Golden moment no. 33

IT’S almost too simple to comprehend. In hindsight. Kerry scout Mayo and suss that their full-back line have an aversion to going backwards. Well, not so much an aversion as not having any reason to do so.

Can it possibly be true that Mayo’s training was so geared towards getting quality low ball into the Mortimers that nobody thought to broaden the defence’s arsenal, too?

“We figured that the defence wouldn’t have much high ball pumped into them at training, so we decided to test them out in that area first,” Kerry coach Jack O’Connor revealed last night.

The success was spectacular. Dermot Geraghty lasted 20 minutes on Colm Cooper, but he wasn’t the only fall-guy. Mayo tried David Heaney on a rampant John Crowley, not the best thing to do after being roasted early on by Dara Ó Cinnéide. Half-back Pat Kelly was drafted back from the wing to deal with Cooper. Result? High ball into the Kerry star, turn and goal of the season.

“We’ve conceded sixteen points (1-13) in the first half of an All-Ireland final. That’s pretty disastrous from all perspectives,” admitted selector Liam McHale at half-time.

The trouble for Mayo was the outfield supply. If the high ball into the Kerry full-forward line was causing all sorts of problems, Mayo’s midfield seemed powerless to stop it.

Fergal Kelly and Ronan McGarrity clearly underestimated Kirby and Brosnan. By the time Kelly cleared his head, he had been substituted after 24 minutes, and Kirby already had the first of his three points. The Austin Stacks man was also winning first-phase possession, a midfield rarity on All-Ireland final day, while Brosnan was working like “a horse,” according to his manager.

In the Fitzmaurice v McDonald battle, who’s smiling now?

The Kerry centre-back had a tormented week from people who wrote him off as someone waiting to be found out. McDonald started with a super point from the wing, but that was as good as it got. All his possession, as Kerry had hoped, was won on the wings, with his back to goal. “I wonder who was under more pressure, Ciarán or me? Everyone said he would destroy me. I was given no hope of doing anything. A young fella was being given a better chance,” said Fitzmaurice last night.