Three key moments from Kerry's stunning victory over Armagh

No question but Kerry are threadbare at midfield. Those who started the summer at the bottom of the pecking order belied that standing against Armagh. 

Armagh's midfield pairing of Niall Grimley and Bren Crealey came off second best against a Kerry midfield including Seán O'Brien (pictured). Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

THE ORANGE FLAG 

The orange flag almost sunk Kerry on the extraordinary night of the extra-time Munster semi-final in mid-April. Cork landed six, Kerry just one. Clifford’s late two-pointer was their first in five games and seven weeks.

The orange flag has been prominent in the Kerry scoresheet ever since, without stretching out our statement all the way to declaring it a priority.

In the six games since the Munster semi-final, including this stunning All-Ireland quarter-final win, their orange flag count has risen to 24. That’s an average of just under four per match.

Within that, Seán O’Shea and Davd Clifford have been responsible for all bar three. Factor in Clifford’s aforementioned beyond-the-arc kick on the evening of their Munster opener and he’s at 10 for the championship, one fewer than O’Shea’s total of 11.

Both men found the target from outside the 40-metre paint at the beginning of Kerry’s stunning spell of 0-14 consecutive points. It was Clifford’s booming kick on 45 minutes that lifted them from one behind to one in front. They never looked back thereafter.

THE DISMANTLED ARMAGH KICKOUT 

Those orange flags and that 0-14 match-defining spell were the direct product of a deconstructed Armagh kickout.

The Orchard County retained 11 of their 15 first-half restarts, but in a sharp turn of events, 11 of their second-half 18 were spoiled and lost. And there was fatal damage inflicted off those not retained.

The early second-half restart watch offered no hint of such a shift. Across four kickouts - two on either side - Armagh won three and mined 0-4 in the process. And then, just total collapse under the Kerry press. The Kingdom completely removed the mid-range option from Ethan Rafferty. The short option was laced with risk, the long option offered zero certainty.

Wherever Rafferty put the ball, green and gold hands got their first. Armagh were locked out of possession and then locked out of the championship.

THE ROOKIES DONE WELL 

Armagh’s midfield pairing of Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey were both sitting in the Hogan Stand with just under a quarter of an hour still to run. They had come off second best against, arguably, the most inexperienced midfield pairing Kerry have ever put out in a knockout championship fixture. Well certainly in living memory anyway.

Mark O’Shea made his championship debut as recently as last month’s Munster final. His first championship start was this month’s Sam Maguire Round 3 defeat to Meath.

Seán O’Brien made his first championship start in last year’s Munster semi-final. He didn’t start again in championship until the preliminary quarter-final win over Cavan the weekend before last.

No question but Kerry are threadbare at midfield. Those who started the summer at the bottom of the pecking order belied their lowly standing here.