Impact subs living up to their name for Kingdom

Some of the hits on Saturday were breathtaking.

The new breed of GAA players, on the top teams especially, are bigger, stronger and more powerful than those who played even three and four years ago.

Even the smaller lads are very well built, toned and able to take and give serious hits. Cillian O’Connor is a case in point. Even though he lines out at corner-forward his ability to stop defenders coming out the field is amazing. Three or four times on Saturday he stripped Kerry players of possession and turned defence into attack with superb tackling and power. On one occasion he even stopped David Moran, who was immense for Kerry, and dispossessed him. Five years ago, most corner-forwards would have been left on their backsides if caught in a one and one with a midfield giant.

However, things have changed and Mayo’s pressure game was built on powerfully built forwards trying to stop opposition defenders.

It almost worked and if they had one more scoring forward in the O’Connor mode, they would be heading to Croke Park for the final.

Their over-dependence on him for scores was a critical factor in their defeat two days ago, and if Mayo people are honest, for the past two years too.

Would this Mayo team have won an All-Ireland if they had either Colm Cooper or James O’ Donoghue wearing green and red?

One of the best individual duels you will ever see in team sport was the tussle between Keith Higgins and James O’ Donoghue on Saturday. Higgins is a fantastic dual player for his county, and one of the best defenders in the land. Many times in this classic joust, he was touch tight on the Legion man and won a good few balls out in front too. He also managed to get in three goal blocks on O’Donoghue and did as well as any corner back could be expected on the Championship’s marquee marksman. He had a fine game. And yet, the current stand-out for player of the year – O’Donoghue shot 2-6 (0-4 from play) and was a constant threat to the Mayo rearguard. One of his stand-out scores had Higgins on his shoe-laces, and yet James lofted the ball skywards, over Higgins and high over the crossbar. As a corner back, that kind of shooting is impossible to stop. O’Donoghue’s sparkling pace and deadly body swerve make him a nightmare to mark and when he gets quality ball.....

Who would be a referee? Even accepting the fact, that is it a very difficult gig — Cormac Reilly did not have a good day on Saturday. He lost control of the game at times and when players feel that happens, they take the law into their own hands. His decision not to either yellow or black card Shane Enright on 17 minutes, after he had hauled Cillian O’Connor down for the Mayo penalty, was inexplicable. And inexcusable.

If it had been a second yellow card, and a subsequent red, it would have had a major bearing on the game. At other stages, when there were pretty obvious frees for over physical play – he let the game run on and that is what helped ramp up the physicality stakes. In the first period of extra-time time, Reilly handed out too incredibly soft frees to Kieran Donaghy and Barry John Keane. Neither was a free in my view and Colm Boyle was rightly incensed when penalised for standing his ground as Keane barged into him. What did Reilly expect him to do? Get out of the way. Those two very soft frees stopped any momentum Mayo had and they did not score again.

We all know that deserve has nothing to do with ultimate success in sport. However – it was poignant and a little moving to see Andy Moran and Alan Dillon standing just outside the whitewash near the end of the game – cajoling their team-mates on, and yet knowing that it was going to be Kerry’s day. Again. Both men have given over a decade of unflinching service to their county and they were a tad unlucky in the All-Ireland final of 2012 to meet a team that destiny seemed to decree would win that final. Moran was out that year too with a cruciate for the final and it was a tough defeat to swallow, no more than last year when going down by a point (2-12 to 1-14).

Sport is cruel. And to lose four All-Ireland finals, and a few semi-finals as Dillon has done, is a bitter pill to swallow.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice used his full quota of subs on Saturday and they all made significant contributions. Marc Ó Sé led the charge of impact subs when he came on for a misfiring Shane Enright.

Ó Sé really rocked into the game and did some sterling defensive work as well as scoring a sublime point early in the second-half. Pa Kilkenny also caught the eye at the back when he came in for his captain and made some telling interventions. Declan O’Sullivan used his experience and ball skills superbly when he arrived on the scene. Barry John Keane was lively too, and Jonathan Lyne closed out the game nicely with his two sweetly hit points at the end. There will be some serious training sessions in the next few weeks in Kerry as some of those players jostle for starting jerseys. A good place to be for the management.

Kerry’s incremental progress this season has been hugely impressive. It is best typified by the improving performances of David Moran who is going from strength to strength.

He was tremendous on Saturday and was in possession a phenomenal amount of times. His kick-passing into the full-forward line was also exemplary and he was by far the most dominant player in the middle eight.

If a few other Kerry players can match his game by game improvement in a few weeks’ time in the final and they will be extremely difficult to stop.