Shaping summer habits

“Ill habits gather by unseen degrees as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas” (John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel)

WHEN Derry effected an 11 point swing after the opening 20 minutes to overcome Kerry in last year’s National League final we all told ourselves it was “only the league” and that Kerry would absorb the lessons, move on and make their almost perennial assault on All-Ireland glory.

The knowledge that Kerry should eventually fall just short of that glory to another outstanding team from Ulster is only of historic value now but with the benefit of hindsight perhaps the habit of building up big early leads and allowing them dissipate alarmingly in the third quarter of matches was in its nascent stages in that Parnell Park outing late last April.