Sice insists Galway can pose questions of overhyped Kingdom

"I think if David Clifford doesn't shoot the stars out and neither does Sean O'Shea then it'll be interesting to see where all these scores are going to come from for Kerry."

Wed, 20 Jul, 2022 - 07:15

Paul Keane

Former Galway attacker Gary Sice says he hasn't been blown away by anything Kerry have done this year and claims too much has been read into their defeat of Dublin.

The Corofin man, who briefly came out of retirement early in Pádraic Joyce's reign in 2020, admitted he's wary of 'David Clifford going ballistic and kicking 10 worldies and hitting 1-10' for Kerry but believes that overall Galway have a great chance.

The three-in-a-row All-Ireland club medallist, who played for Galway for over a decade, is surprised that his county has been largely written off.

"It's a strange one," said Sice. "People are, I wouldn't say dismissing Galway, but they're definitely saying this is Kerry's time and that they've earned this and they're going to win an All-Ireland. I haven't been blown away by them this year, I haven't been blown away by anything they've done this year, including the last day against Dublin. I don't know was it all that impressive.

"Dublin without Con (O'Callaghan) are different, they're not the same threat. I think at the moment we actually have as much if not more threat than Dublin, individually and in the way we're playing as well. We could actually cause an awful lot of problems for Kerry.

"I found it interesting after the Dublin game the last day. It was talked about as a game of the ages but when you actually break it down, I don't know if it was. It was a good game, and it was probably the first game we've seen Kerry emerge from one of those dogfights with a win, but I don't think it was all the bells and whistles that they think it was.

"It was a good performance and they needed it but there are still questions to be answered from that Kerry team and hopefully Galway can pose a lot of those questions on Sunday."

Sice reckons that Galway will go with their tried and trusted playing style and see where it takes them.

"I don't think the structure is going to change an awful lot," he said. "I think keeping David Clifford and Seanie O'Shea below their (scoring) averages, maybe stifling Paudie's work-rate a little bit, and then after that hoping that our own big players play, that's probably where you're at.

"I think if David Clifford doesn't shoot the stars out and neither does Sean O'Shea then it'll be interesting to see where all these scores are going to come from for Kerry."

A separate Kerry challenge will be to keep in-form Galway full-forward Damien Comer in check. The injury plagued attacker has reeled off 2-8 in his last three outings and is back to the form that earned him an All-Star nomination in 2018.

"I think Jason Foley is probably going to pick him up," predicted Sice. "Foley has had problems with (Brian) Hurley in the past, I don't think he enjoys that physical battle, he'd rather football somebody so if we can get decent ball in front, without Tadhg Morley getting in the way, it's going to be interesting to see how Kerry try to deal with that."

Shane Walsh presents another conundrum. Sice knows some believe the experienced forward hasn't been consistent enough over the years, particularly when it comes to delivering on the biggest stage.

"People put a label on him as being this and that but at the end of the day the best version of Shane is when he is playing for the team unit.

"It's lovely to see him doing those 60-yard runs down the sideline and having a pop from 35 yards out on the wing and maybe it goes over the bar and we are all whooping and hollering but maybe Galway lose by three points and you are going, 'Let's go back and analyse this and see what actually happened'.

"Shane tucking in and doing what he is doing at the moment for the team, statistically, to help us win games, that's more important. Yes, Shane kicking from the sideline off both feet and us losing by two points, that's grand too but it's not really what we are about.

"I think what you've got in the last six, eight, 10 weeks is that we have got the best version of Shane that I have seen for a long time. He is really fitting into the team and he has really been a team player.

"His frees have been phenomenal and his work-rate off the ball, I have never seen him doing what he's doing, to be honest with you. It would have been a major weakness in his game. I've never seen him do it. So what you have now is the best version of Shane I have seen, from a Galway point of view, in that he is embedded in the team."

* Former Galway player Gary Sice teamed up with AIB to look forward to the 2022 All-Ireland senior football championship final at Croke Park this Sunday between Galway and Kerry.