Before everyone starts giddying up another Kerry-Dublin final my thoughts are still stuck on exactly how they got here. They were two semi-finals which didn’t go according to plan, and you could argue that for all four teams involved.
They were similarities, too, in that both games came down to the last 10 minutes plus whatever time was added on. For me, that’s where the similarity ends.
Once Dublin entered that home stretch, my sense was they wouldn’t be beaten and they ultimately proved themselves the better team. Still Monaghan can be well proud of their performance.
Then, coming out of Croke Park on Sunday evening, my lasting sense was Derry should have beaten Kerry. They’d clearly put themselves in a winning position, just couldn’t get over the line first. For any team in an All-Ireland semi-final that stings.
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Go back to Saturday. It was the first time this season we saw Dublin really do ‘a Dublin’ on it. By that I mean a team stays with them for 60, 65 minutes, Dublin empty the bench, then suddenly they put eight or nine points up on you. They did that to Kerry a few times in recent years. It happens in jig-time. Had the game gone on another few minutes it could have gone up to 10 or 12 points.
So, while the end result isn’t a fair reflection on Monaghan, Dublin clearly still have that ability, a frightening prospect for any team. Especially going into an All-Ireland final in 11 days’ time.
To be fair, Stephen Cluxton has a lot to do with that and he was outstanding again with a lot of his kick-outs. Mick Fitzsimons and Cormac Costello too, especially in the first half. Brian Fenton, in the second half, was the best we’ve seen him all year. He completely controlled midfield for the last 20 minutes when it simply had to be done.
At the same time Colm Basquel wasn’t himself, while Con O’Callaghan was adequate again, without shooting the lights out. Then you look again at Ciarán Kilkenny, Jack McCaffrey, Dean Rock, all coming off the bench like a wrecking ball.
You could already make a Laochra Gael series on those three players, and they’re starting on the bench. Dessie Farrell has a bit to think about now, because I do expect changes in both teams. After the weekend the slate is wiped completely clean. It’s like taking down the circus tent, moving to a whole new site, then setting up again with a completely different act.
All the mind games before last weekend, the match ups and marking, that’s over. This is horses for courses all over again. Monaghan and Derry brought unique threats, starting with two goalkeepers who like to be part of the attack. That threat won’t be there in the final.
Monaghan left everything on the field. That game could have been over in 20 minutes, had Dublin been let play at full capacity. Instead, Monaghan showed no fear and had Dublin looking down the barrel of a gun for much of the first half. Conor McManus kicked some great scores, a real testament to his fitness, but once Dublin went down to the bench and worked through the gears, Monaghan just ran out of steam.
Derry absolutely brought that same energy and work rate on Sunday and put up a real Herculean performance. Kerry just had to grind it out in the end.
To win any big game like that, you normally need 10 or 12 players on form on the day. Derry certainly had that, whereas Kerry maybe only had four or five. Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers wiped Kerry out at midfield and for a long while the Kerry forwards were depending on second-hand ball. Gareth McKinless showed great ball control and was like a tank heading straight in to blow up the building every time he went for goal.
There’s talk of a few big calls that didn’t go Derry’s way towards the end, only I’m not sure about that. I was watching Joe McQuillan closely in the second half, and he was right in the mix, in the Derry half say, as Kerry attacked into the Canal End.
It’s the nature of the modern game, the play goes from left to right across the goal, rotating the ball, until someone gets a free shot. While that was going on, McQuillan was also keeping an eye on what was going on inside, and three times saw Chrissy McKaigue pulling the jersey of David Clifford.
They weren’t called, but he did call a free for Kerry for pulling on Stephen O’Brien. While that might have been a bit soft, it saved McKaigue’s hide too. If he’d been called for those three or four times that I saw him pulling, for consistent fouling, then Derry would have been down to 14 men.
So I don’t think Derry can have too many complaints about those calls, which in some cases were going on the back of other fouls happening around the pitch at that given time. On occasion I was thinking, ‘how did he leave that go?’ Then when Kerry got a free, it was like ‘that was coming anyway’.
Yes, the margins were tight, but don’t tell me it came down to refereeing decisions. The five wides Derry had in the second half also cost them dearly. Big, bad wides, because they kicked a lot harder scores early on. That’s really where Derry might have some beef.
Late on, when both goalies were going long with their kick-outs, everyone was pushing up, and Kerry just got lucky with two or three breaks. Take it from me, when the ball is coming at you at pace like that, up in the air, and you get a fist to it, unless you’ve real control over it, you don’t know where that ball is going to end up.
All you know is at that moment is that your man beside you isn’t going to get it. Other than that, it’s a shot in the dark. The reality is you’ve to be lucky that ball lands in the right hands. In that regard, there is no structure to what happens in those last few minutes. It just happens. Except maybe the ball Paudie Clifford won, over by the Cusack Stand, setting up Stephen O’Brien.
Look then at the late point from David Clifford, after he won the ball, lost it to Rogers, who in turn lost it back again. Clifford then ran at goal, had Paudie Clifford inside, and Micheál Burns too, who wasn’t long on the pitch. To me, the play was to pass that ball out, only Clifford realised the enormity of the situation and needed to make sure of it himself.
While it was fabulous skill, it’s a reminder too of the reliance on Clifford. Because with 10 minutes to go, I couldn’t see how Kerry were going to win. It took a moment like that from David Clifford, certainly not any Kerry master plan. They’ll need one against Dublin.
