Again, it was Spillane who he beat in the air.

The two Kerry midfielders got on the ball three times each in an extended bout of Kerry keep-ball soon after but because virtually every movement of the ball was across or backwards, Kildare were eventually able to turn them over. Daniel Flynn sprinted back into midfield, took Paul Murphy by surprise and Kildare were away. Even the equalising score came from a free conceded by an untidy Spillane tackle on Cribbin.


If that all sounds like needlessly focusing on Spillane, it’s only because the crucial moments of the endgame all seemed to go through him. But Kerry needed more from O’Shea too, who was captain for the day. When the tide of kick-outs was going against them, Kerry needed their leaders to demand the ball. O’Shea came short for one in the 58th minute – Tony Brosnan eventually scored Kerry’s last point from it – but he was anonymous otherwise.

It will probably be a bad sign of how Jack O’Connor’s first year has progressed if he finds he hasn’t been able to move O’Shea into the attack by the time the summer comes around. His more withdrawn role meant he only had three shots at the posts on Sunday. Precisely because he is one of the best forwards in the game, he scored all three.

The ideal scenario for Kerry will be if Jack Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor can return in the coming weeks and make the middle of the field their own. Tonight in Tralee might come a bit quick for them, especially since they haven’t the same level of intercounty work done as the others. Then again, O’Connor could well decide that these are the ideal conditions to get going. No better time. No better place.

Most of all, no better opponents.

[ciarraigodeo]

Dublin team:
Comerford
Gannon
Byrne
McMahon
McCarthy
Howard
Small
Fenton
Lahiff
Bugler
Kilkenny
Scully
Basquel
Callaghan
Ross McGarry

[ciarraigodeo]

Feb 5, 2022 12:21:02 GMT ciarraigodeo said:

Dublin team:
Comerford
Gannon
Byrne
McMahon
McCarthy
Howard
Small
Fenton
Lahiff
Bugler
Kilkenny
Scully
Basquel
Callaghan
Ross McGarry

This is the team named anyway! Word on the street is a couple of injuries there.

[Whosinmidfield]

Feb 5, 2022 12:21:56 GMT ciarraigodeo said:

Feb 5, 2022 12:21:02 GMT ciarraigodeo said:

Dublin team:
Comerford
Gannon
Byrne
McMahon
McCarthy
Howard
Small
Fenton
Lahiff
Bugler
Kilkenny
Scully
Basquel
Callaghan
Ross McGarry

This is the team named anyway! Word on the street is a couple of injuries there.

Will O’Callaghan start? If he’s named he must be fit. That’s huge for Dublin, he’s vital for them if on form. Will be a big test for Foley.

[Mickmack]

Dublin are failing in too many basic areas. Their mindset must change - and it must start in Tralee
Philly McMahon


February 05 2022 02:30 AM

The Chinese word for crisis is made up of two characters. One means ‘danger’. The other means ‘opportunity’.

If there’s a neat way to sum up the situation Dublin found themselves in this week, it might be this Chinese interpretation of the concept.

The danger now is obvious, but so is the opportunity.

Tralee on a cold Saturday night. Full house. The Dubs in town. Locals howling at the moon, baying for blue blood.

When I picture it now, Paul Geaney is the first person that pops into my head.

We played Kerry there in 2017 and, unusually, I was marking Geaney.

He’s an excellent forward. Strong. Skilful. Capable of hurting you in a few different ways.

But generally, whenever we played Kerry, Mick Fitzsimons would take Geaney and I’d be tagged with a Kieran Donaghy or a Tommy Walsh to grapple with for 70 minutes.

That night in Tralee, the ground was heaving a couple of hours before throw-in. Everyone was amped up. The Kerry players. Their supporters. You could sense it when we stepped off the bus.

Games like this are a powder keg at the best of times – all they need is a spark.



On a tight pitch, under lights with 30 fellas determined not to flinch or yield a millimetre, it was only a question of when.


Now, during my time playing with Dublin, there were very few things that teams didn’t try to get at our kick-outs.

On this particular night, Kerry figured they’d delay them by kicking the spare balls away from behind Stephen Cluxton’s goal, so that every time the match ball went dead, he’d have to go and retrieve it himself.


Funnily enough, the ball boys at that end seemed to have been given the night off.

The idea was that we’d be slow to restart and Kerry bought themselves a precious few extra seconds to set up their press. Perfect.

That night, Geaney was their main provocateur. He’d stand right in front of Stephen once he retrieved the ball and toe-poke it off the tee.

At this point, I’d like to acknowledge that the following may not come as a major surprise. But I didn’t have much patience for this at all.

So I grabbed Geaney, moved him swiftly from harm’s way and wrestled him to the ground.

It wasn’t premeditated, your honour. I just reacted. Geaney was pushing it, trying to get into Stephen’s head and dictate the speed of our kick-out.

But here was the spark for the fuse on the powder keg. Ka-boom!

Those kinds of rumbles change the tone of a match, especially if they happen early. It’s fight or flight and fellas react in different ways.

Some get energised by a row. They play better and hit harder.

Others are rattled. You can see it in their body language. They shrink. They’re quieter, more reserved for the rest of the game.

Anyway, it wasn’t about kick-outs. Not really.

In those Kerry/Dublin league games, there’s always more than just the match going on. There’s the play within the play.

I always wanted to carve a little perch for myself inside the head of the fella I was marking.

Whether that was by keeping him scoreless, by kicking a point myself or by winning the physical and psychological duel, I’d look for anything.

Listen, I’m not ruling out the possibility that this is all in my own head, but I liked to imagine that if we met them again later that year, he’d be thinking about me the week before. That I’d be one set up in the psychological tennis match before the first ball was served. That was my mindset.

Looking back now in the very early stage of retirement, I didn’t play enough of those games. I loved them.

There’s some genius theory out there that the Dubs don’t like travelling. That we prefer the comfort of Croke Park, but I’d have gone away every week. Genuinely.

We all would. Everybody on our team bus relished those games. I loved going to Kerry. Still do.

Bad performances in the league can be a bit like kicking wides in a warm-up. Best to get them out of your system now.

That doesn’t mean Dublin can disregard last week. Far from it. They failed in too many of the very basics.

For all its tactical evolution, football is effectively a game of space. You create it when you have possession. You eradicate it when you don’t. Dublin did neither last week.

Take the first goal. All evening, Armagh brought men back, jammed up the scoring zone and forced Dublin to send more runners. They waited and squeezed until the Dublin ball carrier wandered down a cul-de-sac, then swarmed and turned him over.

By now, most of the Dublin defenders are in the wrong half, so Armagh move it quickly to a kicker who delivers it long. Now they’re in danger.

No defender in Ireland has a chance against Rian O’Neill in that sort of space. None. Davy Byrne should not have been left in that position.

The best thing he can do in that situation is to defend from behind on O’Neill’s shoulder, allow him to get the ball and push him away from goal so a point is the only option, and then call for backup.

Lee Gannon, a serious prospect, was the closest team-mate, but he’s new and probably still getting to grips with what’s required. Should Davy have called him in?

As for the difficulty Dublin had breaking Armagh down, we won All-Irelands decoding and dismantling defences better than Armagh’s last Saturday, so tactics aren’t the issue. But attitude might be.

Back to our Chinese lesson.

The danger for Dublin tonight isn’t that they lose. It’s that they underperform again, so the noise around the team gets louder and more negative and even harder to ignore. Suddenly, you start reacting to those performances, looking for quick fixes rather than sticking to your long-term plan.

You’re not in control anymore.

If I was still playing, the other Chinese symbol, the one representing opportunity, would guide how I think. In basic terms, Dublin must tackle more, work harder and be aggressive with the ball tonight.

But to do all that requires a change of mindset and attitude and if they didn’t start that process immediately last Saturday night, it’s already too late.

Kerry have their own issues. They demonstrated that in Newbridge last week. They’re beatable. I’m certain Dublin are capable of it if they come with the right attitude.

If there’s a single Dublin player not relishing that opportunity this very second, he’s sitting on the wrong bus.

[mike70]

There coming to win

[dc84]

Feb 5, 2022 13:17:56 GMT mike70 said:

There coming to win

Good to see ,should be a battle with mcarthy and o callaghan back it puts a different look to them

[taggert]

4 of Kerry's 6 backs named are on the small side. Will be interesting to see if this is a factor tonite.
Kilkenny and Con destroyed Kerry's defence in the league last year - Kilkenny Begley and Con Morley.
Kilkenny played most of the game agsinst Armagh in the area that Murohy is defending so will be one to watch.

Dublins half back line is probably the best we could face if those 3 line out - 3 physical monsters.

A real contrast to our own.

[royalkerryfan]

I hope that's Dublins team.

If we beat them then we beat them with Con etc.

That's what we need.

[ciarraigodeo]

Feb 5, 2022 12:47:00 GMT Whosinmidfield said:

Feb 5, 2022 12:21:56 GMT ciarraigodeo said:

This is the team named anyway! Word on the street is a couple of injuries there.

Will O’Callaghan start? If he’s named he must be fit. That’s huge for Dublin, he’s vital for them if on form. Will be a big test for Foley.

Wasn’t expecting to see him either but as you say, no harm to see how Foley does. No Rock is another surprise…he looked to me like a fella that needs game time. The forecast is dreadful obviously, I’m surprised there’s no Rock for frees. They’re hardly at the dummy team craic this early though!

[Mickmack]

A half back line of McCarthy, Howard and John Small will be a tough one to crack.
The game could be decided on how much change Kerry get from it.

In Thur;es last year Kilkenny got on the ball several times in the first half, took a few solos and hops and then handpassed over the heads of Kerry defenders to a colleague through on goal. There is a few points in Bugler and Scully.

At the other end Kerry will hopefully be trying to wreck Comerfords head when he is taking kickouts.

I dont know anything about Lee Gannon at corner back.

For the first time since 2010, Dublin need to make a point in the league in Kerry so i wont be that surprised if they win this. However, the wind, rain, slippy ball and slippy conditions will mean errors and mistakes and whoever can convert scorers from breaks around the scoring area will be in pole position. It could be a good night to launch the odd scud missile in high.

[veteran]

I wonder would Jack be tempted to play Tom O’Sullivan at full back on Con O’Callaghn?

I suspect Dublin will make us go long most of the time with a height advantage in a lot of areas.

That is a formidable looking Dublin half back line.

[royalkerryfan]

We are at home,

Let's give it to them this evening.

League or not let's stand up tonight.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2022 13:56:38 GMT Mickmack said:

A half back line of McCarthy, Howard and John Small will be a tough one to crack.
The game could be decided on how much change Kerry get from it.

In Thur;es last year Kilkenny got on the ball several times in the first half, took a few solos and hops and then handpassed over the heads of Kerry defenders to a colleague through on goal. There is a few points in Bugler and Scully.

At the other end Kerry will hopefully be trying to wreck Comerfords head when he is taking kickouts.

I dont know anything about Lee Gannon at corner back.

For the first time since 2010, Dublin need to make a point in the league in Kerry so i wont be that surprised if they win this. However, the wind, rain, slippy ball and slippy conditions will mean errors and mistakes and whoever can convert scorers from breaks around the scoring area will be in pole position. It could be a good night to launch the odd scud missile in high.

I think both teams will be trying a few scud missiles Mick Mack, I don't fancy our chances at all tonight, my faith has taken a fair old rockin since our performance Last sunday.

[Kingdomson]

No surprise from Dublin. As fully expected Dublin went strong with a serious middle eight. Moreover, turning our perceived strengths into weakness has been a Dublin trait for years now and this won’t disappear in an evening. Plenty of high fielders in the Dublin half-forward line too and if they get the usual mismatches right they'll see possession won. Over a number of years the Dubs have repeatedly targeted Paul Murphy, and gained easy possession on his side or ran ball through his lane with Kilkenny especially often pucking him out of his way. Following a well-worn template and because they're good students in Tyrone, they ran a pile of ball directly through Paul's lane repeatedly in last year’s semi-final because he won't stop you. Nice player mind and great heart, good carrier of the ball and a linkman, but mismatch him and it’s repeat and rinse. Sometimes we're just slow learners.

[royalkerryfan]

You simply can't hit a switch and turn form on.

Less negativity on here and more let's give them their fill of it.

[taggert]

Feb 5, 2022 14:49:07 GMT Kingdomson said:

No surprise from Dublin. As fully expected Dublin went strong with a serious middle eight. Moreover, turning our perceived strengths into weakness has been a Dublin trait for years now and this won’t disappear in an evening. Plenty of high fielders in the Dublin half-forward line too and if they get the usual mismatches right they'll see possession won. Over a number of years the Dubs have repeatedly targeted Paul Murphy, and gained easy possession on his side or ran ball through his lane with Kilkenny especially often pucking him out of his way. Following a well-worn template and because they're good students in Tyrone, they ran a pile of ball directly through Paul's lane repeatedly in last year’s semi-final because he won't stop you. Nice player mind and great heart, good carrier of the ball and a linkman, but mismatch him and it’s repeat and rinse. Sometimes we're just slow learners.

I think you are spot on here and I have said this above re Kilkenny. Murphy has been shoved/brushed aside too easily and we simply lack power (and height) in the half back line. Begley was swatted aside last year so its something to keep an eye on.

[taggert]

People queueing outside the ground for stand seats since 4ish. There will be patrons frothing at the mouth by the time the match throws in at 7pm.....

[ciarraigodeo]

I was joking about the dummy team. 4 changes. Jesus wept, it’s February.

[taggert]

Whatever about putting out a weakened team, Dublin co. board should be fined for the messing with named team and subs, jersey no.'s etc.
A total farce.

[gaelicden]

Didn't do too badly