Gritty Royals put Kerry on the back foot

Jack O’Connor: ‘We couldn’t win the breaking ball.’ Pic: Inpho

All-Ireland SFC: Meath 1-22 (1-4-18) Kerry 0-16 (0-1-15)

A Kerry performance and a result that at any other time would demand a postmortem but there is no time for such an examination. Besides, and the next point is important, they aren’t dead.

Losing to a team that finished nine places below them in this year’s Allianz League with their lowest points total in almost a year should hurt. Even if they began with arguably six, at a push seven first-team players, local Meath journalists rightly pointed out afterwards that their county were missing eight possible starters.

That being said, only nine of the Kerry team that began last year’s All-Ireland semi-final started in Tullamore. Seán O’Shea’s withdrawal with a hamstring issue before the game deprived Kerry of a conduit in the half-forward line but more importantly a viable kick-out option.

Necessity has meant Jack O’Connor has had to draw deeper from his resources this year but on the basis of this display there remain shortcomings in the panel.

Diarmuid O’Connor’s absence is bemoaned but Paudie Clifford’s is lamented. Masses will be said for his safe return for the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final.

Meath were ravenous, Kerry acted like their bellies were full. The greasy conditions lended to a game of breaking ball and the Munster champions were incredibly laborious in their efforts to retain the ball.

“We couldn’t win our own kick-out,” lamented Jack O’Connor. “That’s the bottom line. If you don’t have the ball, it doesn’t matter what forwards you have. We just couldn’t win the breaking ball, and it was mostly breaking ball.” But Kerry’s attitude reeked too. “It’s a chastening experience,” O’Connor admitted. “We were very flat, and lacking energy, so we have to figure out where that came from.

“Compared to the second half above in Cork, this was night and day. Meath had all the energy and the aggression, and we were passive. It’s back to the drawing board. We won’t be making those excuses. We were just way off it today, and Meath were deserving winners.”

Robbie Brennan had no issue with Meath being written off before the game but some of the analysis or lack thereof was galling.

On Today FM on Friday, the manner in which this game was dismissed as a foregone conclusion was insulting to Meath and the advances they have made this year. In fairness to Marc Ó Sé, he warned there could be a surprise in store but he was drowned out by claims he was resorting to “yerra”.

Meath sensed there was blood in the water and the performances of Ruairí Kinsella, Conor Duke and Ciarán Caulfield deserved to be winning ones. Minus the regular scoring threats of Matthew Costello and James Conlon, Kinsella and Duke each provided five points from play.

“You take James Conlon who kicked six (points) the last day and he’s not in the team and people are saying, ‘Where are the scores going to come from?’ But they just come from other areas and a testament to the strength in the squad.” Twelve months ago, Meath may as well have rolled out the red carpet for Kerry. County officials acted like sycophants as they looked for selfies with David Clifford and management figures chatted and ambled before throw-in like old friends.

Here, Meath, going with seven of the team beaten by 15 points by Kerry in Páirc Tailteann, offered no welcome to Leinster. They were gritty, aggressive and should have been further than six points ahead at half-time, 0-14 to 0-8.

They kicked a couple of two-pointers in that period and Kinsella and Duke each landed another after Kerry had narrowed the gap to two points. The coup de grace came as early as the 57th minute when Bryan Menton finally beat Shane Ryan after the Kerry goalkeeper had earlier kept out Cathal Hickey and Adam O’Neill.

The conspiracy theorists will make plenty of O’Connor’s comment afterwards that an extra fixture next weekend is welcome. “In many ways, we’re glad to have a game next week because, if you were two weeks thinking about that performance, it wouldn’t do anyone any good,” he said.

“That’s the only road we have left now, so we have to travel on that one. Hopefully, we can lift it for next week, and we will have to lift it, substantially.” With some of their injury concerns alleviating, they should and Killarney should help too.

As for Meath, a second two-week break will give Costello a chance of lining out in the county’s first All-Ireland quarter-final in 15 years.

After adding Kerry to Dublin in their list of scalps, Brennan was asked if his project is ahead of schedule. “It probably looks that way but as the lads know we’ve just gone one game at a time or one training. session at a time.

“We’ve had no targets, we’ve had no ‘let’s get to here’, ‘let’s get to there’, so it doesn’t feel like it for us because that’s the way we approach it.”

Scorers for Meath: E Frayne (3 frees, 1tp), C Duke (1 tp), R Kinsella (2 tps) (0-5 each); B Menton (1-0); J Morris (0-2, 1 free); K Curtis, B Hogan (45), D Keogan, S Coffey, C Caulfield (0-1 each).

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford (0-5, 1 tp, 1 free); D Geaney (0-4); K Spillane (0-3, 1 free); T Brosnan (0-2); M Burns, P Murphy (0-1 each).

MEATH: B Hogan; S Lavin, S Rafferty, R Ryan; D Keogan, S Coffey, C Caulfield; B Menton, A O’Neill; C Duke, R Kinsella, C Hickey; J Morris, E Frayne (c), K Curtis.

Subs for Meath: C McBride for O’Neill (h-t); E Harkin for Hickey (54); S Walsh for Frayne (59); J McEntee for Kinsella (68); D Moriarty for Rafferty (68).

Black card: C Hickey (36-46).

KERRY: S Ryan; J Foley, P Murphy, T O’Sullivan; T Morley, M Breen, G White (c); J O’Connor, M O’Shea; G O’Sullivan, T Brosnan, M Burns; D Clifford, K Spillane, D Geaney.

Subs for Kerry: D Casey for Breen, R Murphy for Burns (both 48); S O’Brien for O’Shea, C Geaney for O’Sullivan (both 58); D Moynihan for Spillane (66).

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).