Cooper’s red card swings it

“SURE, its’ only the league.”

Barry O’Shea, who is team captain, had a frustrating afternoon at Pearse Stadium prior to being called ashore. He was not alone in this. From the throw-in Micheál McCarthy went to full-back and O’Shea switched onto Micheál Meehan. Meehan ended the game with 1-5 (0-2f). To be fair to Barry, Tom O’Sullivan was marking Meehan for the three points from play (all second half).

O’Shea though must be marked absent for the goal. A high ball in, which dropped short, found Meehan in acres of space with time to wave to the photographers before rifling the ball past the exposed Diarmuid Murphy.

Mike McCarthy also found Derek Savage a handful and was lucky to finish the game as Pat McEnaney allowed him two or three personal fouls before banishing the cárta buí.

Páidí then switched Barry onto Tommie Joyce, who had a roving commission for Galway. This portfolio suited O’Shea more as he linked up well with the play on a number of occasions. The harsh reality is that O’Shea (no more than many of us) lacks real pace. Pace hurts. It kills. Both Meehan and Savage did a lot of damage close to goal.

A cruciate operation is one of the most severe in Gaelic and it takes 10/15% of your pace. Ja Fallon, for one, is not the same player as he was prior to his operation and this is a common theme for many top players. The question for Kerry is whether to persevere with the Kerins O’Rahillys man at number three or try and find another option? If any.

This is something that could determine a team’s entire season. In the best stadia there is no place to hide.

Fitzgerald Stadium, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, or the Mecca itself will ask the honours questions and you need to know the answers or you fail.

Croke Park is so wide and big now that if you don’t have pace you will be exposed. Armagh’s approach to their lack of pace in the full-back line is to get McGeeney to drop back and cut of the supply of ball coming in. Their wing forwards work exceptionally hard and cut in to sweep behind the midfield. Perhaps Kerry could go down this road?

The game turned on the red card shown to the naive Colm Cooper. He was sent off for an unnecessary off-the-ball incident with Diarmuid Blake, who wasn’t even his direct marker. After a free had been awarded to Kerry. This will carry a minimum of a one-month suspension and depending of what he is reported for up to three. There was no need for him to get involved as he was moving well and ultimately it had a massive bearing on the outcome of the game.

With Galway in the lead and Kerry down to 14 men, the game was practically over at half-time. Galway leading by double scores, 1-7 to 0-5.

A straight-running Matthew Clancy (centre-forward) who popped over two points from play in the opening few minutes set the tone for Galway’s whirlwind start. Séamus Moynihan improved subsequently and was Kerry’s most influential player. He must have felt a tad like Tom Thumb with his finger in the dyke trying to stop the flow. If cloning ever comes into Kerry, then Moynihan’s DNA would be the first used.

The entire Kerry half-forward line was replaced and only Declan Quill (0-3) showed any urgency in a sluggish display by the Kerry forwards. Dara Ó Cinnéide was replaced at half-time. Liam Hassett’s power and strength on the ball is badly missed and its only when a player is absent you realise his influence. K

erry people won’t forget that he was captain in 1997 and got a well-deserved Allstar for his displays in 2000. To see Eamonn Fitzmaurice coming on at centre-forward was farcical and underlined the dearth of options available on the day.

For Galway it was a good display but nobody will be getting carried away with it. Kerry were woeful.