1. Kerry’s failings to the fore again

THE first half of this game was almost a duplicate of the Sligo tie as once again Kerry dominated possession, winning 14 out of 19 kick outs and all 11 of their own.

Admittedly, Antrim gave them great assistance in this regard by allowing Kerry players to secure six short kick outs virtually unopposed with Marc O Sé, Seamus Scanlon and Mike McCarthy being the main beneficiaries. So, with the bulk of possession and having learned a lesson from last week, Kerry were set to put their dominance on the score board this time. Alas no. Once again they managed to be a point in arrears at half time and once again it was difficult to explain why. As with the Sligo game, Kerry made multiple unforced errors to give away good possession, (15 in total by 9 different players) and their attempts to break down the Antrim defence were poor save for the goal scored by Tommy Walsh following a good pass from Tadhg Kennelly. Furthermore, Kerry were struggling to cope with Antrim’s ploy of playing Terry O’Neill as an extra defender and numerous attacks broke down as a result. Antrim also made the most of their counter attacks and mistakes in the Kerry defence to register 1-4 with their two wing backs getting forward regularly.

2. Mike McCarthy proved to be one of Kerry’s bright lights