Kerry's class of '22 are meaner than recent editions

Seán O’Shea, naturally enough, was the toast of the winning dressing-room, but there was more than him to thank for ensuring this Kerry team did not once again throw away a winning hand late on in Croke Park

Mon, 11 Jul, 2022 - 07:35

Eoghan Cormican

In these pages on Saturday, John Evans said what was on the tip of most Kerry tongues when remarking that ‘if it goes to a battle, all Kerry people would be worried about that'.

This Kerry team carry psychological baggage from a litany of big-game failures and that baggage weighed heavy on Jack O’Connor’s charges from the moment David Moran fumbled possession for a mistake that ended with Cormac Costello angling in a Dublin goal on 44 minutes.

Cohesion and composure deserted the Kerry front eight for much of the remaining half an hour. Their decision-making in the opposition half of the field went to pot, typified by the amount of percentage passes unsuccessfully attempted, passes that weren’t even entertained in the first period, let alone chanced.

There was the 50/50 Paudie Clifford handpass into Seán O’Shea that didn't stick, there was the meek Diarmuid O’Connor point attempt from less than 25 metres out that dropped into the grateful hands of Dublin ‘keeper Evan Comerford.

Adrian Spillane was another unsuccessful with a percentage kick-pass, a turnover by Dublin that finished with Ciarán Kilkenny levelling proceedings at 1-12 apiece on 69 minutes. Two minutes later, the other Spillane brother, Killian, was careless when coughing up possession to Cormac Costello along the Hogan Stand sideline.

Kerry were spooked, and the mistakes that flowed from their collective shakiness pumped Dublin tanks full of oxygen.

Crucially, though, and despite being outgunned by 1-5 to 0-2 between the 43rd and 70th minute, their six-point lead wiped out in the process, Kerry never allowed Dublin to sneak their noses in front. And it should go without saying that match-winner O’Shea alone wasn’t responsible for such.

Of the 1-28 Kerry took Limerick for in the Munster final, 0-16 resulted from turnovers. Their workrate was even more pronounced against Mayo in the quarter-final, 1-11 of Kerry’s 1-18 total coming from turnovers.

As their nerve was being microscopically examined in the final quarter, turnovers won deep in the Kerry half both sustained and saved Jack O’Connor’s side.

Not alone did they display the stomach to defend the D with their lives, they policed the flanks with similar relentlessness.

Ciarán Kilkenny was stripped of the ball as he sought to go through the centre on 50 minutes, John Small later turned over near the endline by Gavin White, a piece of defending that earned the Crokes half-back a hefty slap on the back from Tom O’Sullivan.

In the same corner of the field further on in proceedings, O’Shea and sub Joe O’Connor combined to dispossess Seán McMahon. Shortly after, full-back Jason Foley rose highest to knock away to safety a John Small delivery.

These vital interventions were a microcosm of a first half where Kerry kept Dublin at arm’s length and outside the D. And on the very rare occasion Dublin spotted a gap, the player who dared to go through the ditch was quickly set upon, as exactly was the case when Lee Gannon was emptied of the ball by Brian Ó Beaglaoich and White.

The final turnover count, the same as the scoreboard, had Kerry winning by one.

Final quarter frailties might remain, but there is also no doubt that the Kerry class of ‘22 are meaner than recent editions.