Kerry getting a kick from the kickouts

Joe O'Connor of Kerry is tackled by Gareth Murphy of Armagh. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

The way the chattering classes have it, Gaelic football is careering into a green and gold wave of dominance — the Kerry kind.

The Kingdom’s ideal age profile, coupled with a cocktail of generational — and breadth — of talent, makes them a lock to knock up their 40th All-Ireland football title in the summer.

If such presumptions were peddled in Kerry in winter, it would be dismissed as loose talk, but even Jack O’Connor can’t gainsay the fact that the defending league and Sam Maguire winners look precisely that.

The big takeaways from a Division 1 campaign that has progressed its way again to Croke Park are being better able to protect a lead, notwithstanding the elements (Galway draw), digging in to deny a rollicking comeback (in Armagh), edge Roscommon, and when they were depowered (in Donegal), and landing the knockout blows when in the ascendancy (Mayo).

They have also devoured opposition kickouts for fun, and promoted quite a few fringe lads into a championship conversation — Armin Heinrich, Keith Evans, Cillian Trant, and Tomás Kennedy most of all. A lot of boxes ticked.

But, listening to manager Jack O’Connor this week, there’s another intangible driving his players above and beyond the detours of hidden tactics and handbrakes against Donegal.

“The players have to drive the thing, we just steer them here and there,” he said. “This team have had setbacks, some very bitter blows, like the 2021 All-Ireland semi to Tyrone, the 2023 final against Dublin, an agonising semi-final to Armagh in 2024.

“They have had a lot of blows and they probably realise now that time doesn’t wait for you, there is only a certain amount of years to achieve the big prizes. That’s what’s driving them.”

Natural maturation has helped, of course. 

The likes of Dylan Geaney, Mark O’Shea, and Sean O’Brien have profited from a season of county and club victories. 

With Diarmuid O’Connor still to return, Kerry’s midfield larder doesn’t look anywhere as bare as it did when Barry ‘Dan’ O’Sullivan went down last year. 

Led by Joe O’Connor, they’ve gone hunting opposition restarts with the relish of an upstart. That’s been critical to their spring run.

“You can’t park the bus any more,” explained O’Connor on chasing opposition ball, “particularly on their kick outs when they might be out of position. That’s a great time to take advantage of the new rules.

“The longer you are setting up those scenarios in training, everybody is getting clever — there are a few nuances, but by and large, attacks are on top and defences are under pressure. That’s the way it’s looking at the moment.

“The area you have to hone in on is the kick out. There’s a bit more space now, particularly if you win the opposition kick out. They have to come out for their kickout, making runs into space and so on. And if you intercept it, there is a share of space inside.

“The big carrot for [defending] teams is how you slow down the opposition in some shape or form when they win your kick out.

 The rules have made it harder to do that with the solo and go and 50m penalty - it’s a tough enough proposition to slow a team down given the nature of the rules.”

Only Donegal managed it thus far in Ballyshannon — the terms and conditions are different tomorrow. In more ways than one.