Kerry still need to improve when the fat's in the fire
UP FOR IT: Kerry's Diarmuid O'Connor goes highest at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday.
After an intriguing weekend of Allianz League football across all four divisions, the final and full map is starting to emerge.
Kerry are in the Division 1 final, Galway are promoted back to the top flight, Down are relegated and Cavan have begun their journey back up through the divisions with promotion to Division 3.
Thankfully most games next weekend have at least one team with something significant still to play for. Two of the headline games in Division 1 at the weekend produced very different spectacles. Mayo and Tyrone on Saturday in Omagh was a very disappointing game that never sparked into life.
From the outside, it looks as if Mayo viewed it as a dead rubber, both with their team selection and subsequent performance. They were well off it. Maybe James Horan has what he wants from the league and he now has one if not both eyes firmly fixed on Galway in the Connacht championship in less than five weeks. Tyrone were a bit better but are still a long way off their 2021 levels. The skill execution and lack of intensity in the match was startling.
In contrast, in Armagh City yesterday, there was a real bite to proceedings as Armagh and Kerry produced a great contest. Yes, both teams kicked a lot of wides with the wind but that aside it clarified once more that teams with ambition, accuracy and a willingness to kick the ball are still the most attractive to watch and arguably the most effective.
As Kerry came south last night, they will have been happy with the result and much of their performance but they also have plenty of work-ons to be discussing and solving. They are now in the League final in a fortnight, which gives them an extra game, a chance to annex some silverware and a valuable trip to Croke Park.
It also means that they can give players on limited game time a start next weekend against Tyrone. In the past, Jack O'Connor has used the last league game in that fashion when the die already has been cast. Make no mistake, he will still want to win in Killarney but it is an opportunity to get minutes into other panelists and will also allow him to rest a couple of key bodies prior to the League final.
Jack and his management team will have been delighted with the physical test they got from Armagh on Sunday. It was a real Ulster away day sort of win. Even the shenanigans at half-time around the tunnel will have added to the satisfaction. They will be happy with how their backs performed once more, as individuals, with all six playing well and more importantly, systematically. They have yet to concede a goal from play this year and have a real solid look about them.
Jason Foley limited Rian O'Neill as well as anyone has so far this year. Brian Ó Beaglaoich was outstanding both defensively and on the ball. He repeatedly broke the line and got Kerry going forward and he also kicked a good point in the first half. It looked as if Armagh cheated off him and possibly underestimated him but his performance will make them think again if they meet down the road.
Dylan Casey also performed solidly for the second week in a row and, with the addition of Dan O'Donoghue this season, Jack and the lads are broadening their options at the back.
As well as positive contributions from the usual suspects up front, and David Clifford's second half intervention, Jack Savage was very impressive at 11. He was tidy on his frees, kicked three points from play and linked the play very well. The only blot on his performance was his black card, meaning he missed 14 minutes as he had to wait four minutes for a break in play to get back in. He will need to learn from this and avoid it going forward but he is once again showing the promise of 2017 and 2018.
The Kerry work-ons will centre around two areas for the rest of the league in the short term, and big-time for the championship. They have work to do on the kick out. Similar to last weekend against Mayo, late on when Armagh came back at them the kick out came under serious pressure. Kerry lost three in a row and but for Armagh’s wastefulness, their lead could have been wiped out.
They need to develop a go-to 100% kick out when under pressure that gets them out and away. The other area that needs tidying up is their game management late on when in the lead. Kerry’s last three attacks were all turned over and resulted in dangerous counter-attacks. At the time they were leading by three and needed to kill the ball, preferably with a score to manage out the game. If not eradicated from their game these two issues combined can be fatal in big championship matches.
Kieran McGeeney will be disappointed with the result while being happy with the attitude of his men. They made a lot of unforced errors in the first half and could have been beaten by half-time if Kerry had their shooting boots on. They rallied well though and came hard at the end, lacking a bit of composure to put a real squeeze on Kerry.
Next weekend's game is a tricky one for them, considering they are playing Donegal three weeks later in the Ulster championship. The fact they are safe in Division 1 and Donegal need something may be a telling factor in the approach of both teams. One thing Armagh will need to work on is their full-court press of the opposition kick out. They got badly caught twice yesterday. Kerry are used to dealing with this kick out in training so they know how to beat it. Maybe it is a play to keep for teams that rarely use it?
Overall they are in good shape as the championship peeps over the horizon.
In Healy Park on Saturday, the location of Aidan O'Shea at centre back was a major talking point beforehand. He did play there and operated as a sweeper for most of the night. It worked quite well for large parts of the game. He minded the middle, organised his defence around him, was available as an outlet when Mayo were in possession, and released runners. In general, he read the play well and picked up good positions to take away the obvious ball inside for Tyrone. He also came late a few times in supporting runs and created a score in the first half via this method.
There is still work to do in certain areas though. He lunged at Peter Harte, buying his dummy for an excellent Harte score in the first half. I also thought it was clever by Tyrone getting Mattie Donnelly to occupy him in the second half. As the play developed and Tyrone committed numbers forward O'Shea regularly ended up having to mark him, often at full-back. There were occasions when Donnelly clearly got separation from O'Shea but Tyrone were so reluctant to kick the ball it didn’t become a problem of significance the last night. Against a heads-up team that are actively looking to kick the ball inside, it would have created difficulties. O'Shea as a sweeper may be an option against certain types of teams but whether it is a runner against teams that play six up is open to debate.
What surprised me most about Mayo - and I am sure disappointed James Horan - was their play in the final third in the last quarter of the match when it was there to be won. After Ryan O Donoghue brought them to within one in the 60th minute, they turned the ball over six times, three times from stray kick passes, twice from poor hand passes and one fumble.
Surprisingly Kevin McLoughlin was the culprit-in-chief. They will want to arrest this habit as it is becoming a bit of a pattern, similar to Tralee the week before. While Horan, to his immense credit, has once again deepened his panel, worrying questions remain for the Connacht men.
