O’Connor worries dampen the Kerry mood
Jarly Og Burns of Armagh in action during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Kerry and Armagh at Austin Stack Park in Tralee, Kerry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Silver lining and storm clouds. So much of this was good from Kerry. They cruised to a 10-point victory, exacted a measure of revenge for the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final defeat and kicked some glorious football. Still there is cause for concern.
They kicked hard from the gun and left Armagh gasping in their wake. It was 1-7 to 0-1 after 14 minutes, David Clifford laying on a goal for Dylan Geaney after a botched short kickout. By half-time the lead was 13 points as Paudie Clifford converted a penalty for the second green flag.
Jack O’Connor was content post-match, mainly at the fact they had finally logged a home victory for 2025. However, a late shoulder injury for Diarmuid O’Connor dampened the mood.
“We don’t know how significant this win is until we see how the games tomorrow go, but it was important to try and win tonight, because it wouldn’t look good now on anyone’s CV to lose three games in a row at home,” he said afterwards.
“Even though we’d two great wins on the road, and we’ve been competitive in every game. We gave away a twelve-point lead here against Dublin. We played a lot of good football, particularly, in the first half of that game. It has been a tough league. I said it at the start that it would be awfully hard to get points and it has proved to be that.”
Kerry were without Tom O’Sullivan, Dara Moynihan and Seán O’Shea for the fixture. They were all present with the team on Saturday.
“Tom is back running. Seánie isn’t, just has a stubborn kind of issue with his knee, but it is not major, it’s not going to keep him out of the championship or anything. It is just stubborn to settle down. It is a ligament issue. We’re just hoping that in the next couple of weeks he can get back on the field.”
In the end, the All-Ireland champions had 27 shots in Tralee compared to Kerry’s 34. The issue was a familiar to take crucial goal chances. Darragh McMullan had a goal opportunity well-stopped by Shane Ryan and David Clifford kicked a point from that counter-attack. They dropped four shots short. For Kieran McGeeney, it started with misses in the opening quarter.
“We missed a free kick by Turbo [Conor Turbitt] and another by Oisín [Conaty] and then that goal, that is 1-3 on the board. Four shots and giving possession away 19 times out of 27, when you’re working with stats like that it is poor, but listen we’ve been decent for most of the league probably outside of two halves of football. At this level you take your foot off the pedal, you are getting punished.”
To their credit, they fought until the final whistle. In one second half spell, Armagh kicked six in a row. Rory Grugan was exceptional again. They will have to develop a way of getting Conor Turbitt involved in this sort of game while Andrew Murnin’s versatility means he spends his time trying to win kickouts in midfield, taking away from his ability to win ball at the edge of the square.
McGeeney revealed that he doubts All-Star Rian O’Neill will feature in the 2025 championship. Ciaran Mackin started for the first time since suffering a cruciate injury last June while Joe McElroy also came on in the second half.
“We lost Tomás (McCormack) and Niall [Grimley]. We get two back, three down. We’re starting to get the numbers back again, hopefully as we get closer to the championship we will get them all back in. We’re getting there slowly but surely.”
D. Clifford 0-10 (7 frees); P. Clifford 1-2 (1-0 pen), D. Geaney 1-1; T. Brosnan 0-3; S. O’Brien, M. Burns, J. O’Connor, J. Foley, P. Geaney 0-1 each.
R. Grugan 0-7 (4 free); O. O’Neill 0-4 (1 tpf, 1 f); S. Campbell 0-2; C. Turbitt (free), O. Conaty, A. Murnin, J. Og Burns 0-1 each.
S. Ryan; P. Murphy, J. Foley, D. Casey; G. White, M. Breen, B. Ó Beaglaoich; D. O’Connor, S. O’Brien; M. Burns, P. Clifford, J. O’Connor; P. Geaney, D. Clifford, D. Geaney.
T. Brosnan for D. Geaney (48), G. O’Sullivan for Ó Beaglaoich (57), C. Geaney for Burns (61), R. Murphy for O’Connor, K. Spillane for Geaney (66).
B. Hughes; P McGrane, B. McCambridge, P. Burns; C. Mackin, G. McCabe, A. Forker; O. O’Neill, J. Og Burns; C. Mackin, R. Grugan, D. McMullan; C. Turbitt, A. Murnin, O. Conaty.
B. Crealey for Murnin (10-14, Temp), B. Crealey for Connaire Mackin (32), S. Campbell for Forker (half-time), S. McPartlan for Turbitt (51), J. Hall for McMullan (55), J. McElroy for Mackin (63).
C. Lane (Cork).
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