Kerry make unwanted history after wind fills Dublin sails
TRICKY: Jack O'Connor said trying to "drip-feed" 16 players back into the group who had been on club duty or injured isn't easy. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Like the Kerry defence in Saturday evening’s second half, the full-time hooter in Austin Stack Park had the press box scrambling.
No, not for the last time the hosts surrendered a 12-point lead. This is a whole new ball game. The scoring parameters have changed. We’re not in Kansas anymore. Rather, a search party was sent out to find the previous occasion the county lost back-to-back home league games.
The obvious points of reference were those difficult campaigns Éamonn Fitzmaurice endured in 2013 and ’14 when Kerry won just three of their seven matches in each season. In the former, they lost their first four fixtures but no, three were on the road.
In actual fact, no deep dive was required. Seeing as how they won the 2017 league under Fitzmaurice, it’s easily forgotten they followed up a loss to Mayo in Tralee in Round 2 with another against Monaghan in Killarney a couple of weeks later. Only in their last of four home fixtures that year against Tyrone did they did not drop points.
It's a quirk of fate that this was Dublin’s first win in Tralee in 43 years, seven days after Donegal bridged a 37-year gap to their previous victory in Kerry. Nevertheless, the historical significance of the reverses hardly alleviates this tight spot they find themselves in.
Trips to Omagh and Castlebar within six days of each other over the next couple of weekends to complete a five-game circuit in 27 days raises the spectre of relegation. There was no mention of the word in Jack O’Connor’s post-match musings in Austin Stack Park, only the challenges they face in a most intense schedule.
“It’s just a bit tricky for us at the moment because we’re trying to get the Crokes and the Stacks fellas, 11 players between those two clubs, back into the group and five or six fellas who had fairly long-term injuries. So, 15 or 16 fellas we’re trying to drip-feed back into the group and that’s tricky because we’re having to do it on the run in the middle of five games.”
The losing of this game for O’Connor came against the strong wind in the second half when he felt his team took “rash decisions”. Yet only one of four goal opportunities came off in the first half when it was at their backs. Paul Geaney’s 32nd minute three-pointer stretched them 12 points clear before it was reduced by one going into the break, 1-12 to 0-4.
The clearest chance came in the eighth minute when Joe O’Connor struck low for goal but his shot finished wide as an unmarked Paudie Clifford waved for his attention at the other side of the square.
Was too much store placed in scoring goals when Dublin’s strategy was to ride the breeze and kick two-pointers? “I’m not too sure about that,” said O’Connor. “The goal chances were still there for us. There was one where there was a man free (Clifford) at the back post. He could have headed it in.
“We had a couple of other one-on-ones but look it was a bit of a lottery with the strength of the wind. It was hard to get the ball up the field. It’s hard to win a kick-out because the ball is holding up against the wind. I think we were 10 out of 19 (kick-outs won) in the second half, which I suppose is average enough, but it was a telling factor because Dublin kept coming.
“Particularly with the conditions tonight, the two-pointers were on. Once you can work shooters into those positions, the two-pointers are on all the time. Ten-point leads now aren’t safe anymore.”
In light of what Derry did to salvage a point having been nine points down to Galway earlier on Saturday evening and Cork losing to Down having been 10 points ahead earlier this month, there is no question about that.
Dessie Farrell admitted Dublin’s decision to face the elements in the first half appeared questionable at the break. They still trailed by four points with five minutes remaining before their bench decided the game. Lorcan O’Dell swung over a couple of two-pointers prior to Luke Breathnach’s winning score.
Farrell insists his side are seeking performances, not wins and the result was a bonus. Turning around a 12-point deficit was as head-scratching for him as it was for O’Connor in losing it. “There is a lot going on. I still think people are still trying to navigate their way through it. The two-pointers are significant particularly in a breeze if you have the ability to kick some of them. If you have those type of players in your team that can kick two-pointers, it’s definitely an advantage.
“Also the ‘keeper coming up, really trying to slow the game down a little bit in the first half, conditions obviously play a factor in that. Kerry made a couple of attempts at it in the second half as well. That’s probably one that the jury is still out on at the minute from what I’m hearing through the grapevine but yeah, everyone’s still trying to find their way through it.”
S. O’Shea (0-7, 2 tps, 0-2 frees); P. Geaney (1-1, 0-1 mark); M. Burns, B. Ó Beaglaoich (1 tp) (0-2 each); G. O’Sullivan, C. Geaney, P. Clifford (0-1 each).
S. Bugler (1 free), L. O’Dell (2 tps (0-4 each); C. Kilkenny (0-3, 1 tp); G. McEneaney, L. Gannon (tp), L. Breathnach (0-2 each); E. O’Donnell, T. Lahiff (0-1 each).
S. Ryan; D. Bourke, J. Foley, T. O’Sullivan; G. O’Sullivan, M. Breen, B. Ó Beaglaoich; D. O’Connor, J. O’Connor; P. Clifford, S. O’Shea, D. Lyne; C. Geaney, P. Geaney, M. Burns (c).
D. Casey for T. O’Sullivan (inj 9); C. Ó Beaglaoich for D. Lyne (46); A. Heinrich for B. Ó Beaglaoich (head 47-ft); D. Clifford for C. Geaney (51); K. Evans for M. Burns (59); S. O’Brien for J. O’Connor (65).
E. Comerford; A. Gavin, D. Byrne, S. MacMahon; B. Howard, T. Clancy, C. Murphy; G. McEneaney, T. Lahiff; K. Lahiff, S. Bugler, C. Kilkenny; S. Lowry, E. O’Donnell, N. Scully.
L. Gannon for G. McEneaney (inj h-t); L. Breathnach for S. Lowry (45); L. O’Dell for K. Lahiff (53); N. O’Callaghan for E. O’Donnell (58); D. Keogh for L. Gannon (63).
L. Devenney (Mayo)
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