1. Kerry’s failings to the fore again
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
THE third quarter was Kerry’s most productive period as the management took the decision to push Mike McCarthy forward to counter O’Neill. With primary possession still being secured, they finally started to put the Antrim defence under pressure. McCarthy was immense – creating scores and forcing Antrim defenders into fouling and Cooper, who had been introduced at the end of the first half was on hand to tap the resulting frees over. While Kerry controlled the rest of the game it was not until Paul Galvin put a rebound in the net in the 26th minute, following a good save by the keeper, that they finally looked assured of winning the match.
This Kerry team is very unsettled, only six players finished in the positions they started and no line on the team was immune from change with one alteration in two lines and two in the other three.
3. Kerry’s attack needs to find their scoring boots to defeat Dublin
KERRY registered 2-5 from play yesterday with two players Paul Galvin, their most consistent performer and Tommy Walsh responsible for 2-4 of that. Finishing has rarely been a problem for this team over the last five years but it certainly is now. It is reasonable to assume that Dublin will not be as facilitating as Sligo or Antrim when it comes to coughing up primary possession and based on these two performances, Kerry will struggle to amass the scores necessary to progress to the last four. Whether factors on or off the pitch are responsible for the drop in performance, the Kerry management need to find answers quickly. Time is fast running out for this team.
