That old familiar feeling
I had invested heavily in instilling belief in my team with regard to their ability to beat Kerry and at various stages of both games the players looked like repaying that investment, but ultimately their belief, courage and no little ability weren’t enough to get the job done.
Before yesterday’s game I felt that Limerick would win the middle third with no Darragh O Sé or Paul Galvin to contend with, but the extent of their dominance in the first half was almost complete, with both John Galvin, in particular, and Jim Donovan fielding ball over their direct opponents heads on more than one occasion and their team winning nine out of 12 Kerry kick-outs, with four of those clean catches.
There were two reasons for this dominance: first, the Kerry pair, and in particular Anthony Maher, were outplayed comprehensively and second, the kick-outs from Brendan Kealy were not good enough and time and again did not reach midfield.
Having established this platform Limerick made a great start, registering the first four scores without reply from Kerry, and it was clear from an early stage that their two-man full forward line of James Ryan, who won a lot of possession ahead of Mark O Sé all through the half, and Ger Collins, who struck two points from play inside the first five minutes, were benefiting most.
However, Kerry are too experienced a team to panic and they made the most of the possession they did win to keep in touch. Crucially, having scored five times in the first eight minutes, Limerick only registered five more scores in the last 30 minutes of the half, despite their abundance of possession.
When the Limerick management review this game they will realise that this was the period when it was won and lost. From Kerry’s point of view the forward forays of both Mike McArthy and Tomas O Sé, two of which resulted in excellent scores against the run of play, were causing problems for the Limerick defence and both players went on to play vital roles.
In the last quarter of the half Kieran Donaghy was moved from the edge of the square out to midfield as the Kerry management tried to stem the tide, but more importantly they introduced Mícheál Quirke five minutes before the short whistle to supplement Donaghy’s efforts.
If Limerick’s lack of scoring power for most of the first half ultimately cost them a much-coveted title, then this move by the Kerry management was the single biggest reason Kerry won another one.
At the start of the second half a combination of Quirke’s fielding ability – he won five clean catches in total during the half – and the winning of seven breaks in a row, five of them by their three half-backs, gave Kerry the same platform that Limerick had for most of the first half.
However, there the comparison ends, as the Kerry forwards showed how to convert quality possession into scores, amassing 1-7, with only one free in that total.
In this period Declan O Sullivan (0-3) and Colm Cooper (1-2) showed Limerick the error of their ways in a clinical and ruthless display of score taking.
Following the introduction of Quirke, Kerry had gone from three points down to six points up and had turned the game on its head. Most observers, myself included, felt the match was over as a contest at that stage but a show of tremendous character by the team and the incredible leadership qualities of John Galvin saw them reassert their authority on proceedings.
Galvin made the most of a bad mistake from a short kick-out to Seamus Scanlon to score a badly needed goal. From there to the finish Galvin led the charge and soon afterwards Scanlon, their second starting midfielder was replaced; Kerry have major problems to address in this area going forward.
Amazingly, Limerick forced their way back into the game and they were level by the twenty-fourth minute to set up a grandstand finish. Two things encapsulated the main difference between the two teams for me in this finale: the clinical finishing of Kerry with three points from play in that period, and the sight of John Galvin catching the ball on the edge of the Kerry square in the last play of the game.
Surrounded by five Kerry players, Galvin singlehandedly tried with all his considerable strength, courage and ability to find an equalising goal, but to no avail. As was the case six years ago in my tenure, Limerick, and John Galvin in particular, performed heroically but Kerry’s football nous broke their consider- able resolve one more time.
