Cork can’t be thinking of Kerry yet
Not knowing the opposition until a week ago; looking at the same faces and hearing the same voices in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh dressing rooms since the start of summer; and despite all simulated spats, slaps and scraps, knowing deep down that the fella marking you in training isn’t going to be as antagonistic as an opponent in the heat of championship.
It’s not ideal.
Of all the teams left in the championship however, Cork are best equipped to deal with the down-time since last month’s walk in the park against Clare. Losing at the same stage last year against Mayo puts Cork on guard. The older players at the back are experienced enough to take each week on its own merits and one of the happy consequences of having players like Daniel Goulding, Patrick Kelly and Pearse O’Neill still trying to get a starting jersey is that every one of the six forwards are going to be as sharp as if they had come through three games against Cavan, Limerick and Sligo as Kildare have.
Other reasons for Cork to be cheerful? They’ve only conceded one goal from open play in 11 competitive league and championship matches all year. Despite the fact that Kerry could have had three in June and even Clare breached their line twice last month, only Donegal’s Michael Murphy has managed to find the net from play against them this year. Whatever suspicions one might have about their backs in terms of age (half-back line) and being turned inside in the full-back line, they must be doing something right to maintain such a fine record of shut-outs.
If the Cork forwards read anything into the freedom afforded them against Clare they will no doubt be ill-prepared for a Kildare team coming off the back of their most impressive defensive display to date last weekend. However, Ciarán Sheehan’s body language was really impressive last month and despite Ollie Lyons’ and Hugh McGrillen’s pace, there doesn’t appear to be anybody on the Kildare team capable of tracking Paul Kerrigan’s lung-bursting 90-yard dashes. Kildare struggled with the pace and agility of Meath’s Damien Carroll, Alan Forde and Graham Reilly in the Leinster championship and Kerrigan is a souped-up version of all three.
The last time Cork and Kildare shared the Croke Park pitch was of course April’s national league finals. Both were impressive in winning their respective divisions that day but one of the reasons proffered for Cork’s win over Mayo was that Mayo constantly went looking for the physical contact almost as if trying to put on show the conditioning work done under Cian O’Neill these last two seasons. It was to be their undoing because this Cork team are in year five of their programme and few teams would want to square up physically to them.
Kildare, of course are also in year five of Kieran McGeeney’s regime and if anybody can put it up to Cork athletically, if not physically, it’s the Lilies. Emmet Bolton has continued his rich vein of form throughout the qualifiers and he will demand attention. Kildare have been pleasantly surprised with how the switch of Michael Foley to midfield has worked out but the Foley/Kelly combination is still raw enough and how Kildare fans must yearn for the days not so long ago when they could call on Dermot Earley, Darryl Flynn and Hughie Lynch to dominate the middle.
How Cork go about matching their backs with the Kildare forwards will be crucial. Will Michael Shields be asked to mark Tomás O’Connor or will that fall to Graham Canty or Eoin Cadogan? All three have struggled at various stages with toe-to-toe combat but the experience of marking Nicholas Murphy and Aidan Walsh in training and Kieran Donaghy and Gary Brennan in matches these past few months should prepare them well. The other consideration that Kildare cannot continue to ignore is how slow their forwards sometimes can be to connect with O’Connor when he does win possession. O’Connor is not the type of full-forward who wins possession, turns, takes his man on and scores and those few seconds after he initially wins possession are critical for someone like him. If he could tune his supporting forwards into coming around quicker on the loop, they would be a far more effective attacking force. Perhaps Seánie Johnston is that type of player and maybe he has a role there?
Someone with a physical presence is going to have to mark James Kavanagh too and Cadogan will probably be asked to negate John Doyle. I anticipate Canty playing a role similar to the one he had against Mayo in the league final when he went out on the wing against Kevin McLoughlin. The Cork captain played a clever game that day, driving his team forward from a deep position in the half-back-line and protecting the ‘D’ in front of his goal. Kildare, with their ability to shoot long-range points bring a different challenge but Canty seems tailor made for a similar role tomorrow.
It may not be explicitly stated within the community of the team and training ground set-up in Cork, but outside the bubble of the dressing room there is a growing drumbeat amongst their band of supporters that says that August 2012 is the perfect time to be taking on Kerry in Croke Park. There is a sense that Cork are ready to set the record straight once and for all.
It is dangerous thinking with Kildare trying to give their supporters and even their manager a big scalp on a plate before it’s too late. Cork don’t need reminding of the recent history of August weekend shocks. I doubt this will be one of them. Cork should be okay.
