Tony Leen: Kicking the ass of 39, but Kieran Donaghy is still the big man for the big plays
HALLELUJAH: Kieran Donaghy celebrates at the final whistle on Sunday.
IT finished with a delicious scenario of Kieran Donaghy policing the edge of his own square, keeping an eye and a half on Tommy Walsh prowling for the late goal grab.
Twin towers reunited.
Colleagues more than a decade ago in the same Kerry full-forward line, the Austin Stacks totem knew too well that his erstwhile colleague represented clear and immediate danger. That only a Walsh mark and a dish off for an equalising goal could deny Stacks a 13th county football title, and a first since 2014. Like de Niro as PI Jack Walsh in , Donaghy was too tired and, at 38, had come too far, to allow a late, dramatic intervention – even from his close friend across the black and blue Tralee divide.
As one final diagonal ball rained in on the Kerry county final, Donaghy marshalled his cover into a final neighbourhood watch. The final whistle drew them level with Dr Crokes at the head of the Kingdom’s roll of honour with 13 Bishop Moynihan Cups.
Even the most one-eyed Strand Road supporter would not deny Stacks their wonderful winter Sunday. Wayne Quillinan’s side were the better, more composed side throughout a testy Tralee affair. But the fact of it is that Kerry’s blue riband had a black and amber feel to it inside the opening five minutes.
Disaster I for William Harmon and O’Rahillys came in the final stretches of the warm-up when their rangy wing forward Gavin O’Brien tweaked a hamstring. The final was underway before most people noticed that Cian Sayers had started in his stead.
Disaster II wasn’t long in following. The confrontation between midfielders David Moran and Joe O’Connor was one of the most eagerly awaited subplots ahead of derby day. Established Kerry v NextGen Kerry. The young Stacks buck made his first surge from midfield and eager not to give any psychological ground, Moran hared after him, got in a tangle of legs and limped out of the game. “Did his groin,” Harmon confirmed afterwards. (For the watching Kerry boss Jack O’Connor there was the crumb of comfort that it wasn’t his troublesome knee). Either way, it removed from the fray a pair of the final’s most potent ball winners and carriers.
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It would be ludicrous to ascribe Stacks’ 0-13 to 0-10 victory to the absence of two rivals but it had a disproportionate influence on what transpired. O’Rahillys needed Tommy Walsh out around midfield to compensate for the loss of Moran. But they also needed him at the tip of their spear. “Robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said William Harmon.
No surprise then that throughout the piece, Strand Road’s tempo was hurried and ragged, in stark contrast to the poise and precision of their conquerors. For a club that produced some of the game’s greatest forwards, Stacks’ current crop are perhaps a touch light in terms of pure threat, but they compose their combinations thoughtfully and share the shooting responsibility. Sean Quilter came off the bench to claim two points, Darragh O’Brien converted his frees, and Shane O’Callaghan worked intelligently between the lines. However it is hard to avoid the conclusion that, kicking the ass of 39, Donaghy is still pulling all the threads together.
O’Rahillys, interestingly, deputed Shane Brosnan to shadow Donaghy, putting skipper Ross O’Callaghan on his namesake Shane. Any Stacks possession that necessitated Donaghy’s involvement was accurate and well used. In the final stages, as O’Rahillys reduced the leeway to three points, he came out to midfield and won a crucial 60th kickout on the terrace side of the field. As captain Dylan Casey reflected afterwards Donaghy is the man, the talisman and the one who drives standards week after week.
He is a star alright.
With Brendan O’Sullivan feeding into the midfield effort, Stacks are strong in the central third of the field. A former midfielder Wayne Guthrie now keeps goal, and had an impressive final, and they will be hoping to have former Kerry defender Ronan Shanahan back for the Munster campaign, which begins with a clash with Newcastlewest.
Ultimately though their provincial fortunes will depend on Donaghy’s basketball commitments. Even he wouldn’t chance lining out for Warriors in their National Cup win last Saturday night over Moycullen, but he has a few interesting, and welcome, choices in the weeks ahead.
The decider, played in front of a healthy crowd of 8,453, wasn’t the December delicacy neutrals could delight in. It was goalless graft, picky and testy, There was simply too many domestic implications arising from the outcome. For all their potential threat up front, O’Rahillys never got the consistent possession they needed to employ the threat of Barry John Keane and Conor Hayes.
In the 20th minute a point-blank save from Darragh O’Brien by the Strand Road keeper Shane Foley allowed a rapid transition for a Keane point at the other end. 0-5 to 0-4 and the momentary sense that the final was ready for take-off. Unfortunately, the spark was provided by fights, nor flair.
The most serious of several niggles say Tommy Walsh booked for a clash with Dylan Casey, who required several minutes of treatment. The referee Jonathan Griffin should be commended for keeping a lid on the aggro and maintaining some semblance of flow.
Ironically one of Griffin’s poorer decisions gave Stacks the free to add to their lead and Brendan O’Sullivan added an eighth point to put them in a commanding half-time position.
Whatever the extent of the interval debate in the O’Rahillys camp, it had to feature the role of Tommy Walsh, and the need to get Keane and Hayes into the game. Jack Savage’s toil was commendable, as was Con Barrett’s, Diarmuid O’Sullivan’s and Cormac Coffey's, but at the sharp end of matters, they weren’t making any appreciable dent.
Conor Hayes is regarded as an exciting talent, but a 31st-minute score was his first meaningful contribution. And by the 47th minute, Stacks had eased themselves into a 0-12 to 0-6 lead. Eventually, Walsh was relocated by Strand Road to the edge of the square, with immediate dividends. By the time corner back Cormac Coffey surged forward to point impressively, it was a one-score final (0-12 to 0-9).
Time for Donaghy to impose himself. Off Guthrie’s pinpoint restart, he secured possession and set the attack in motion that yielded Stack’s 13th point, and Darragh O’Brien’s sixth from a free.
Jack Savage, over the hour Strand Road’s best performer, lofted a fine point under pressure. By then, however, Donaghy’s reverse to the fringe of his own small square was complete. Getting past the giant Oak of Rock Street would take more than Strand Road were capable of on the day.
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