Kerry have three weeks to save their summer
FLASHPOINT: Donegal defender Ryan McHugh points towards an injury sustained in a fracas at the end of the ifrst half in Saturday's All-Ireland SFC tie at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Long after the final whistle, Killarney’s College Street continued to buzz. An occasion like Saturday's All-Ireland SFC opener adds more colour and verve but this is a recession-proof town. All the game did was turn a busy shoulder-season Saturday high.
In the evening sun, a smattering of the Donegal faithful were soaking in a third consecutive win over Kerry, a second successive 10-point win.
Not that the locals were fully despondent. There were mitigating circumstances.
Donegal were able to start the outstanding Michael Langan and totemic Jason McGee, and Kerry could begin with Paudie Clifford and Seán O’Brien but as Jack O’Connor said afterwards, Clifford remains rusty. Finnbarr Roarty expertly traced a shadow of the man who tormented Donegal last July.
But what made up most Kerry folk’s minds was the line-up of players taking their seats among them in the Dr Eamon O’Sullivan Stand. Count Joe O’Connor who could only be used as a late substitute and didn’t complete a warm-down afterwards and five of their eight All-Stars of last year were missing.
The question put to O’Connor afterwards was just how many of them can be blended into the team in the three weeks Kerry have to absorb this setback.
“We obviously need to get a few bodies back and get some of the lads we have more up to speed, but we’ll see, we'll see,” shrugged the manager. “Looks a long road back at the moment, but we’ll gather ourselves and we won’t die without a fight. We’ll bring a bit of fight to it over the next three weeks and see where that takes us.”
Three of O’Connor’s six All-Irelands have endured a defeat and to reach a semi-final they will first have to negotiate the gauntlet of three games in as many weeks from June 13/14.
Their poor conversion rate compared to Donegal’s on Saturday will be an analysis headline this week (Kerry's low 0-16 total matched their losing score against Meath last year). Alone, Paudie Clifford missed more chances than the visitors, who kicked two wides, the first in the 28th minute and the other when the game was well and truly cooked, and dropped two short.
Donegal were on point. They had to be, said Jim McGuinness. After the league final incident between Michael Murphy and Dylan Casey, there was going to be contagion but the indignant Donegal manager referred to the All-Ireland final and the opening 20 minutes when his team were steamrolled.
“We knew coming to Kerry that it was gonna be very, very physical. We knew that that was gonna happen and that's the way it transpired, so from our point of view, I'm happy we dealt with that. We stood up and we dealt with that.
“We lost the All Ireland final last year and a huge part of that was physicality. And we got caught, so you're right, it was physical, but you're also right, we were ready. And we didn't take a backward step.
“What do you want me to do? Do you want me to say, ‘That's coming’ and not deal with that? You can't put that in reverse. Like, if the physicality is coming, you either decide that you're going to stand your ground or you're not going to stand your ground.”
Referee Seán Hurson would have had reason to issue cards in a waspish opening half – the likes of David Clifford rode their luck – but it wasn’t until Micheál Burns struck Ryan McHugh and cut him after the final whistle that he did.
Donegal had been stroking over two-points on the breeze and deservedly led by five points – 1-11 to 0-9 – but it had been a game. Kerry, unlike what happened in Croke Park in March, had a platform in midfield and with his distribution Burns had been one of their better players.
But without him, the contest ended. Later Saturday, Meath were unable to make their numerical advantage count against Cork but there are few teams better prepared to expose that difference than Donegal.
As well as showing up “undercooked” players, O’Connor knew Donegal needed no invitation to make opportunity of Kerry’s difficulty.
“Obviously, the second half was a bit of a damp squib. I thought we were still in the game at half-time but if there's one team you don't want to go down a man against, it's Donegal because of the way they retain the ball and whatever. Once we went down to 14, the game was up, really."
Kerry could have had a goal within seconds when Mark O'Shea had an opening but it was Donegal who struck first in the second minute as Ciarán Moore caught the right side of the home defence napping.
Shea Malone’s 65th minute goal put a ribbon around a Donegal performance that will have helped them as much to move further away from last July as forget only their second-ever Ulster SFC defeat under McGuinness.
This was only Kerry’s second-ever championship defeat in Killarney in 31 years but the natives aren’t restless. They are reasonable. And technically, even in Killarney, summer hasn’t yet begun.
D. Geaney, D. Clifford (1 tp, 1 free), T. Brosnan (2 tp) (0-4 each); M. Burns, T. Morley, P. Clifford, C. Trant (0-1 each).
: O. Gallen, M. Langan (0-5, 1 tp each); C. Moore, S. Malone (1-1 each); R. McHugh (tp), P. Mogan (0-2 each); M. Campbell, S. O’Donnell, M. Murphy, J. McGee (0-1 each).
: S. Murphy; E. Looney, J. Foley, D. Casey; T. Morley, M. Breen, G. O’Sullivan; M. O’Shea, D. O’Connor; M. Burns, K. Evans, D. O’Connor; P. Clifford, D. Clifford (c), D. Geaney.
E. Healy for T. Morley (h-t); T. Brosnan for P. Clifford, B. Ó Beaglaoich for G. O’Sullivan (inj) (both 45); J. O’Connor for K. Evans (48); K. Spillane for D. Geaney (56); C. Trant for S. O’Brien (temp, 59).
M. Burns (straight, h-t).
: G. Mulreany; C. McGonagle, B. McCole, F. Roarty; E. Gallagher, R. McHugh, P. Mogan; J. McGee, H. McFadden; M. Campbell, M. Langan (j-c), C. Moore; C. O’Donnell, M. Murphy, O. Gallen.
S. O’Donnell for R. McHugh (blood, h-t); S. Malone for O. Gallen (56); R. McHugh for F. Roarty (59); D. Ó Baoill for M. Murphy (60); T. Carr for H. McFadden (63); S. Martin for M. Campbell (64).
: S. Hurson (Tyrone).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
