All about making things happen, so it's Kerry for me

IT’S probably as well not to dwell too long on sideshows ahead of tomorrow’s All-Ireland football final, but one of the many ironies ahead of the game is that the distractions so often associated with Dublin appear to have transferred themselves neatly on to Kerry.

During the week we had Tralee Town Council scrambling furiously after being berated for not showing enough support for their county team, texts into radio shows wondering why the blanket coverage of Kerry football all week, heroes of old being asked once again to reminisce about the fabled rivalry of yesteryear and even a bit of romantic guff about the team winning an All-Ireland for the Gooch.

I’m not for one moment challenging the bona fide nature of all of the above but Pat Gilroy’s inaugural final as manager of the Dublin team could scarcely be more inconspicuous whereas Kerry has undoubtedly been a bit giddier than usual. Managing the hype and expectation has proven beyond many Dublin managers before him so Gilroy has to be saluted for keeping the bandwagon off the fast lane.

The trouble is that for all the elaborate mind games on both sides ahead of the game, not all the players on the pitch tomorrow can be inoculated against the symptoms of the big day.

Some players may have managed to ignore the talk and many will have removed the emotive aspects of the build-up but once the smoke clears and Joe McQuillan throws in the ball at 3.30pm, it will be all about putting in a good shift and making it happen. It is only afterwards that we can see for ourselves those who have risen to the occasion and those who got bogged down.

It mightn’t be the most obvious starting point for parsing the game itself but there have been a few assumptions abroad about both teams that need to be challenged.

Dublin first. Football people, even those in Kerry, are assuming that Dublin’s conditioning will see them through a game played at sustained intensity and that they will bring the game to Kerry by forcing them to play at a higher tempo than they’ve had to since the final of two years ago. Granted, the Donegal game three weeks ago prepared Dublin in the best possible way for any scrap that may lay ahead tomorrow but intensity and hunger isn’t, or shouldn’t be, the sole preserve of the hunter.

Kerry, like their hurling counterparts Kilkenny, have often found a way of claiming the ground in terms of desire and will to win a final.

The other assumption being made is that Dublin have learned the lessons of indiscipline in the tackle after the recklessness of the final few minutes of last year’s semi-final against Cork. The facts don’t bear this out. In their quarter-final against Tyrone eight free-kicks were conceded within scoring range by Dublin defenders, seven of which were converted and even in the opening 20 minutes against Donegal, Dublin still conceded four long-range frees, three of which were missed by Michael Murphy and the other, a ‘50’, missed by Colm McFadden.

Much has been made ofMcFadden’s point early in the second half when the goal was on but had Donegal converted these earlier frees, his effort would have been irrelevant. The importance of long-range free-taking by both Bryan Sheehan and Stephen Cluxton tomorrow, cannot be overstated. It may be significant that Dublin’s best tacklers (Flynn and Cullen) are played further out the field and some of their more eager and sometimes over-enthusiastic tacklers (McCarthy, Nolan, O’Sullivan and Fitzsimons in particular) are close to the goal. Joe McQuillan has already refereed the Dubs against Tyrone, Wexford, Laois, Cork and Armagh this year and his familiarity with their style may be a help, a hindrance or an irrelevance. Tomorrow will tell.

There are assumptions being made about Kerry that don’t really stack up either. It is assumed because they’ve done the business in finals before, that Kieran Donaghy, Declan O’Sullivan and Colm Cooper will perform to their capabilities. We know that Donaghy is a great aerial threat to have in your armoury and it would be foolish not to use it against a full-back, Rory O Carroll, who departed with injury early in the semi-final. O’Carroll has in the past shown a great capacity to hold his ground under the high ball (most notably against Michael Murphy in last year’s U21 final) but Kerry’s kickers might feel it would be no harm to check his pulse all the same.

If Kerry want to play it more nuanced than they’ve being doing up to now by using Colm Cooper as a target for direct ball and plying Kieran Donaghy with the type of ball that favours smaller men like Cooper and Kieran O’Leary, it would make them less predictable.

The most radical move of all in attacking Dublin’s zonal defence would be to withdraw Donaghy to a deeper midfield role, and leave Declan O’Sullivan inside for longer than the two or three minutes he spent in there in the semi-final. That would force Dublin’s hand a bit more.

I expect that Dublin won’t lose their nerve and betray the hard work they’ve put into defending these last 12 months — making it unlikely that Cooper will at any stage find himself in a one-on-one situation with whoever is tasked with handling him.

Even in a game where backs pursue the forward in packs, the individual match-ups are critical on both sides.

Cian O’Sullivan has the pace and the doggedness to stay some of the course with Gooch, but he will need back up. Kevin Nolan is most likely to drop back as auxiliary. James McCarthy might match Darran O’Sullivan’s pace but he will be greatly helped if the Glenbeigh man is ushered down narrow cul de sacs, as happened against Down last year.

Marc Ó Sé limited Bernard Brogan to one point from play in a league game in February and is best equipped to take up the marking duties again. Killian Young has the tenacity, the stamina and the discipline to track Alan Brogan and Tom O’Sullivan will bring his vast experience to bear while up against Diarmuid Connolly. Cork got so much right with the key match-ups in last year’s final (O’Leary on Clarke and Shields on Coulter) and should Kerry subdue the main score-getters, they, like Cork against Down, could make up for perceived deficiencies in terms of legs and enthusiasm.

So, Kerry and Dublin: the two most charismatic teams in GAA history, or so we’ve been told all week.

Both teams are eminently capable of winning but Kerry arrive with both experience and room for improvement. Dublin come to the great coliseum with an energy and a hunger that not even Donegal could match. This time last year, I didn’t think Kerry had it in them to get back to September, whereas Dublin were bound to have been spurred on by the cruel defeat to Cork. With their minors appearing in the curtain-raiser, Dublin’s graph is clearly rising while Kerry’s course ahead is unknown and unknowable. Nobody knows what will happen next. And therein lies the rub.

Like the greatest poker players, Kerry have a flair for the unexpected and an instinctive feel for when to go all in. Ultimately, Kerry’s faith in themselves will outweigh Dublin’s justified belief in their system. Despite a few piseogs telling me otherwise, I can’t look beyond the Kingdom this time.