Nothing to whet an appetite like someone starring in ‘your’ jersey
There are stages in the recovery process. It’s all-consuming in the short term, becomes a dull ache by Christmas and eases as the new season kicks off. Saturday’s victory for Kerry over Dublin at Croke Park was not about revenge. The old Sicilian proverb states that revenge is a season in hell; emotion could not be the key motivator. These Kerry players wanted to cleanse their souls and move on. Croke Park provided the perfect platform, ditto the opposition. By yesterday morning, Kerry could narrow their focus on 2012.
Overall, Jack O’Connor will be delighted with the result, in particular the second-half display. Poor shot selection and decision-making in the first period meant Kerry were two points down at the break having played much of the football.
The introduction of Anthony Maher at the interval was game-changing as, along with Bryan Sheehan, Paul Galvin and Tomás O Sé, he helped Kerry take over the middle third and place good ball into an attack that burst into life. Kerry looked much fitter, sharper and willing in the second half as they strangled the life out of a ragged Dublin.
The most positive aspect from a Kerry perspective was the amount of young players who acquitted themselves well. Shane Enright, Peter Crowley and Brian McGuire were all solid at the back while James O’Donoghue and Barry John Keane were impressive up front.
When introduced, Paddy Curtin showed hard and often and placed Darran O’Sullivan well for the game-defining goal.
There are also other young players knocking around the panel who will be champing at the bit for game time. The three Geaneys, David O’Callaghan, JB Spillane, Daithí Casey and Johnny Buckley will all hope to make significant strides this year. Competition and hunger for action is very healthy within a panel. Younger players give a panel a new dynamic. Staleness is kept at bay.
The Kerry management know they have to get plenty of football into these players during the course of the league. If they continue to win games and blood players, it’s a win-win situation. Come championship time, there will be a plethora of players competing for starting berths. It also ensures the old brigade have the necessary hunger.
There is nothing that sharpens the appetite like watching a young player doing well in ‘your’ jersey. There will be no room for complacency. Most importantly it ensures that Kerry will have a strong match-ready bench with significant depth which, to be fair, was lacking last summer.
Dublin coach Pat Gilroy will be disappointed with some of his players. While managers love to play down the significance of league games this early in the year, don’t believe a word of it. Every game matters in this ultra-competitive era, especially for Dublin as they don’t play challenge games.
He won’t worry about fitness as that will come in time and his returning stars will provide more quality. However signs of complacency will alarm him. Diarmuid Connolly dribbling two free kicks along the ground with his weaker left foot and Eamonn Fennell’s wreckless red card betrayed a lack of focus.
Stephen Cluxton’s kickout selection was off as he persisted in going towards the Hogan Stand side of the field for much of the third quarter where Kerry were clearly dominating. He only changed after Galvin fielded a Cluxton restart and the ball wound up in the back of the net. As recently as Saturday, Noel O’Leary spoke on these pages about how the drop in hunger levels affected the Cork set up last year.
THE key to success following an All Ireland win is to balance complacency with the confidence garnered from the previous year’s exploits. Only Kerry have managed a back-to-back All Ireland in over 20 years and, interestingly, there was a change of management that year.
Gilroy will also realise that last year’s carefully-prepared plans won’t always work as well again and will have to be tweaked this season. He tried last year’s final tactic of dropping Craig Dias back in front of his full-back line as part of their zonal defensive system. While Kevin Nolan was effective in that role last year, it backfired badly on Saturday as it allowed Paul Galvin the freedom of Croke Park and he punished Dublin with incisive kicking and vision — particularly in the second half as he pushed further upfield.
As the Dubs partied over the winter, other counties were busy studying their modus operandi. They’ll have to bring something new to the table for 2012. Such are the challenges of All-Ireland champions. I await with interest their response in Mayo next weekend.
Tyrone were very impressive in a second half power play in the first game. Keep an eye on them as Mickey Harte blends the emerging underage talent with his remaining old hands.
