I picked up the Kerryman (South Kerry Edition) in Maynooth today ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
I wanted to see myself what level the ‘yerrah’ had been turned up to for a Croke Park clash with a less than traditional rival.
If Kerry play Cork or Dublin then it’s at red alert, while for other teams in recent years such as Cavan or Galway it has been more ‘they’ll be tough but we’ll win.’ An amber, or maybe even a sunset yellow if you will.
The tone of the headlines I encountered should give you a general idea of how confident Kerry are feeling ahead of the game:
The Kerryman headlines ahead of All-Ireland Q-final with Kildare #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/HOKIVc2Ahm
— Kevin Mc Gillicuddy (@KMcGillicuddy86) July 30, 2015
It’s not quite ‘I’ll sell you a fine pony and it turns out to be a three legged wooden horse’ but the level of cute-hoorism is alive and well ahead of the Croker showdown
The bookies expect Kerry to win, Kerry fans expect them to win, and perhaps even some Kildare fans expect Kerry to win.
So how do Kildare buck that idea and rattle the Kingdom in the venue they consider their own personal playground?
Simple.
Don’t make midfield a contest. Make it a battle.
Paul Cribben and Padraig O’Neill were the engine room for the win over Cork.
Cribbin won four kickouts and handled the ball 37 times while O’Neill at wing-forward held the ball 36 times.
Contrast that to David Moran and Anthony Maher’s stats from the Munster final replay when between them they had possession over 50 times.
Something has to give on Sunday.
Kildare will gain great confidence from last week’s performance, but it must be measured in how they ran riot once Alan O’Connor departed the field.
Moran and Maher are the best midfield partnership in the country right now, mixing physical strength (Maher) with wonderful vision, soft hands and accurate kick-passing (Moran).
Kildare need to be clever with their re-starts and also be clued in to what Kerry do from their own. Ryan cannot let his team try to compete man-for-man around the middle. They will be devoured.
Instead they need to think tactically and disrupt as much as possible around the middle. Make it ugly and let Kerry scrap for the ball. Pressure Brendan Kealy, who is a fine shot stopper, but can be erratic from kick-outs at times.
Kerry’s football dominance of the last 130 years has always been built around midfield. They are not a county that can win a game unless they have primary possession.
Down figured that out in the 1960’s when they came with a plan to disrupt Mick O’Connell, and Kildare need to think along the same lines.
Donegal in contrast are a team that thrive even without the ball and snaffle every single chance afforded to them. Look at Monaghan who went over 20 minutes without a score but kept their discipline throughout.
Obviously in a week Kildare’s philosophy and practice will have to be cruel, but forcing Kerry to build from the back and slow up their attack while working on short kick-outs of their own could be one route to success.
A sure highway to oblivion will be to lob the ball into the middle all day and watch Maher and Moran gobble it up.
Keep it between the ditches by playing smart and clever with the ball and there may just be a road to success.
Pass and move
It’s obvious that no team likes when they’re forced to run back towards their own goals, but especially this Kerry side. The Munster final replay can be discounted somewhat as Cork were simply not able to get enough pace up to pick holes in a Kerry defence that is still leaking scores, no matter the make up of the men from 1-6.
However in the win over Tipperary and the draw with Cork massive gaps appeared in the Kerry defence, especially at half-back; an issue that Fitzmaurice sought to address in their most recent outing.
Even still the Munster replay saw them concede their sixth goal in just three games.
Killian Young is not regarded by anyone inside or outside of Kerry as a natural number six. He’s a ball playing half-back that is a loose marker, and may be there for exploitation if Kildare get their match ups right.
Ryan’s running game with Kildare when they turned over Cork was wonderful in its simplicity.
They had men on the shoulder, they avoided traffic and they used the kick pass to make one-on-one situations inside 30 metres.
This season we’ve seen how Monaghan used the kick-pass to breach the blanket and keep the cover shifting.
Kerry will hardly be as naive this time to runners, but movement and pace, especially from the half-forward line, can reap rich rewards on Sunday.
Attack the fullback line
Marc O Sé, Shane Enright and Aidan O’Mahony would not be close to being the quickest men in the Kerry bleep tests. But when it comes to the physical stuff you’re guaranteed they’ll be standing at the final bell.
Enright was superb against Brian Hurley and did well in the All-Ireland final last year to nullify Paddy McBrearty. However he was poor against Tipperary when faced with a very mobile forward who was fed good ball and had support. Hurley never had anyone around him for the 1-2 pass that might have caught Kerry off guard.
Niall Kelly is the gem in a rangy Kildare full-forward line that has strength as well as pace. They are not one dimensional, and don’t have to get within 30 metres of goal to take a scores.
Kildare will have more options to feed high or quick ball into the Kerry full-back line to test out the pulse of a team that is not bursting with pace.
Kildare’s running game may also see a scenario where Galway profited last year by drawing players out and releasing men on the way in to break a tackle.
Marc O Sé is a wonderful footballer and defender but is not a physically imposing man if he is led to the edge of the square one-on-one.
O’Mahony and Enright want a physical battle. What they don’t want is someone getting the ball on the half-turn and pumping the legs into open space and heading for goal.
Kerry are vulnerable in early August
The last time Kerry beat Cork in Munster final replay was in 2010. They went into the All-Ireland Q-final against a Down side fully expecting to win after two tough games against the Rebels.
History meant nothing that they had never beaten the Mourne men in the championship. Oh and they were reigning All-Ireland champions.
But it all came crashing down in the rain that afternoon. In 2012 they lost to Donegal, while in 2008 they struggled against a Monaghan side that possibly should have beaten the Kingdom.
Kildare have a massive opportunity to go after Kerry and create history.
They could be the team that forces several Kingdom players into retirement and blow open this year’s All-Ireland championship.
Perhaps Kerry’s complacency has been blown away by that last gasp draw in Killarney, but maybe there is still some dirty petrol lingering in the tank.
Jason Ryan and his backroom team would be advised to get their hands on a copy of the Kerry North or South Edition of the Kerryman before Sunday. It can’t do any harm just to remind his layers that upsetting the odds is something they are getting used to.
