Forgettable contest sees Walsh rise from the mist

WE can only hope, if not expect, that Kerry and Cork footballers will provide a final in three weeks time that will be worthy of the occasion and the All-Ireland championship.

What we saw yesterday in Croke Park, in the second of the semi-finals, was a poor advertisement for the game, almost a betrayal for the fans who paid big money to be there.

And, if it wasn’t entirely flattering to a Kerry team which played to a higher standard in the second half following the introduction of Tommy Walsh, it was much less of a compliment to a Meath team which struggled after conceding a penalty in the third minute – and never looked capable of causing an upset.

With the question being asked in advance about which was the ‘real’ Kerry after their form in the qualifiers zoomed upwards in the mismatch against Dublin, part of the answer was supplied in the first half. Their attack barely functioned, while Meath’s forward unit was handicapped by a very poor service (and the early departure of captain Stephen Bray with a shoulder injury).

The end result was a very low scoring opening 35 minutes, which saw Meath get only one of four points from play. Things didn’t improve after the restart when they were confined to just two points from play before Cian Ward put the ball in the net in injury time.

The opening goal was as big a disaster for full-back Anthony Moyles as it was for the Royals, after he first fumbled a low ball hit in from the wing by Darragh O Sé and then fouled Colm Cooper to concede a penalty. Darran O’Sullivan easily scored, although he slipped on the wet surface just as he made contact with the ball.

The finger of criticism could be pointed regularly at Meath for their poor use of ball that was hard won by a defence which quickly recovered from their early setback, Kerry’s attack was not functioning very effectively – as the addition of a mere three points to the goal indicated. Yes, there was no lack of effort on the part of any of the six, but what was missing was the combination play that stunned Dublin earlier this month.

For that, the Meath backs could take a lot of the credit, for the tenacity of their play and their ability to deny the Kerry players space or time on the ball. Another – crucial – factor was the inability of Darragh O Sé and Seamus Scanlon to provide a platform at midfield because of the dogged resistance of the Meath pairing.

Instead Kerry relied heavily on the half-backs for support and they were not found wanting, especially Tomas O Sé who picked up a lot of breaking ball, before Killian Young found his form on the other wing.

Having waited until the 15th minute for their opening score, which came from Brian Farrell after Joe Sheridan (their most effective forward) made the opening. And, but for the fact that they wasted a lot of chances (roughly half of their ten wides resulted from misplaced passes from outfield), they could very well have gone ahead on the scoreboard.

On the other hand, they were lucky that Declan O’Sullivan missed two half-chances of goals, the second coming closest to finishing up in the net when ‘keeper Paddy O’Rourke blocked his ground shot in the 19th minute.

Notably, in the time remaining before the interval, Meath built up momentum with Sheridan very much to the forefront. Additionally, Brian Meade was very effective at midfield and the form of Brian Farrell and Ward up front was promising. However, their misuse of possession cost them dearly before trailing at the break 1-3 to 0-4.

The start of the second half was just as calamitous for the Royals as the first when Tommy Walsh had the ball in the net less than a minute after the resumption. The frustrating thing for the Meath management was that they won the ball at the throw-in and from the move Caoimhin King kicked a terrible wide. From the kick-out, Kerry transferred the ball speedily down the centre where the impressive Tadhg Kennelly won the ball to set up the chance for the big Kerins O’Rahillys man.

In another two minutes Walsh had the ball over the bar and while he was limited to just one more point (in the 46th minute), his influence on Kerry’s virtual take-over was immense.

Starting at the back, where Tommy Griffin and Mike McCarthy controlled the centre (apart from being troubled by Sheridan at times) and both corner-backs were in control, Kerry’s play was muck slicker and more purposeful. Darragh O Sé and Scanlon were much more involved and an attack in which Paul Galvin and the two O’Sullivans put in a huge effort all through, was much more threatening.

All that was lacking was more of a killer instinct, with 18 minutes going by before Kennelly added to Walsh’s second point and a number of chances squandered through inaccuracy. But, it was that kind of a game where there was no real threat to Kerry advancing, even if Meath never gave up hope. But, Ward’s goal was a case of too little too late

Scorers for Kerry: T Walsh 1-2; Darran O’Sullivan 1-1 (1-0 pen); C Cooper 0-3 (0-2 frees); T Kennelly 0-2.

Scorers for Meath: C Ward 1-4 (0-2 frees, 0-2 sideline); B Farrell 0-2 (0-1 free); J Sheridan 0-1.

Subs for Kerry: T Walsh for D Walsh (28); A O’Mahony for Young (50); M Quirke for D O Sé and P O’Connor for Cooper (60); B Sheehan for Declan O’Sullivan (66).

Subs for Meath: M Burke for S Bray (injured, 7); J Sweeney for Kenny (45); N McKeigue for D Bray (48); M Ward for Crawford (53); K Reilly for King (58).

Referee: G O Conamha (Galway).