Three big takeaways from Kerry’s demolition of Tyrone

The Munster kingpins made a statement at HQ on Saturday evening.

LOOKING UP: Kerry’s Sean O'Shea scores his side's second goal. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

Let slip the dogs of war 

The Kingdom has a proud tradition of breeding skilled dogs. Footballers who can thrive with the fist or a flourish. Hardy hoors like Paul Galvin and Declan O’Sullivan who never took a backwards step and could mix it whatever way necessary. Paudie Clifford follows in their footsteps.

From the off, the motivated forward became entangled with Conor Meyler. There were further words exchanged later when he disregarded a mark opportunity and elected to take him off. At half-time as they made for the tunnel, there was a brief skirmish before his brother ran across and shepherded him away.

That is not to overlook his brilliance with and without the ball. Clifford kicked a point and finished with three assists. Twice he came up with huge defensive interventions, scampering back to pressurise a handpass across the square aimed at Ruairí Canavan and later forcing Frank Burns out over the sideline.

There was time for more fire after the flair. Clifford picked up a yellow card in the final five minutes and another before the end. He then walked off towards Jack O’Connor and shrugged. O’Connor responded with a consolatory pat on the back. He has dealt with this sort of genius before.

Tyrone post-2021 hangover continues 

Since winning the All-Ireland in 2021, Tyrone have played nine championship matches across 2022 and 2023. Remarkably, they have only won three of them. None of those teams will play in Division 1 next season. Those victories came against Fermanagh in last year’s Ulster championship, a Sam Maguire group stage win over Armagh and Donegal in the preliminary quarter-final.

Of the other six, one was a draw versus Westmeath and the rest were all losses. What’s worse is that two were humiliating defeats. Derry hammered them by 11 points in Healy Park. Kerry were full value for their 12-point win.

Such a poor run is even more perplexing given they have all the required components. The starting core of that victorious outfit remain, several U20 stars have made the step up and bar Cathal McShane, they have maintained a clean bill of health.

Where do they go from here? Their squad will continue to evolve but it is their approach that needs most work. At times they offered their inside line no protection whatsoever. Cormac Quinn tried to drop in as a sweeper occasionally but was forced off before half-time. They could have conceded even more goals if not for a Niall Morgan save and Diarmuid O’Connor opting for a point. So many struggles stemmed from poor structure. A long hard winter lies ahead.

Kerry build from the back 

Their devastation in attack was one awesome element of this Kerry performance but they were also durable at the back. From the off, Jason Foley jogged over towards Darren McCurry and kept him scoreless from play. Tom O’Sullivan took Darragh Canavan and ensured he will not end this breakout campaign with an All-Star. Graham O’Sullivan went to Mattie Donnelly and ran him all over the field.

The oft-regurgitated figure from the 2021 clash was Kerry’s concession of 2-9 from turnovers. Here they turned the tables and scored 0-6 from turnovers in the first half alone. Tyrone gave up possession 24 times in total. Kerry’s sum was only 14.

“The last time we played here in 2021 Kerry had an awful lot of turnovers that day,” Jack O’Connor said post-match.

“That is something we worked very hard on over the last couple of years because Tyrone are a counterattacking team. They have a lot of pace and danger coming from different areas. We have worked very hard on that and thankfully it worked out.”