Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Keane factor adds edge but Clare have vulnerabilites that suit Kerry
Peter Keane knows Kerry's players well from his three years as Kingdom senior manager while he also guided many of them to All-Ireland minor success. Pic: ©INPHO/Natasha Barton
Before we even get to the football there are plenty of side stories that make this Munster Final pairing more compelling than usual. Central to all of it is the fact that Peter Keane is now in charge of Clare and is bringing his team to town to upset a Kingdom. Obviously he knows most of the Kerry players intimately having worked with them for three years and also having had plenty of them previously under his tutelage at minor level. He knows well what makes them tick, but more importantly he understands their weaknesses and what annoys them. I am sure he will be trying to exploit that knowledge tomorrow.
On top of that and even more importantly he will be personally highly motivated. He was hurt and disappointed with the way his time in charge of Kerry finished up. This week gone by will have been the most focused and determined that his players will have seen him so far. He will have been at his best. All of that can be a double-edged sword though. His former charges will also be extremely anxious to make sure that their former boss doesn’t get one over on them, especially in Fitzgerald Stadium.
Interestingly from the Kerry perspective, selector James Costelloe will have an equal insight on many of the Clare players, having spent last season working side by side with Mark Fitzgerald. He won’t be as familiar with some key players such as Eoin Cleary and Keelan Sexton, who were absent last season, but he has significant insider knowledge on most of the rest of the team.
It is the third year in a row that these sides are meeting in the Munster Final. While that is old news for Kerry it indicates the recent consistency of Clare in this competition. They halved the deficit from 2023 to 2024, reducing it from 14 points to seven. Were they to half it again tomorrow down the stretch they will be in with a great shout. They will do well to, especially in Killarney.
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One fundamental change from last year's final in Ennis is the fact that lower ranked teams can no longer put everyone behind the ball for the duration. This is leading to an underdog bounce as we have seen in recent weeks. Teams are less likely to withdraw into shape and simply give up kickouts to sprint back into position, thus guaranteeing themselves a death by a thousand cuts. Now they are having a real go, and making it uncomfortable for the favourites, as illustrated best by Meath last weekend.
Clare have the personnel to do this. Last day out in their semi-final win over Tipperary Clare had Brian McNamara and Emmet MacMahon in the middle of the field, both of whom are formidable operators in the air. McNamara was quiet by his standards but I fancy him to have a big one tomorrow. On the Kerry kickout Clare will feel that if they can force them long the worse case scenario will involve them breaking the ball back in and scrapping for the breaks. Achieve this and they can get some kind of a platform to put the Kerry rearguard under pressure. Otherwise it could be a long day out for them. However, if they can get their hands on ball they have lively forwards in Sexton and Mark McInerney who has a sweet left foot, with Cleary linking outside and providing a decent supply to his inside men.
Clare do have vulnerabilities which suit the way Kerry play and this could be key. The Banner men have a tendency to turn the ball over in the final third as they attack. Sometimes this can occur when they are trying to force an attack rather than remaining patient. On other occasions it is down to the final pass being off, either from poor decision making or skill execution. This happened a number of times against Tipperary. Turn the ball over against Kerry in the final third and they will kill you. Their kicking game on the counter coupled with the quality and form of their front three would guarantee goals in this situation.
Yes, Paudie Clifford will be a significant miss in this department as he, more than anyone else, plays with his head up and has the willingness and ability to kick inside. Seán O’Shea also has that kicking competence but can play the percentages at times. Tony Brosnan is also an excellent kicker and he may be the man to supply the bullets to the inside men tomorrow.
Another area of concern for Peter Keane is that his side can be uncomfortable under the high ball. Tipperary got joy from being direct. Clare were panicky and rash in their defence of direct ball. They conceded an early penalty from an aerial delivery, which Tipperary missed. Clare combined both vulnerabilities for Tipperary’s late goal. They were turned over as they attacked and Tipp countered at pace. An attempted two-point shot dropped short and was punched to the net by Seán O’Connor. I am quite sure that Jack O’Connor will have told his players to test Clare's pulse with a few early high ones towards David Clifford and Paul Geaney.
A final challenge for Keane and co is their tendency to use short Eamon Tubridy kickouts to guarantee possession. They have a couple of variations where they try to free a player up in the number four pocket in particular, to receive short restarts. An issue with this is it invites the other team on and encourages them to press. At times they struggled to bring the ball out in the semi-final. Kerry will ratchet that pressure up a few notches tomorrow. It is one of many factors in the risk reward equation that Keane has to weigh up.
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Later tomorrow afternoon Galway head for Castlebar. I was really impressed with them in their semi-final victory over Roscommon a fortnight ago. They have moved their game on from last season, have adopted and added variety to their blueprint. They now attack and defend in variety of ways.
When the opportunity is there they like quick attacks. When Damien Comer and Shane Walsh eventually play these are likely to increase. Rob Finnerty, Matthew Tierney and Matthew Thompson all thrive on early ball, also. Likewise, they are very comfortable in slow established attacks as they have repeatedly shown us over the last two seasons. In the semi-final they twice called a play that they have labelled ‘blue’. During this move they were ultra patient in possession avoiding contact and holding onto the ball. They created one-on-ones all over their attack, and created space in the middle, around the traditional ‘D’. Eventually they introduced pace into the move to create the scoring chance. On both occasions, by coincidence or not, the excellent John Maher was the man that broke towards the posts to convert the points and finish off the move.
Their kickout setup was equally impressive where they had targets long and short. They avoided cluttering the bodies and created decent space for their kickout targets, Cein Darcy, Paul Conroy, Maher and Cillian McDaid. Impressively, Connor Gleeson retained 80% of his kickouts and Galway scored 1-7 off it. I do expect Mayo to disrupt this tomorrow, even in terms of hand-to-hand combat in the ground battle to not allow them big men to get a clean sweep at the ball.
As consistent and impressive as Galway have been, Mayo have stuttered to the Connacht final. They have shown flashes but haven’t been consistent. However, their near neighbours will surely get the blood flowing to all the right places. They have the reference point of a 10-point home defeat in the league in February to further fuel the fire. While, it would be just like Mayo to upset the odds I fancy Galway to continue their recent dominance of their province.
