Morgan says pace the key to Kerry attack

A lack of pace essentially cost towering forward Kieran Donaghy his place in Kerry’s Munster football final team.

That’s the belief of former All-Ireland-winning Cork manager and player Billy Morgan, who reckons Kerry will attempt to take Cork’s key defenders out of the game on Sunday with an attacking approach full of pace and craft.

Morgan identified Cork defenders Michael Shields and Eoin Cadogan as two players who deal well with physical opponents but may not be as comfortable marking fast forwards, perhaps the reason why Donaghy was replaced by the speedy Darran O’Sullivan.

“I know counties nowadays announce teams and then make changes, but Kerry don’t do it in fairness to them,” said Morgan.

“It looks to me like they are looking to add pace to the forward line. The likes of Eoin Cadogan and Michael Shields are well suited and well capable of playing against big men and have always held their own in those situations.

“So I would think that Kerry are looking for pace in their forward line to offset Shields’ strength and Eoin’s strength. That’s what I would read into it anyway.”

Morgan remains optimistic about Cork’s overall chances, despite being surprised to learn earlier this week that it has been 18 years since they last beat the old enemy in the championship in Killarney.

But he is wary of the havoc that Colm Cooper is capable of wreaking from the Kerry half-forward line, having made a so far successful transition from his more accustomed full-forward line role.

“They finished strongly in the league, particularly their forward line with the Gooch now on the 40,” continued Morgan. “When I heard of him on the 40 first, I said the further he is from goal the better for us. But looking at him against Tipperary, he just ran the show. He had good inside forwards and was giving them very good ball.”

Morgan rates Kerry’s midfield duo of Johnny Buckley — ‘who I would know from UCC and is a fine player’ — and Anthony Maher highly. But he speculated that their defence hasn’t been fully tested yet.

By his estimation, that is where Cork could make real gains because despite the long-term loss of All Star forward Colm O’Neill, he believes Conor Counihan has put together a forward line capable of putting up a match-winning tally.

“I know Colm is a big loss but Daniel Goulding is back, Donncha O’Connor has only even been coming on as a sub, Paul Kerrigan is there, Brian Hurley is coming along very well,” said Morgan. “I mean last year they had an embarrassment of riches in the full-forward line. They still have those players, they still have those forwards.”

The Nemo Rangers man is particularly impressed by Hurley, the young forward who scored heavily in the U21 championship for Cork and hit tallies of 1-1 and 0-5 against Limerick and Clare in the senior championship.

“This young fella Brian Hurley is going to be a star,” said Morgan. “I think it might be a little early yet [to reach his peak] but he is an excellent player. He can move off both feet, he can kick off his right or left. He has pace as well. I think eventually he will be one of Cork’s key forwards. Whether it will be this year or not, I don’t know. But I hope it is.”

Morgan revealed that after watching Cork beat Kildare so comfortably in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, he had them down as champions elect, only to run into Donegal’s stifling defensive system.

He still believes they aren’t far off the very top level, however, and suggested that if they can inflict a rare defeat on Kerry in Killarney, it could be the start of an era of dominance over their great rivals.

“They [Kerry] haven’t been doing well at underage level but Cork have something like seven of the last 10 Munster U21s and a couple of All-Irelands,” noted Morgan. “There are good young players coming. They could [dominate]. But we have said that often enough about Kerry and they have come back.

“At the moment, when the two Ó Sé’s go, Aidan O’Mahony, Paul Galvin, the Gooch, when those players all go, have they got the players to fill those boots? We have had those kind of questions before about other Kerry teams and they’ve always come back in some way. Definitely it is an opportunity for Cork to go on and dominate Munster from here.”