Kerry 1-21 Galway 1-16: WITH THE implacable rhythms that they unfailingly catch in August, Kerry survived a trip to the twilight zone at Croke Park on Saturday before running out convincing winners of an eighth successive GAA All-Ireland football quarter-final.
Opponents Galway out-performed expectations without abandoning their football preferences and the result was an exhilarating game. Ironically on the very day that two quality teams decided to play it for scores and - at times all too visibly - forget about the defensive imperative the weather intervened to provide the most memorable downpour since 1939's Thunder and Lightning hurling final.
For only the second time Croke Park's floodlights were turned on for an intercounty match. The first had been at the beginning of February last year. But in early August an enormous cloud shrouded the venue during the first half and proceeded to empty itself for the remainder of the afternoon.
Neither county would be strangers to rain and the pace of the game rarely flagged despite the deluge. Galway fought hard and put it up to Kerry despite the match moving beyond them in the final quarter. Injury had weakened manager Liam Sammon's hand and mistakes on the pitch compounded the difficulty, but there was rarely more than a score between the teams until the end.
The contest contained so many sub-plots. For the first time since their now legendary schools semi-final six years ago Michael Meehan and Declan O'Sullivan pitched up in All-Ireland competition. Both were sensationally good. If O'Sullivan has had much the better senior statistics to date, on Saturday Meehan gave a career-best display, kicking 0-10 including five from play, leaving both Marc Ó Sé and Tom O'Sullivan without answers. His marksmanship kept Galway viably and flatteringly in touch at half-time, 0-9 to 1-8.
O'Sullivan, for his part, gave Diarmuid Blake a nerve-racking time and scored 0-4 from play, a total that could have been embellished by the goal of the season had an explosive finish on 30 minutes not hammered off the right-hand post after a storming run. He and Tommy Walsh did the heavy lifting in the first half, each knocking up three points from play.
Wing forward Donnacha Walsh registered a goal for the champions in the 19th minute in a slick passage of play that featured the excellent Killian Young driving up field and playing the ball into Kieran Donaghy whose quick hands sent Walsh in on goal and a cool finish did the rest.
Donaghy was well marked by Finian Hanley, whose record on the exceptional Kerry full forward is good, but still managed to play a vital role for the champions, as in his contribution to the goal and a great catch in the 53rd minute, ending in a converted free.
The match will have given Kerry manager Pat O'Shea much to ponder in terms of his full backs. When Joe Bergin, so badly missed at centrefield, shrugged off injury to come into the match at full forward with half an hour to go, he caused havoc much as Cork replacement Michael Cussen had in the Munster final.
Having scored 1-1, Bergin wasn't given an adequate supply to see if he could continue the damage and the arrival of Daniel Bohane to mark him for the final 10 minutes also proved effective in shutting down Galway's threat.
One of the reasons Kerry enjoy their current status is that they don't panic under pressure; they probe and use the ball intelligently. In the 62nd minute they threaded together a tapestry of passes and if the destination player didn't turn out to be a forward, Aidan O'Mahony's finish made that an incidental detail.
Their top players deliver when matches are there to be won. Colm Cooper had been having another subdued afternoon but emerged as a key player in the second half and under his baton the match's crucial phase was won.
By the end of the third quarter Galway were in the driving seat. Pádraic Joyce wasn't able to control the match as Galway might have hoped - the raised tempo of O'Mahony's presence and the need to put out fires put paid to that - but he made Bergin's goal, firing in a free that hung appetisingly in the air for the fisted finish with both Diarmuid Murphy and Marc Ó Sé caught out.
Twice the Connacht champions moved two ahead, the first time after corner back Gareth Bradshaw's point was eventually allowed after what looked like a consultation between referee Joe McQuillan and his microphone. But the score that might have really turned the screw on Kerry never came.
The only blot on Meehan's afternoon was the pair of goal chances - one a save from Murphy that ended up in Bergin taking a point and the second some good defensive blocking after Bergin had taken a high ball and slipped Meehan into space. Cormac Bane's follow-up was also blocked.
Six uninterrupted points turned the match towards a more familiar orientation. Two points and an assist came from Cooper, a couple from Sheehan, one from Declan O'Sullivan and the crowning moment from O'Mahony.
O'Shea played his bench impeccably. Kerry were now formidably configured. Bohane added security at the back and Eoin Brosnan menaced up front. Tommy Griffin was restored to centrefield and Darren O'Sullivan was running free at the tiring Galway defence.
Darragh Ó Sé hadn't dominated in the middle to the expected extent though Kerry had a clear edge in the sector. In the 72nd minute he hoisted a huge point to complete his team's scoring.
By then an alarming sequence of messages had flashed up on the scoreboards all but announcing that the end of the world was nigh: this exit was closed, that exit was flooded. Certainly for Galway there was no way out.
KERRY: 1. D Murphy; 2. P Reidy, 3. M Ó Sé, 4. T O'Sullivan; 5. T Ó Sé, 6. A O'Mahony (0-1), 7. K Young; 8. D Ó Sé (0-1), 9. S Scanlon; 15. B Sheehan (0-7, five frees), 13. D O'Sullivan (0-4), 12. D Walsh (1-0); 11. C Cooper (0-3, one free), 14. K Donaghy (0-1), 10. T Walsh (0-3). Subs: T Griffin for Reidy (56 mins), E Brosnan for D Walsh (49 mins), D Bohane for Scanlon (52 mins), Darren O'Sullivan (0-1) for T Walsh (59 mins), K O'Leary for Donaghy (70 mins).
GALWAY: 1. P Doherty; 2. G Bradshaw (0-1), 3. F Hanley, 4. D Burke; 5. N Coyne, 6. D Blake, 7. G Sice; 8. B Cullinane, 12. P Conroy; 13. M Clancy (0-1), 11. P Joyce (0-1), 9. M Lydon (0-1); 10. C Bane (0-1), 14. M Meehan (0-10, five frees), 15. F Breathnach. Subs: N Coleman for M Clancy (29 mins), K Fitzgerald for D Burke (half-time), J Bergin (1-1) for Conway (42 mins), Clancy for Bane (60 mins), D Meehan for Blake (66 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Kerry: Cooper (71 mins). Galway: Blake (24 mins), Fitzgerald (50 mins), Coleman (53 mins), Cullinane (71 mins). RED CARDS: None.
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).
Attendance: 36,771
