Fogarty Forum: Kerry may lack ‘badness’ to win
Kerry manager Jack O'Connor will be concerned by the lack of cuteness possessed by his talented panel. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Seven years ago, Croke Park via Central Council outlined why they did not wish to see the clock/hooter introduced to Gaelic football and hurling. Despite being voted in at Congress, trials at third level in 2014 and ‘15 provided GAA officials with enough ammunition to down the proposal.
“Fouling down the clock” was cited as one reason — "Teams literally fouled constantly in the closing minutes until the hooter sounded to protect a lead. The time taken to book or caution players in such circumstances eats further into the time available.” “Negative possession” in football was another — “This did not make for entertaining viewing and led, in some of the games, to games literally petering out, even when on occasion there was very little between the teams on the scoreboard.”
Anyone who remembers how Kerry played keep-ball in additional time in the 2007 All-Ireland semi-final win over Dublin when Colm Cooper literally went to the corner flag knows that such possession existed long before the clock/hooter. Taking almost a minute, Kerry strung together 15 passes.
Eleven years later and Dublin, six points up against Tyrone in the final with 20 minutes to play, amassed 29 passes before Brian Fenton sent over a point. In total, their possession lasted one minute and 48 seconds.
In the previous year’s final, 2017, Dublin fouled down the seconds remaining after Dean Rock’s winning free. Following Lee Keegan’s GPS fling at Rock, they might say they were matching cynicism with cynicism but infringing like they did before David Clarke’s restart was systematic and, as unseemly as it was, exactly what the GAA feared the clock/hooter would precipitate except the clock/hooter wasn’t in operation.
Having been on the receiving end of Dublin’s “negative possession” in 2018, Tyrone showed they had learned their lessons, milking stoppages in the closing stages and the likes of Cathal McShane cleverly recycling the ball.
There was also an element of the dark arts too, Conn Fitzpatrick holding Matthew Ruane after fouling him just as the clock was moving into additional time and then instigating the clash that would lead to Ruane lashing out and striking him. In total, two minutes and six seconds were spent dealing with the incident and Niall Morgan cleverly wasting time in restarting the game.
After an opening weekend where Donegal, Kerry and Monaghan once again exhibited their lack of ruthlessness, the examples set by Dublin and Tyrone become even sharper. They are two teams, possibly the only two, who know how to get the job done and are prepared to do whatever it takes.
Jack O’Connor is only beginning his third coming but the history that repeated itself in Newbridge has to be disconcerting. As he highlighted, his team were trying to hold onto a lead with 20 minutes to go. Like last August’s All-Ireland semi-final, they lost their lead in the final quarter. It was in keeping with the drawn 2019 All-Ireland final when again they couldn’t stay ahead in the closing stages.
In the Jim McGuinness era, a Donegal lead, whatever the size, felt like a vice. Now, against their peers, there is little security to the advantages they manufacture. That another penalty was not converted, Paddy McBrearty this time being denied by Rob Hennelly after Michael Murphy sent his wide against Tyrone last July, has to be noted too.
Monaghan can only address their Croke Park championship hang-ups by getting back there later this year but on Sunday they had an opportunity to upset a rusty Tyrone, the team that has inflicted the most pain on them at GAA headquarters. The conditions notwithstanding, nine second-half wides said plenty about their toothlessness.
One wet weekend into the season and three draws in the four Division 1 games has some commentators believing that this could be the most open championship yet. That theory is as shoddy as considering Dublin are a spent force after losing one game to a dynamic if underachieving Armagh side.
If anything, the inability of Kerry, Donegal and Monaghan to win on the road only underlines the fact that they are not yet the finished product. In previous iterations, fouls like Adrian Spillane’s on Paul Cribbin for Jimmy Hyland’s equalising free would have been made in Kildare’s half of the field.
The boisterous atmosphere in St Conleth’s Park on Sunday was the perfect environment to show that they are learning what is required to finish the job. Instead, they were scrambling against a county who last year only made their second provincial final in 12 years.
Unless they are beating teams out the gate, Kerry don’t have cuteness or badness to copperfaste slender leads. The concern for O’Connor is that it might not be in this golden generation of players at his disposal.
In the end, there was no Division 1 hurling final last year. The expected meeting of Galway and Kilkenny in the Leinster final, that would have doubled up as the league decider, never happened and so the honour was shared even if the cup is likely still with 2020 winners Limerick.
Not since 2019 has there been a league final in its own right, Limerick defeating Clare in the 2021 Munster quarter-final/Division 1 final, but that doesn’t exactly mean there is a major ambition among counties to see one this year. It’s silverware, of course, but the scheduling of it is awkward.
It was interesting that John Kiely, in his interview with Michael Moynihan in this newspaper before Christmas, mentioned the close proximity of the league to the start of the Munster SHC. “The league final is very close to the first round of the championship, which is something that teams are probably cognisant of,” he said.
Of the 11 Liam MacCarthy Cup teams, only Clare are not in championship action two weeks after the Division 1 final so even without Tony Kelly they may be looked on as contenders. Aside from Limerick, Waterford should be able to pick up a couple of results before their Ballygunner men return to the fold.
But history warns of going too well in the league so close to championship. It might seem a lifetime ago but 19 years ago Tipperary were left to rue putting too much into their classic league final against Kilkenny in Croke Park, which they lost in extra-time. Two weeks later, Clare eased past them in their provincial quarter-final. Clare have been on the receiving end too, suffering a 19-point thrashing from Waterford in 2004 who didn’t exactly exert themselves losing to Galway in the Division 1 final a week earlier.
And what if the final happens to be a first round provincial pairing like Cork v Limerick, Waterford v Tipperary or Wexford v Galway? Another double-upper?
Credit to St Finbarr's manager Paul O’Keeffe not just for his team’s performance on Saturday but admitting in an interview with RTÉ Radio prior to throw-in that there would be changes to the announced team. “What’s actually on the programme is probably a bunch of lies,” he smiled.
When it comes to teams, depending on match programmes for anything other than the numbers players are wearing is a fool’s errand and at this stage the GAA should be considering altering its team announcement protocols.
The GAA’s match regulation 1.8 (c) states that “for Non-Senior Inter-County Championship games, Teams shall be provided to the Committee-in-Charge for the official programme, and to the media, four days before the game i.e. no later than Wednesday Noon before a weekend game, along with names of personnel who have access to the controlled zone.” Yet up to last Thursday night just Mayo and Waterford had revealed their line-ups, Lee Keegan a late change to the side announced by James Horan.
Expecting a team revealed two days out from a game to start especially in the time of a pandemic is asking too much, but then managers have long ignored what has been expected of them by the authorities who themselves don’t appear to be all that bothered.
Expecting accurate squads a few days out and the teams an hour before throw-in seems a lot more practical.
