Ger O’Keeffe: Kerry can’t match Dublin for depth
He says Kerry can’t match Dublin’s strength in depth and that it’s full-forward or nowhere for Kieran Donaghy.
Former All-Ireland winning selector O’Keeffe believes “Kerry have been found wanting” when leaving Aidan O’Mahony “on too long” in big games. He says if O’Mahony starts, he has to come off early and that neither he or Marc Ó Sé are capable of making a game-changing impact off the bench.
And he admits Kerry are an “unknown quantity” ahead of Sunday’s clash, having overcome Clare (twice) and Tipperary to reach the last four.
“Is the [Kerry] team that played against Clare the one that will play against Dublin? I don’t think so myself. Will they play the younger fellas or bring back the more experienced players? What kind of style will they implement?
“Will it be a big man in full-forward or will they play the three inside men — James O’Donoghue, Colm Cooper and Paul Geaney? These are the questions.
“And will they play Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Tadhg Morley in the half-back line? It’s hard to know — they might play one and who do they play midfield?
“I don’t see Donaghy as a number one choice midfielder. I don’t think in a situation like Croke Park that he’s suited to midfield.
“If you’re going to pick him, leave him closer to goal. Looking at the general trend, teams have had a lot of joy with the long ball and it’s suddenly dawning on everybody that no matter how fast you run, the ball travels faster.”
He believes that for Kerry to have any chance of beating Dublin, they’ll have to get the ball into the full-forward line long and often, as the Sky Blues have the pace to dominate other areas of the pitch.
“If one was to look at the Kerry teams of the 70s and 80s and look at the Dublin team of the 70s, Kerry had the pace but it’s the other way around now and Kerry have the less mobile players.
“It’s what you do then in that situation. Kerry don’t have the personnel to play the type of football that Dublin can, that high-octane game for 75 minutes with six subs coming in. Kerry don’t have 21 players so they have to devise an alternative system.
“They don’t have the same quality on the bench that Dublin have and the Dublin subs that have come in against Kerry over the last number of games have had a greater impact than Kerry’s.
“That’s another very important issue that Kerry have to deal with — don’t bring on a sub because someone is playing badly because if you do, you have a problem.
“You bring on subs to increase the momentum and keep the momentum going.
“That’s why they have GPS systems on the back of their shirts and the backroom staff should know what’s happening.
“Kerry have been found wanting with Aidan O’Mahony being left on too long in a number of games. Aidan has been playing inter-county football for 13 or 14 years and doesn’t have the pace and energy to last a high-octane game. If they do pick him, they’ll have to look at a substitution around half-time.
“The other thing is whether they pick Marc Ó Sé. It’s unlikely as they haven’t picked him in any of the games so far so if they’re bringing on the likes of O’Mahony and Ó Sé, they’re not going to add pace to the game.”
Amid speculation that James O’Donoghue may play at half-forward to tie up Dublin sweeper Cian O’Sullivan, O’Keeffe said:
“Kerry have to develop their own plan, be cognisant of Dublin’s strength but rather than being negative, they should trust themselves rather than worrying about the opposition.
“Dublin have beaten them when they put plans into a situation so adopt more of a positive role and use the strengths they have.”
And yet O’Keeffe suspects Sunday’s game could finish in a draw, adding: “Obviously Dublin are favourites but Kerry have to play better and stick to the pace of the game. If they do and subs like Barry John Keane play to scratch and get scores, they’ll be there or thereabouts.”
