Russell confident Kingdom will benefit from Monaghan scare

WHAT doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. That is the view of Mike Frank Russell who believes Sunday’s stutter against Monaghan could prove just what the doctor ordered ahead of Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin in a fortnight.

With only two matches since the last round of league games in early April, Kerry were deemed to be vulnerable against the Ulster side two days ago and so it proved with victory being assured only by Tomás Ó Sé’s 69th minute point.

“With regards to the Dublin game, we know now where we stand after that performance,” said the Laune Rangers attacker. “Six weeks in training is grand but it was getting monotonous. It’s an awful long period and you can only prepare so much.

“That lay-off didn’t help us at all. You could see that out there. There (was) relief in the dressing room, not euphoria. We needed a game just to see where we stand and now we know. There’s a few things there we have to work on.”

Three points down with 12 minutes to go and two adrift with four to go, they finally produced something akin to the level of football they are capable of with Bryan Sheehan coming off the bench to kick two of the last three points.

“We (were) absolutely relieved. In a way, you would feel sorry for Monaghan. With two or three minutes to go we would have taken the draw and I don’t think that would have done us any harm.

“It just goes to show that it’s a 20-man game now and thank God our subs came in there and did a job. Otherwise, we would have been heading for a replay or even worse.

“We dug it out though and they are great games to win. Sometimes you can win a game handy and not get as much praise for it. This is just a stepping stone and what an occasion the Dublin game will be.”

What shouldn’t be lost amid any examination of Kerry’s flaws is the fact that no-one would have questioned the legitimacy of the result had Monaghan sneaked home. For long periods they were the better team.

Both Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy were kept scoreless from play, Russell himself only managed one point that wasn’t from a placed ball and the entire half-forward line was anonymous for vast stretches of the afternoon. The Monaghan defence is entitled to take a bow.

“Seamus McEnaney told us afterwards that he didn’t think there was ever a better prepared team to come to Croke Park and that’s credit to them. They had probably dissected our game and they were a lot sharper than we were. They were very aggressive. It was a very physical game.”

Dublin too play a brand of football that stresses athleticism and physical prowess and the fixture will be given an added spice by the counties’ mutual history and the 1970s rivalry in particular.

“There’s the fans’ perspective and the teams’ perspective,” said Russell of the hype that will inevitably precede the fixture.

“There is going to be a great camaraderie because we haven’t met too often recently in the championship.’’

He added: “Unfortunately we didn’t get to see too much of the (Derry) game on Saturday because we were travelling up at the time but we will look at it during the week. Ourselves and Dublin are there on merit and we’ll give it a lash.”