Kerry have plenty time to prepare for Tyrone upset

WALKING out of Croke Park yesterday, I was engaged by a friend from Kerry with a worried look on his face. “We’ll never do, Mick.”

“How’s that?”

“Sure, I’d score against that defence. And we’re bunched without Darragh. And we played rubbish.”

The problem was that he was talking to someone whose side played very well on Sunday, answered all the questions asked of it, and is now out of the championship. I know where I’d prefer to be.

There will be a lot of inquisitions in Kerry about aspects of their display yesterday at Croke Park, but there’s nothing that can’t be rectified in the three weeks before their semi-final with Tyrone.

In truth, Kerry won in a dawdle yesterday. I don’t seriously believe that Roscommon put up a worthwhile show at any stage. Their second half goals prolonged curiosity, but were never going to be enough to pull the game out of the fire.

For the neutral, the contest was lobsided from the moment Declan O’Sullivan slipped through for Kerry’s goal. He is part of an exciting attack that may be the answer to Kerry’s defensive troubles in more ways than one.

Experts are coming up with new training regimes by the week, but for testing defences, there is little to beat good quality backs and forwards, and this Kerry attack can certainly put their backs through the ringer in training over the next few weeks.

Cooper, O’Sullivan, Russell et al are a joy to watch, and their constant switching will put the concentration of any defender to the ultimate test.

That was a key issue for the Kerry defence yesterday, concentration. They switched off because things became too easy at stages. Seamus Moynihan once again had problems with a big full-forward but he is not a machine, and he is unlikely to encounter the giant target man any more this season.

Confronting Peter Canavan in the semi-final will suit Moynihan, because the Tyrone man is a footballer, and the Kerry full-back will thrive on that challenge. However, he is only one element of the defence. Mike McCarthy will also have to focus fully to handle young Eoin Mulligan, and the half-backs will have to stay fully focused for 70 minutes to monitor the movement of Dooher and Cavlan.

It will be unusual for Kerry to go into an All-Ireland semi-final as outsiders, but fully in accordance with the form book. There was nothing on show at Croke Park yesterday to alter the view that Tyrone and Armagh are favourites to make it an all-Ulster final. However, Kerry and Galway still have vast scope for improvement. Whether they are capable of it is another question.

I was a bit alarmed that Kerry left Darragh Ó Sé on for the entire game, especially when he appeared to be troubled by the injured ankle near the end, but such is his importance to the team that Kerry seem afraid to be without him at any stage. Were the unthinkable to happen, Kerry are in dire straits.

And yet there were sloppy things yesterday that will be put to right for the semi-final, just as there were improvements in other areas from Kerry’s Munster final win. For starters, the forwards were far slicker with and without the ball, using the vastness of Croke Park to great effect.

Any trainer will agree the time for mistakes is when you are ten points ahead.

In yesterday’s first game, Galway found themselves five points down and out of sorts after 16 minutes of their clash with Donegal, the legacy of a month-long wait since their Connacht final.

Fortunately for them, Micheal Meehan struck for a timely goal which obviated the need to chase the game, but John O’Mahony would be the first to agree that the Connacht champions were singularly unimpressive all over the field.

Donegal had the chances to finish Galway off, but they may not have missed the boat, as many observers will presume. They may overpass, that has long been a Donegal tradition and it won’t change now, but they have plenty of quality and experience to shoulder the responsibility of winning a tight championship match.

However, you have to think that yesterday’s draw will be of more benefit to Galway, and with their match legs back, they should be a more cohesive, imaginative side in Castlebar on Sunday evening.

It may be that the four top seeds will meet in the semi-final. However, though the momentum is with the two Ulster counties, three weeks affords Kerry plenty of time to prepare for an ambush.