Their achilles heel is showing no signs of going away.
Kerry were beaten by Mayo in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final because their defence was too open and too loose. Andy Moran and Mayo exploited them and could have hit them for more.
Last year was by no means the first time the Kingdom’s defensive frailties emerged. The year previous, in their last four clash against Dublin in Croker, the Sky Blues’ inside line of Brogan, Connolly and Rock hit Shane Enright, Mark Griffin and Killian Young for 17 points.
It has been a recurring theme for the perennial Munster champs when they reach the business stages of the championship. So recurring and so obvious that you’d think the League would offer the perfect opportunity for Eamon Fitzmaurice to implement some kind of system to right the wrongs.
Based on the evidence of their performances so far, their woes at the back are still persisting, but what’s even more pressing is the complete lack of a structure or any kind of system to solve the problem.
The League should be a time for trial and error. Kerry have shipped high scores in each of their games so far, and though the county are often credited for their ambition and bravery for thinking that they can beat teams with their attacking flair, they haven’t been firing on that front either and what’s transpired has been a string of disappointing results.
What’s more worrying than anything else is their man on man tactics at the back. It’s a dated system and one which any good team will go to town on. There’s a lack of cohesion in their defence and as a result they’re getting cut open.
“If Kerry go to Croke Park on Saturday night, and play like that, they’ll be eaten alive,” said Conan Doherty.
GAA Hour Show Host Colm Parkinson analysed their man on man tactics, and he feels it’s an individualistic approach which can’t work at any level.
“Kerry’s decision to go man for man – It’s almost like going back ten years where you’re responsible for your own man. There has to be a point when you go, ‘right, my man isn’t doing anything, I’m dropping off him I’m going to cover.’
“I’d be very concerned if I was a Kerry supporter. With the Kerry defence, we’ve seen this in championships gone by so that’s why you can be more critical.
Wooly saw the downfalls of these tactics come to a head when the Galway goalkeeper Ruairà Lavelle soloed the through the heart of the Kerry team and past their midfield.
Courageous from him, but Kerry didn’t lay a finger on him.
“It was actually so obvious when the Galway goalkeeper, Lavelle, came running up in the second half, and he ran from the goal line up past midfield without anyone laying a hand on him, because everyone was obsessed with being on their own men.”
Cian Ward couldn’t have agreed more.
“It was amazing how inept the Kerry defending was,” began the Meath man.
“Each fella has their own man. Sometimes that can happen when there are a number of new guys, all trying to get their place on that Kerry team, and that team cohesion can take a while to come. They were looking at it, ‘well I have my man.'”
Kerry were way too open, according to Ward, and that saw the Galway lads waltz past them unchallenged.
“Crowley was bombing forward. Shane Enright was handling way too much possession in the opposition’s half. You don’t want him on the ball if you’re a Kerry player…He should have acted as a cover defender, a player of his experience shouldn’t be falling into that trap…they were just a little bit clueless.”
It was all too easy for Galway, said Wooly.
“The full back was straight through on the Kerry goals. Branagan was straight through, Shane Walsh was straight through. It doesn’t take much, beat one and you’re in.
Enough to keep Eamon Fitzmaurice busy.
You can listen to this discussion on Kerry’s dodgy defence, another bashing of Galway’s tactics and much more tactical analysis from Wooly, Cian and Conan on Monday’s GAA Hour Football Show.
