Keegan could be solution to Mayo’s midfield problems
Far too often yesterday, Mayo’s Robert Hennelly just drove the ball out as long and as high as he could from restarts. The best teams don’t do that.
Kerry’s Anthony Maher and David Moran did very well for the first half and at one juncture we counted four Mayo kick-outs which Kerry claimed in succession.
Teams that win All-Irelands in September work on a strategy, a scheme, a tactic to retain possession in so far as they can from their own restarts. Donegal’s Paul Durcan in 2012, and Stephen Cluxton as usual last year, were sublime in finding their own men from such situations.
Mayo must come up with a few ways of ensuring that Hennelly, or David Clarke or whoever is between the sticks come Championship time, can find either their wing-backs, midfielders or wing-forwards, and keep possession.
Kerry’s Brendan Kealy found Donnchadh Walsh beautifully once in the first half with a well worked move, where the Cromane man came from deep, and his midfielders drifted out to create space. It all meant that Kerry were on the attack in one movement.
Mayo need to watch and learn. Hennelly made one superb save off James O’Donoghue, but his free-taking was horrific and he sent at least four wide. Either he practises much more than he does, and improves his kicking technique, or he leaves the frees to his forwards.
Every inter-county career has to start somewhere, however some of the Kerry substitutes that came on at the back yesterday looked like they have a lot to learn, and will take a year or two to get up to the required level.
Pa Kilkenny, Jack Sherwood and Brian McGuire were all called into the fray, however the Mayo forwards were well on top by the end.
Kerry’s entire half-back line of Aidan O’Mahony, Peter Crowley and Marc Ó Sé were all withdrawn. Of greater concern is the fact that Ó Sé looked slightly troubled by his right knee which was strapped.
Marc was the best corner back in the country for years, however it will be interesting to see if he can make the transition at this stage of his career to wing-back.
Shane Enright was also correctly black carded for a rugby style heel tap and in the last quarter Kerry struggled badly at the back with Alan Freeman, Enda Varley and a rampant Lee Keegan boring holes from deep.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice knows better than anyone that players like the retired Tomás Ó Sé can be once in a generation type, and replacing his quality and panache is an onerous task.
Mayo have a real problem at midfield —they lack pace and mobility.
It was cruelly exposed by Dublin in last September’s All-Ireland final and will be again, unless it is addressed. For all the leather that big Aidan O’Shea gets his hands on, he lacks pace.
He is a real massive lumbering presence, however, if he is run at and moved around from wing-to-wing, he struggles. He can also be caught in two minds and needs to offload faster.
Mayo may be forced to put a runner in the engine room, to augment him, and whether Seamus O’Shea is the solution remains to be seen. Dublin won the final last year with Cian O’ Sullivan adding legs to the already highly mobile Michael Macauley, and perhaps James Horan will have to consider finding someone of that ilk, to cover the ground Aidan struggles to cover.
Could the superbly athletic Lee Keegan do a job there? He is immense in possession and really drives at the opposition. The best compliment I can pay Keegan, is that at times yesterday, he looked like a young Tomás Ó Sé.
