Time for Kerry to get exercised about the League
As league openers go, it was a gentle nudge back towards form for many of the front six that shouldered much of the blame for last September’s failure against tonight’s opposition Kerry, in Páirc Uí Rinn. It also gave the Cork team a great platform of two league points away from home and while a further two points tonight will set them up nicely heading into the break, it is never likely to assuage the grief of a championship defeat.
It’s pointless using words like revenge when previewing tonight’s encounter as recent history lessons have taught us to be very wary of reading anything into matches between the sides at any stage before late August. Even Munster Championship traditionalists have, at this stage, resigned themselves to the fact that in the absence of a truly outstanding team emerging at some stage during the summer, the shadow-boxing between the current Cork and Kerry panels will most likely continue into August or September again this year.
Up until last season, (when they beat Donegal in Tralee) Kerry had made a habit of losing their first league game and recovering to win their second and as many as possible of the ensuing five games. It was obvious from the vibes being given off by the Kerry management from an early stage that winning the 2010 National League wasn’t on the list of priorities, so expecting them to avoid consecutive defeats for the first time in ages is asking a lot of a team who appear to be picking up on the vibes from management.
That laissez faire attitude manifested itself last week in a strange unwillingness to bend the back and pick up the ball and also in a bizarre hope that runners from behind midfield would be picked up by somebody else. Individual irresponsibility in a team game can lead to a collective corrosion of values down the line and Kerry supporters in Cork tonight will, at the very least, be entitled to expect a tightening up in this department.
MUCH has been made of Cork’s absence from McGrath Cup competition in January but with so many of their players involved in the more competitive Sigerson Cup that was never likely to be a defining factor in terms of fitness. Once both managers get over tonight’s game and use the three weeks breathing space until NFL round 3 to replot, rescheme and rethink, the deficit in match fitness shouldn’t be an issue.
While four different goalkeepers in the opening two rounds of National League football for both teams points to some kind of record, there is a sense abroad that Conor Counihan has more to gain from the current low stakes experimentation. In reality, the Cork manager must know that he is just about two defenders and one forward short of getting up to a level required to beat Kerry once the temperature is raised come late summer.
Eoin Cadogan could, and should, be groomed as one of those missing links and Aidan Walsh too will get plenty of opportunities between here and the end of the league to put some heat on the more established backs. Up front, Colm O’Neill is the obvious missing link from tonight’s line up but if you allow for the likes of Ciarán Sheehan, David Goold, John Hayes and Fintan Goold all making a claim, it’s just a matter of finding the right balance between score makers and score takers. I would like to see Donncha O’Connor in a play-making role in the half forward line for a sustained league campaign as I believe his distribution is a far more potent weapon against the really good backs than his ability as an out-and-out score getter. Likewise with Paul Kerrigan. It will take more than his 2-2 against Monaghan last week to convince many that he has the requisite subtlety for the inside line but some of his kicking from distance makes his current positioning nearer the goal seem a smart move.
I would imagine that Jack O’Connor’s minimal amount of tinkering with his team selection is born out of necessity and only two changes from last week’s selection probably conceals a genuine desire and need on his part to experiment more.
Worryingly from a Kerry viewpoint, all emerging players appear to be of a similar type and those that seemed to be emerging a few years back look to have hit a state of stasis. The most recent players to be hot-housed, Brendan Kealy and Padraig O’Connor, arrive at a time when it was never easier to be accommodated into a Kerry team. With a venerated and experienced bunch of players at their disposal, public expectation is low, patience levels are high and any criticism of style or substance is moderate. It won’t always be thus and some believe that maybe it is time Kerry players were made feel uncomfortable about the league again.
Coming home pointless from Páirc Uí Rinn tonight could have just that effect.
