Christy O'Connor: Once Dublin got a grip, they squeezed the life out of Mayo
DUBLIN GET A GRIP: Diarmuid O’Connor of Mayo and Con O'Callaghan of Dublin tussle. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Was it a sublime pass or just a hopeful punt into the danger zone? The outcome always adds a layer of makeup to the appearance but Davy Byrne’s delicate clip with the outside of his left boot that created Colm Basquel’s opening goal was a metaphor for the game up that point - and how the quality of the first half was so entertaining compared to the second.
Pádraig O’Hora had his back turned as the ball dropped into Basquel’s arms but the Dublin defender also got himself in front of Jack Coyne. Basquel’s finish was brilliant but everything opened up from the quality and execution of Byrne’s delivery.
Basquel’s second goal also asked serious questions of Mayo’s defending but, while Paul Mannion’s persistence and Cormac Costello’s ingenuity eked out the opening for Basquel, the original ball had come from another kicked delivery into the Dublin attack. In total, Dublin mined 2-6 from balls kicked into their attack. As a comparison, Mayo got 0-4 from that source, all of which came in the first half.
Once Dublin got a grip on Mayo’s throat, they squeezed the life out of them. The game was over as a contest early in the third quarter but the comparative kicking numbers are revealing. It’s never black and white but the first half was so exciting and enthralling because there was so much high-quality kick-passing in open play.
In that opening half, there were 40 kick-passes in open play. After the break, there were just 19.
The breakdown of those numbers are even more interesting. Of those 40 kick-passes in the opening half, 22 were kicked into the forwards. After the break, there were just eight passes kicked into the attack.
Some of the kick-passing in open play in the opening half was of the highest quality. Only three of those passes were turned over, only one of which led to a score at the other end. When Niall Scully hit the bottom of the goalpost, which ended with a James McCarthy point, Dublin sourced that attack off a misplaced kick-pass from goalkeeper Colm Reape.
Once Dublin turned the screw early in the third quarter, it became a different game. Dublin were controlling the match. Mayo were chasing it. Mayo were less willing to take risks in possession. Fatigue becomes a factor. Dublin’s intent was underlined by not playing with a sweeper when they were so far ahead. But being able to drop covering players back denied Mayo those channels and that space that had been open, especially for kick-passes, in the first half.
Mayo’s two goal chances in the second half, when Eoghan McLaughlin hit the post and Diarmuid O’Connor’s shot was saved by Stephen Cluxton, came from running the ball. Yet Dublin were also happy to invite Mayo on and eat them up on turnovers.
After only turning over the ball just once fewer than Mayo in the first half (8-9), Dublin just turned the ball over three times in the second half. Mayo meanwhile, turned over the ball 11 times in that period.
Mayo just ran into blue walls. Again. And again. And again.
When Kerry look at themselves now compared to where they were when they last played Tyrone in 2021, there is one defining factor: Paddy Tally. Tyrone are nowhere near the team they were in 2021 but neither are Kerry, especially in how they defend, tackle and thrive and feast on turnovers. Kerry turned Tyrone over 19 times on Saturday, mining 1-10 from that possession.
The devil though, was in the detail of that data, especially when the game was still a contest, or still resembling a contest. When Paul Geaney had a goal chance in the 46th minute, which came off a turnover, it was the 16th time in the game that Kerry had turned over Tyrone in an attacking position - and they again made Tyrone pay, with Seán O’Shea converting the ’45 from the shot that Niall Morgan had saved.
Kerry brought a level of physicality in the tackle that they have rarely brought to Croke Park. Their collective workrate and defending was first class. Tadgh Morley’s positional sense and reading of the game was superb but Kerry wiped out Tyrone all afternoon too in 1-on-1 contests. They broke at lethal pace and always had options ahead of the ball. Tally may have made Kerry harder to break down but he’s also made them far slicker in transition after a turnover.
When Tyrone beat Kerry in 2021, three green flags were decisive but Tyrone only created two half-decent goal chances on Saturday. Kerry were decisive, voracious and ruthless all afternoon, answering every question asked of them. Jack Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor dominated the Tyrone midfield pairing of Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick. O’Connor’s 1-2 could have been 2-1. After being blotted out by Conor Meyler in 2021, Paudie Clifford totally bossed that battle too on Saturday.
Kerry scored 2-18 without David Clifford having to shoot the lights out. From 23 possessions, Clifford only converted one of nine shots in open play. His radar was off but Clifford’s selflessness was apparent from the first whistle in how he started the game at centre-forward and looked to open up space for the other Kerry forwards. In the first half, Kerry got eight of their nine points from around the D.
Clifford could have had two goals. Morgan made an excellent save from him late on while a free was called back for a foul on O’Shea when Clifford had the ball in the net. He won two frees and had two assists while Clifford showed brilliant ingenuity on the sideline for O’Shea’s goal.
Class. Kerry though, were class everywhere.
The Armagh-Monaghan penalty shootout on Saturday was a metaphor for a claustrophobic match suffused with nervous tension throughout. Results are governed by percentages and precision and this was the ultimate expression of that modern code. Who was going to blink first?
That stare continued into extra-time and all the way to the final penalty. Armagh couldn’t have done much more but Conor McManus, Gary Mohan, Kieran Hughes, Jack McCarron and Micheál Bannigan showed a level of courage and class that world-class professional soccer players would have been proud of.
You couldn’t have made up some of the drama. When Bannigan looked to have put Monaghan ahead in the 83rd minute, the decision went to HawkEye but, after a significant delay, the screen flashed up that the HawkEye data was unavailable. That is not good enough at this level but it was still in synch with the drama and suspense unfolding on the pitch. Armagh left devastated. Monaghan cemented the satisfaction of the evening by winning a knockout game at this stage of the championship for the first time. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
With so much at stake, both teams were content to get 14 men behind the ball, with very little expansive kicking. They were happy to play at a slow and controlled pace and tempo but there were still sporadic bursts of explosive play, both offensively and defensively, especially from Armagh when they broke the line, and in how Monaghan were always hunting turnovers in Armagh’s red zone. There just wasn’t enough of it. Armagh finished the 90-plus minutes with a conversion rate of 58% but Monaghan were still able to keep them within reach despite having a conversion rate of just 46%.
Armagh kept coming but Monaghan’s scramble defence is as good as any in the country and they proved as much by limiting Armagh to just 25 shots. After Rian O’Neill looked to have won the match with an audacious point in the 93rd minute, McManus was fouled in the sixth minute of extra-time and he got up and landed the equaliser to fire the shot to signal penalties.
After all the drama, the drama was really only beginning.
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