Killarney has makings of a right scrap
The absence of so many stars from the outset in this his fifth season in charge of a Kerry team, changed the agenda somewhat and winning a league title was never going to be one of the burning ambitions of 2010 in Kerry. There is however, a tidy symmetry between the only other year that Kerry failed to make the league play-offs during O’Connor’s tenure (2005) and the current league campaign. This time five years ago a late Mark Harte point for Tyrone in Killarney denied Kerry a place in the final stages on scoring returns leaving O’Connor to lament the fine margins and final day drama that league encounters sometime tend to bring about.
I’m sure O’Connor and his Kerry team will welcome the drama at the end of the league this weekend and the high wire act of scrapping for survival might also be embraced after a lacklustre and distinctly low key campaign. With the start of the championship only five weeks away, the margins for error are becoming a lot finer too.
Having lost their first league game by just a single point nine weeks ago against Cork and having blown a six- point lead to lose by three in their most recent league outing against Mayo, tomorrow’s opponents, Monaghan know a good deal about the fine margins between victory and defeat. Their previous stint in Division 1 four years ago was marked by spirited performances and narrow defeats to teams like Kerry and Tyrone and indeed, their one point win against Tyrone in Inniskeen a few weeks back was another one that could gone either way.
That Monaghan came out the right side of it had as much to do with Tyrone’s backs coughing up cheap frees as it did to Monaghan’s willingness to engage in a scrap with their Ulster neighbours. Of course it’s almost unthinkable that a Monaghan team containing the combative skills and innate aggression of Dessie Mone, Darren Hughes, Dick Clerkin and Vinnie Corey wouldn’t relish a battle against more illustrious opponents.
The other unthinkable scenario for Seamus McEnaney, his backroom staff and his team, arduously and assiduously assembled over a period of considered effort, is that any progress made in the last five or six years could once again be set at nought should Monaghan be relegated from Division 1 in Killarney tomorrow.
Five years ago, when the GAA world was beguiled with the romance of a re-emerging Monaghan and the disarming ebullience of their rookie manager, we were only too willing to assign their mistakes to inexperience. Back then, their most fickle supporters could still see enough progress in defeat and even in relegation to keep them encouraged. The days of Monaghan football folk accepting moral victories are a dim a distant memory now thanks largely to McEnaney’s naked ambition but one wonders if unrealistic expectation hasn’t sometimes served to ratchet up the pressure on the current team.
This time last year there was a suggestion that perhaps the experimental rules in the league had curtailed Monaghan’s natural competitive instincts coming into the championship but as the season wore on it became apparent that their desire was also beginning to dilute. Something different was needed and people wondered aloud if McEnaney was the person best placed to bring that ingredient to the table. McEnaney thought long and hard about his involvement with the team but his ability to entice a football coach like Paul Grimley and his continued esteem for strength and conditioning coach Martin McElkennon informed him that he still had the stomach for the challenge.
Playing Division 1 football on a consistent basis was a key part of that challenge and if we ignore the fact that Monaghan have the second worst defensive record in Division 1 (only Galway have conceded more) and if we disregard the fact that Monaghan have lost all their away league games this season, we see that a desire for top-flight status is what makes Monaghan very dangerous opponents for Kerry in a winner takes all scrap tomorrow. Any bunch of players capable of nearly executing the most famous coup of the last decade in Croke Park certainly won’t back away from a do or die battle in Killarney. Many of these Monaghan players are experienced enough to travel well and stubborn enough to plug the holes that saw them leak 4-33 in the first two games of the campaign.
Concern has been expressed in some quarters that Monaghan are still turning to the tried and trusted players to dig them out of a hole and that they haven’t unearthed any new players to bolster their squad, but if we take full account of the accumulated evidence from this year’s league we see that Cork are one of the few top-flight without that concern.
The reality for Monaghan and many other teams trying to make the big breakthrough is that the big teams will always have the best subs and despite having tried out numerous prospects over the last five seasons, McEnaney hasn’t managed to fill his subs bench with the calibre of player that the top teams have at their disposal. Getting the most out of players like Paul Finlay, Ciarán Hanratty and Tommy Freeman (who have performed well against Kerry) could be enough to trouble the Kingdom again.
After his indifferent showing against Mayo two weeks ago, the stage is set for Tommy Freeman to add to the 4-8 he’s scored in the league this year but he has to be employed closer to the opposition goal for that to happen. Freeman is the type of player who gets frustrated if he isn’t on the ball frequently and handling the ball only four times in the first half against Mayo a fortnight ago saw him drift outfield in the second half in search of possession. During the critical ten minute period in the middle of the second half against Mayo when they relinquished the six point lead, Freeman was directly or indirectly responsible for the concession of 1-2 because of his positioning on the field and his poor awareness of the defensive skills of the game.
On the plus side for Monaghan, Darren Hughes has emerged as a defender of real substance, his younger brother Ciarán has adapted well to senior inter-county football and Conor McManus has added a few more elements to his game to avoid becoming the one-dimensional footballer he threatened to be twelve months ago. Shane Duffy’s lack of imagination with his booming kick-out remains a nagging concern but Monaghan are probably going to try and create the conditions for a ground war tomorrow so that what goes up will be devoured when it comes down.
If Kerry aren’t up for the scrap they could pay the price but with their own Division 1 status at stake and the whiff of championship in their nostrils, appetite and attitude shouldn’t be an issue. Kerry to prevail.
