Christy O'Connor's talking points: Rebels' dirty Killarney habits are hard kicked
DOWN AGAIN: Cork players react after the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Cork at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Kerry. Photo by Paul Phelan/Sportsfile
David Clifford raised his arms in the air, grabbed his jersey and repeatedly pulled at it at the collar as he roared out to the Kerry hordes in the stand. Clifford had just danced around the Cork defence to stick the ball in the net and ignite Kerry’s second half charge.
Cork won the kickout and went on the attack but Steven Sherlock kicked wide from an acute angle. Within seconds, Tony Brosnan kicked his second point from his second possession after being introduced at half-time. Three scores from three Kerry attacks. The dye had already been cast. And it just ran through Cork.
Clifford’s sensational 2-pointer in the 45th minute was Kerry’s fourth score from their fourth attack of the half. It took Cork until their eighth attack to register their first score of the second half. And on the pattern went.
In that second half, Kerry had 19 attacks to Cork’s 17, but Kerry still outscored their neighbours and rival by 1-13 to 1-2 in that half. Kerry’s attacking efficiency was devastating in that period. Their conversion rate was 71 per cent in the second half but Kerry got off 17 shots from those 19 attacks.
Kerry only turned the ball in their attacking half of the pitch twice in that second half, one of which was a long delivery into Clifford that was punched away by Daniel O’Mahony. Those numbers were in stark contrast to Cork at the other end – Cork got off ten shots from their 17 attacks in that half, but only converted three. As a comparison, Tony Brosnan nailed 0-5 (the same as Cork’s second half total) from five shots (one of which was an orange flag).
In a game where there wasn’t a single card produced (not surprising with Paul Faloon on the whistle), Cork just weren’t able to break some familiar trends. They were playing against the breeze but it wasn’t a surprise that Cork lost the second half – they have now only won two second halves in their last 11 matches.
Cork’s overall conversion rate was 48 per cent. Kerry’s was 71 per cent. Kerry’s record in Killarney remains intact. Cork’s frustrations, especially against their neighbours, goes on.
Some trends are just hard to break. Especially for Cork against Kerry.
At the end of the third quarter in Wexford Park on Saturday evening, three successive wides from Wexford in a two-minute spell sucked the life and energy out of the home crowd. The frustration was hanging around the ground like a pall of dead air as Dublin led by nine points with a quarter still to play.
Playing with the breeze, Wexford had dominated possession in the third quarter but they weren’t efficient enough in that period, or smart enough in their decision making, indulging in too much long-range shooting. Their conversion rate was just 45 per cent in that period. Wexford went 13 minutes without a score before finally finding their range with seven unanswered points. But it was too late by then.
A defeat on home turf was even more agonising for Wexford when they crippled themselves with so much wayward shooting and poor decision-making. They only really started to hurl with conviction when the game was nearly over. That may be psychological as much as physical at this stage because Wexford have now failed to beat Dublin in their last six championship matches.
Dublin were average here in an average match but this performance was still laced with the resilience and doggedness that was smeared all over the Offaly performance. There were also loads of positives for Dublin. After quiet games against Offaly and Kildare, Cian O’Sullivan showed flashes of his All-Star form with 1-3, two assists and almost bagging another goal. Dónal Burke was outstanding, scoring from 0-14 (0-4 from play) from 15 shots.
Dublin’s defence played well, restricting Wexford to just one decent goalscoring chance, while the decision to recall Liam Rushe after five years since last wearing a sky-blue jersey already looks inspired. Dublin have loads of good man-markers but the Offaly game underlined how much they needed a defensive anchor and general. And Rushe provided that solidity here.
Nine wides in the second half was even more damaging for Wexford when they were chasing the game. Their conversion rate eventually finished on 62 per cent. A late surge of scores got those numbers up but Wexford’s conversion rate from play was still only 42 per cent.
The tricky wind did impact on both sides’ shooting but it was still a scrappy match, particularly in the second half. The ball was turned over 62 times but Wexford’s sloppiness was severely punished by Dublin, who mined 0-15 off turnovers. Dublin sourced their two goals too off Wexford puckouts, one of which was a gift from Mark Fanning, whose misplaced short restart went straight to David Purcell, who fired it straight past the goalkeeper in the 13th minute.
Fanning made up for that error with two outstanding saves from Fergal Whitely and John Hetherton but it was one of those evenings for Wexford where they kept missing chances, and giving opportunities to Dublin.
And the Dubs kept taking them.
At half-time in Walsh Park on Saturday evening, Mark Fitzgerald was sitting on a sideline seat with his arms folded, puffing his cheeks out, counting down the minutes before he could return to the action after being black-carded in the 32nd minute for a foul on Brian Hayes.
All that was in Fitzgerald’s head at the time was getting back into the fray to help his team-mates to try and win the match. The last thing on his mind was that those last 28 minutes (plus additional time) could possibly be his last action of this championship.
Waterford need to beat Limerick now on Sunday and hope that an unlikely sequence of events will go their way to save their summer. Whatever happens, Fitzgerald will have to watch it all unfold from the stand next weekend – because he is suspended for the Limerick game.
His black card on Saturday was his third of the season, which means a one-match ban. Fitzgerald’s other black card offences were committed against Cork and Galway in the league.
Fitzgerald can find himself extremely unlucky. As the ball was dropping on top of the Waterford full-back and Hayes, both players were grappling, which is what often happens in that situation, before Fitzgerald pulled Hayes down.
A pull-down is a penalty and a black card but only if it is a clear goalscoring opportunity. And it wasn’t – because Hayes didn’t have possession of the ball.
That grey area around the black card is still highly controversial, but it was a black evening for Waterford in more ways than one on Saturday. The second black card picked up by Jack Fagan in the 60th minute was just one hit too many for Waterford to take.
As well as having to play with 14 men for 20 minutes, Waterford also lost Iarlaith Daly, Ian Kenny and Stephen Bennett to injury in the first half. With Conor Prunty having already missed the entire Munster championship with a quad injury, Fitzgerald’s loss now has left a depleted defence even more threadbare.
And that’s not an ideal way to be facing into Limerick. Especially when Waterford have to win – at a minimum.
