Focused show from Kerry, but there are no hiding places now
It was a strange sight to see so many Kerry supporters stop momentarily to take photos of the scoreboard on their way out.
Even allowing for the skewed perspective brought about by the white heat of championship passion against your greatest rival, this felt different.
The signs were there from early in the day that this wasn’t going to be any ordinary day out in Killarney. They were in the guttural roar that greeted Declan O’Sullivan’s opening point of 58 seconds, they were in the decisive response to Tomás Ó Sé’s own-goal, they were in the whoops and hollers that followed late Kieran Donaghy and Patrick Curtin points. But it wasn’t until the match was over that it all finally sunk in.
As the PA system blasted out old favourites like Dingle Bay for the departing masses, the sight of so many stopping behind the goal to capture the Ciarraí 1-16, Tír Eoghain 1-6 scoreline on camera was bizarre to say the least. Kerry folk just don’t do sentiment...do they?
On a day when many outside the Kingdom and some within came to hear the last notes of an unfinished symphony, this was like discovering the hidden bonus track on your favourite band’s latest album. They did it against Armagh in 2006, against Dublin in 2009 and now after victory over their tormentors in chief, the Kerry team are once again playing ball to the sound of music.
Of course, as they prepare for Clare next weekend, Kerry will realise that their win over Tyrone comes with so many caveats.
From a very early stage it became apparent that, devoid of some of their best players, Tyrone’s Plan A was disruption and damage limitation.
As Kerry started to get into the groove in the first half the amount of stoppages and whimsical diversions became annoying. At one stage during a break in play, I saw the experienced Marc Ó Sé implore referee David Coldrick to cop on to what was happening.
But with exaggeration of injury, head high tackling and an undercurrent of cynicism on both sides, it was an impossible game to referee. Coldrick will suffer for having got the key decision, the sending off of Brian McGuigan, wrong.
But Kerry will argue the free against Declan O’Sullivan leading up to McGuigan’s act of petulance should have gone the other way and many, including myself, are mystified by the fact that Conor Gormley managed to stay on the field given his repeated transgressions throughout.
It was a bilious, bitter struggle from start to finish but it should not divert attention from a seriously focused show by Kerry.
Apart from the opening 12 minutes, when they missed three key tackles in dangerous areas, Kerry were sharp and mainly disciplined in contact. They pushed up on Pascal McConnell’s kickout from an early stage, forcing him to put the ball up for grabs at midfield, where Bryan Sheehan and Anthony Maher dominated.
Declan O’Sullivan was immense throughout and he, along with Paul Galvin, did most to ensure no Kerry player was isolated against Tyrone’s clever hounding and harassing of players in possession.
The full-forward line of James O’Donoghue, Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy showed the Kerry public some of what has been promised in dispatches from the training ground and O’Donoghue’s point on 48 minutes, involving all three was perhaps a sign of further promise.
Saturday’s game will have brought Bryan Sheehan and Donnchadh Walsh on a ton and Shane Enright’s showing in the full back-line will have struck a blow for all panel members that assumed the starting 15 was a closed shop. Special mention for the renaissance man, Aidan O’Mahony, who is enjoying a late flourish this summer. Owen Mulligan, like Stephen O’Neill may be a shadow of his former self but O’Mahony was disciplined and steadfast in his application to the task all afternoon. Kerry are going to need O’Mahony and Enright producing the goods consistently if they are to genuinely challenge for honours in the championship that most contenders believe begins on August weekend.
There is an almost inevitable sense of anti-climax heading into next weekend against Clare, and the understandable absence of perspective after Saturday will have to be addressed during the week by Kerry players and management. However, after coming through 77 minutes of football so deprived of grace, next weekend should be liberating.
There are no fast forward buttons for Kerry on the road back to Croke Park and now after their first remarkable performance of the season, there are no hiding places either.
