GAA grading: you win or you’re wrong
It’s the GAA’s variation on a pass-fail system that includes heavy negative marking for managers who come up with the incorrect answers. There aren’t any real alternatives where a loss doesn’t instantly depict him as some sort of an incompetent buffoon in the eyes of many on the terraces.
It was Stephen Rochford who got the hardest of it last week, but it’ll be Éamonn Fitzmaurice and Mickey Harte in the next few days for the anaemic display produced by their charges at the weekend.
Apparently, the Mayo management were pretty sensitive about the questioning and criticism they received for the positioning of arguably their best offensive player at full-back for the entire game last week, as well as putting their most dangerous attacking defender as a half-forward.
Effectively, they moved their two best players and put them into positions where they were not as comfortable, but were somehow surprised by the reaction it drew.
By any measure, neither move was a success, and despite Mayo being the better side for most of the game, Kerry found themselves leading by a point into injury time in the original fixture.
If Barry John Keane hadn’t made the crucial error of miskicking a quick free that led to Paddy Durcan’s equaliser, Kerry would probably have fallen into the final and Mayo and Rochford would be licking their wounds asking themselves “what if?”
But the managerial exam wasn’t over, remember, you either win or you’re wrong, this was only half-time.
While they repositioned Lee Keegan to his more favoured and effective position as a half-back for the replay, they held firm in their belief that O’Shea was the best man to nullify the unique threat posed by Donaghy on the edge of the square. Despite the result, I still maintain it was a move that kept Kerry in the contest longer than their performance on either day deserved.
Unfortunately for the Kingdom, and why Fitzy will now take some heat, they took the pressure off Mayo with their team selection and set-up. Dropping James O’Donoghue was a huge call. Because of effectively playing with seven designated defenders, Kerry never had enough of an offensive threat to put any real pressure on that Mayo full-back line.
As a result of having only two forwards up top for the opening half, they were constantly outnumbered by extra Mayo bodies covering in front of O’Shea and Donaghy.
That gave Mayo more grafters to pick up the breaks off the big man, loads of options for David Clarke to find with quick kick-outs and generally, nowhere near the pockets of space that Kerry were able to exploit the previous week.
Without the same glut of bodies in the middle third of the field as the previous week, and with virtually guaranteed possession from the tee, Mayo ran incessantly and eventually forced Kerry into running out of legs and ideas.
You’d imagine the thinking of the Kerry management was straightforward; the full-back line was badly exposed by Andy Moran and company the previous week, and needed to be given some form of protection.
Ultimately, it was a move that made sense, similar to the deployment of Declan O’Sullivan to act as a shield back there against Cork in the Munster final back in 2014, when Fitzmaurice was heralded as a genius… but the way it played out last weekend, it hurt Kerry more than it helped.
Now, the justification for playing Paul Murphy as a sweeper is clear when you look at the numbers. In the first game the Mayo full-forward line combined to score 1-9 from play. Last Sunday, the same three players contributed only 1-2 from play.
Obviously, the conversion of eight frees (an increase from only one in the first game) made up for the lack of open play scoring.
The same reasoning could be made for the effectiveness of O’Shea on Donaghy in the replay, whether it was a result of Kerry’s set-up more than anything else is irrelevant now. Mayo backed themselves, Kerry didn’t.
The running power, energy and effort of the Connacht men was great to watch, even through green and gold eyes. One of the less heralded positives to emerge through this campaign has been the development of Jason Doherty as a real player of significance.
Again last Sunday, his play in the attacking half offered something they have lacked. With his athleticism, he is
developing into an excellent outlet and ball winner to complement that inside line, and with his confidence building he has turned into an important piece of that Mayo attack.
After Cillian O’Connor got the road with a black card, Doherty stepped up to show a steely calmness to knock over a few scores to deny Kerry any momentum and make sure they were never going to get back anywhere within touching distance.
ANDY Moran’s early second-half goal was probably the game’s defining moment and the best move of a match constantly interrupted by an overly-fussy referee. Kerry had gone more offensive with the introduction of James O’Donoghue and Darran O’Sullivan, and the abundance of space was exploited by a superb ball in by substitute Conor Loftus.
The contested catch by Andy Moran... the quick turn, patience, timing, the handpass, the unselfish return by Cillian O’Connor and the finish. It encapsulated everything that was good about Mayo’s performance.
It was a score that brought me back to the 2006 All-Ireland final between the same two sides, and a goal scored by Declan Sullivan that bore striking similarities.
Driving through the middle and bearing down on goals, he slipped it past a defender to Donaghy, ran on and took the return to finish to the net from close range. It highlighted the superiority of Kerry on the day and Andy Moran’s goal did the same for Mayo last Saturday.
It made me think of the kind of hardship Mayo have suffered at the hands of Kerry in the recent past.
This being their first victory over the same opposition for 21 years, and that goal kind of summed up not only the football ability they have in their group, but also the abundance of spirit and fight they have to be able to keep coming back.
There was a sort of poetic justice in Andy Moran being the one to craft and claim the goal that effectively drove a stake through Kerry’s collective heart, a man who has suffered more than anybody on that current Mayo panel at the hands of Kerry in big games.
Moran played and lost an All-Ireland final to Kerry all the way back in 2004, and along with David Clarke and Keith Higgins suffered again in 2006 against the same outfit. They, along with Alan Dillon, would surely have enjoyed that one more than most.
For Mayo, they were hugely deserving winners and with a little more adventure, could and probably should have won the game much more comfortably than the final score suggests. They had all the top performers in a game where their physicality, athleticism, and skill shone through.
Éamonn Fitzmaurice and his management group will face a few tough weeks before the sting will begin to ease. It’s not even the losing that will hurt the most, it’s the failure to perform at all that eats away at you.
Back in April, after Kerry beat the invincible Dubs to claim the Allianz League title, Fitzmaurice was lauded as a hero, a tactical sage no less. Fast forward a few short months later, and some of those same people clapping him on the back then, will be calling for his head now. What a fickle game.
You either win, or you are wrong.
