NFL – Division One: Derry v Kerry Croke Park, tomorrow, 4pm: Like any good method actor, supporters at this time of the year look at the NFL finals and think, 'yes, but what's the motivation'?
The climax of this year’s Allianz NFL sees a repeat of last year’s Division One final between two of the competition’s hardy perennials.
Jack O’Connor, back in the Kerry hot seat, has always been interested in the league as serious preparation for the championship. In two of his three previous years in charge the county won the title and in the other, 2005, he was publicly unhappy at missing out on the latter stages.
This year, O’Connor has made no secret of his desire to look at as many players as possible and he’s run an active bench during matches. Despite all of this prospecting, the county has breezed through an unbeaten campaign and trialled in the process some useful panellists.
His Derry counterpart Damian Cassidy has played a more ambivalent game, making it clear that retaining the NFL wasn’t a top priority, but rather the cultivation of a more resilient team ethos, competition for places and an altered style of play. Despite these competing agenda, the holders have managed to come through the campaign and just touch off Galway for a shot at the title.
The most recent meetings between the sides were interesting.
A year ago Derry overcame a poor start to overtake Kerry and win with a bit to spare. For some, the achievement appeared to position the county for a realistic crack at championship betterment; for others it showcased the reliance on Fergal Doherty at centrefield and the polar extremes of the team’s moods. It also began a bit of a trend for Kerry, being the first of three finals that they lost last year.
Last month, in Bellaghy, the worth of Kerry’s panel impressed in wintry conditions and, significantly, Anthony Maher – who put in an impressive 40 minutes at centrefield – starts there tomorrow.
Derry weren’t at full strength for the match, having benched Paddy Bradley with a disciplinary slap on the hand, and lost his brother Eoin after half an hour to a yellow card.
This effectively blew Cassidy’s game-plan to bits.
It was evident as early as the first match against Mayo that Derry were setting about constructing a more direct game and, along the way, they’ve picked up useful lessons, in the above match with Kerry and the late sting by AllIreland champions Tyrone.
For a county that has been shaken around in terms of personnel, Kerry have gone with a familiar line-up for tomorrow. It’s basically the championship defence minus the unavailable Marc Ó Sé. On the bench, the returned Darragh Ó Sé and Tadhg Kennelly, who made his debut in Bellaghy but hasn’t yet forced a starting place, will presumably get a run.
Derry are in the happy position of being holders while also exhibiting the sunny demeanour of day trippers with Cassidy actually saying during the week he didn’t think winning would be bad thing.
Kerry, however, have the momentum and panel strength to rectify last year’s setback.
DERRY: B Gillis; K McGuckin, K McCloy, G O'Kane; C McKaigue, B McGuigan, SL McGoldrick; F Doherty, J Diver; E Lynn, P Murphy, B Mullan; E Bradley, P Bradley, M Lynch.
KERRY: D Murphy; P Reidy, T O'Sullivan, K Young; T Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, T Griffin; A Maher, M Quirke; P Galvin, Declan O'Sullivan, Darren O'Sullivan; C Cooper, K Donaghy, T Walsh.
Division Two Final
Cork v Monaghan Croke Park, tomorrow, 2pm
The old arbiter of who wants it more can be difficult to figure out in fixtures like this with both sides more than happy to have been promoted. Even Monaghan, who have a bare enough cupboard, won this title four years ago and are unlikely to need an open-top bus should they repeat the achievement.
The regulation match between the teams ended in a comfortable win for Monaghan, but they had to win and Croke Park tomorrow will be a less claustrophobic venue than Scotstown and more conducive to Cork’s pace, particularly that of in-form Paul Kerrigan up front.
Still, with the notable exception of Graham Canty who returns at centre back, the Munster champions’ defence as selected is much the same as the one which struggled last month and conceded 2-13.
Between them, they’ve played Kerry five times at Croke Park over the past two seasons so there’s no shortage of big-match credentials in the stadium, but Cork are the more experienced.
Conor Counihan prioritised giving game-time to as many players as possible and circumstances of injury and under-21 involvement helped to facilitate this.
There are still places on Cork’s championship team to be sorted out with the full back slot in particular not yet nailed down.
Noel O’Donovan may yet come into the announced team, as might Pearse O’Neill, with a view to taking another look at him in the full back line. Other questions centre on which of the big men are located where around the middle and half forwards and does James Masters get a starting position?
Monaghan have ironically secured promotion while doing a bit of team building at the same time, unlike last year when they fielded strong teams regularly to try and assure themselves of getting up to Division One.
They have the potential to do well at centrefield and the forwards have been in good form in recent matches even if they can hardly count on tomorrow’s opponents making as many mistakes in their distribution from the back as they did in Scotstown.
The formula might be familiar but it’s effective.
There’s no desperation for either side to win, but losing competitive matches in Croke Park isn’t the way any team wants to prepare for the championship.
Cork may just swing it.
CORK: A Quirke; R Carey, G Spillane, A Lynch; N O'Leary, G Canty, M Shields; A O'Connor, N Murphy; P O'Flynn, P Kerrigan, P Kelly; J Masters, D O'Connor, D Goulding.
MONAGHAN:S Duffy; D Mone, V Corey, D McArdle; D Freeman, G McQuaid, D Hughes; D Clerkin, E Lennon; C McManus, P Finlay, S Gollogly; M Downey, R Woods, T Freeman.
Division Three Final
Down v Tipperary Pearse Park, today, 6.30pm
Back on the opening weekend of the league three months ago, Down had a comfortable win in Thurles, but few could have foreseen how Tipp would respond to the setback – by not losing again until an under-strength selection went down narrowly to Longford on the last day of the season by which stage a second successive promotion had been secured.
Eleven changes made, John Evans has restored his strongest 15 and will be far more motivated than Down by the prospect of winning the Division Three trophy, the winners of which last year, Wexford, went on to reach the All-Ireland semi-final.
Down manager Ross Carr remains uneasy about the inconsistency of his team, but had to conduct the campaign without access to all of his best players on a continual basis.
At full strength, Tipperary will be more than a handful for the Ulster team, but, with his team now approaching full strength, Ross Carr’s side can find the urgency appropriate for a county team with a slightly earlier championship engagement.
DOWN: B McVeigh; C McGovern, C Garvey, L Howard; A Carr, P Turley, D Rooney; P Fitzpatrick, S Kearney; J O'Reilly, J Boyle, R Murtagh; P McCumiskey, D Hughes, B Coulter.
TIPP:P Fitzgerald; C Morrissey, C McDonald, A Morrissey; B Fox, H Coghlan, C Aylward; G Hannigan, B Jones; S Carey, N Fitzgerald, B Mulvihill; J Tierney, B Coen, B Grogan.
Division Four Final
Antrim v Sligo Pearse Park, today, 4.30pm
Sligo are the only side relegated last season to be making an instant return to the higher division and are joined by an Antrim side that let the distinction slip through their fingers a year ago.
After resting a number of regulars, Kevin Walsh staffs up Sligo for this afternoon and the team have the added motivation of having been beaten decisively in Casement Park. Eamonn O’Hara is kept in reserve having picked up a knock.
Antrim, however, have been scoring well throughout the campaign and have the firepower to take the divisional honours.
ANTRIM: tba
SLIGO: P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donovan; M McNamara, N Ewing J Davey; E Mullen T Taylor; S Stenson A Costello S Davey; D Kelly, K Sweeney, A Marren.
National Football League Finals (All matches live on TG4)
