The Kingdom have claimed their 36th All Ireland title last Sunday and
this one will go down as one of the sweetest.
This team was completely
written off after their poor showing against Cork in the Munster
campaign and this belief was copper-fastened when Kerry limped
throughout the qualifiers.
But they never threw in the towel and kept themselves in the
competition and once Croke Park was in sight they seemed to get a new
lease of life on again.
Always better to win
Last Sunday's match will not go down as a thriller but Kerry won't care.
They have lost too many thrillers in the past and it is always better
to win a bad game than to lose a thriller.
Kerry rolled up their
sleeves on Sunday and produced a great workman-like performance from
Diarmuid Murphy all the way up to Tommy Walsh.
As expected the first 15
minutes of the match was high octane with the ref keeping the game
flowing which was great from a spectator point of view. Cork however
settled faster and ran into an early lead.
Iinitially things looked poor
for Kerry, we were not winning our own kick outs and Cork's forwards
were moving with great fluency, Colm O' Neill giving Tommy Griffin
plenty to think about.
Cork started doing uncharacterisic things
But Kerry then settled and a brace of points
brought them back on level terms with the Rebels. Once Kerry went ahead I felt Cork lost the confidence they had in abundance all year and
began to do uncharasteristic things with the ball.
One of the main
reasons Kerry dominated most of the first half was they broke down
the Cork kick-outs and Quirke was having no luck getting O' Connor and
Murphy on the ball. He then went with the option which worked so well
in the Munster replay, the kick-out straight down to Pearse O' Neill but
Kerry had anticipated this and Mike Mac never allowed O' Neill catch a
kickout.
Mike Mac's play critical
This had a major bearing on the match, Cork all year were used to their middle diamond winning primary possession but last Sunday
Kerry cleaned them out in this department while also winning
the breaking ball.
This prevented the Cork wing back line from running
up the field, instead they were made run backwards, working hard to
prevent players like Darren, Gally, Tadgh and Declan running straight
at the goals.
In fariness to Cork they got into their stride in the middle area early
in the second half but their forward line left them struggling
with the amount of bodies Kerry were getting back.
The real turning
point in the game came when Donnacha O' Connor slipped inside Marc with
a goal chance on. Marc got goal side of him, prevented the goal chance
and then put in a tremendous block on O' Connor's attempt for a point.
The ball went up the field with Tommy Walsh launching the ball over the
bar. Instead of Cork going level, Kerry went up 2 points and never
looked back from here. If you didn't see the game, it would be hard to believe that Tomas O' Se score in
the 57th minute was the last score in the match.
Cork played best football of year though
Cork will be hugely dissappointed with this defeat.
Expectations were
extremely high by this present team and by the general public and to
lose to the their bitter rivals will hurt big time.
It Cork were
playing anyone else in the final, bar Kerry, Sam would be residing in
Rebel side tonight.
Cork without doubt played the best football
throughout the year but just fell short at the final furlong. This is
no consolation for this team this week.
Cork were brave to play Kieran O'C
I was surprised with a few of the decisions Cork made. It was a very
brave move playing Keiran O' Connor full back on Declan O' Sullivan.
Declan is a class player, one of the best forwards Kerry have ever
produced and Cork were severly punished by leaving O' Connor on him
for the first half as time and time again he just took O' Connor on
winning easy frees in front of goals.
They also moved Shields from the full back position which unsettled Cork's defence. They seemed to have
Derek Cavanagh earmarked to come once the Star entered the fray so if
he was good enough to mark the Star why could he not have done a job on
Tommy Walsh corner back, allowing Shields to stay full back?
O'Neill's position was Kerry's gain
I was also surprised they left O' Neill on the 40 for so long as he
was completely negated by Mac. O' Neill did untold damage to Kerry in
the 2 games in Munster and his poor show was a major blow to Cork
chances.
A player like Gould would have been a different player for Mac
to worry about with his accurate left peg and strong runs. I was also
surprised that they did not place Cussen on the edge of the square as
Cork needed a ball winner inside as they failed to break Kerry's swarm
defence.
Cussen would have been an awkward opponent for Tommy Griffin
who at this stage had O' Neill in the bag.
O'Sullivan, Tomas O'Se, Ma and Marc were ace
For Kerry, it was a great team performance.
To win an All Ireland you
need 12 or more players playing well and this was the case for Kerry on
Sunday. All of the Kerry players won their individual battles and it
must have been terrible for Cork supporters witnessing players like
Lynch and Kerrigan being replaced considering their brilliant year to
date.
The key to Kerry's win was their defence who after a shaky start
really got on top of the Cork Forwards.
Tom O' Sullivan was fantastic
and deserved his MOTM. Tom is the best corner back in the game and will
go down as one of the best corner back Kerry ever produced.
Tomas O Se
was brilliant and his 2 points from play oozed class. Mac and Marc had
super games - Marc is such a class act, he has tremendous skills and is
so comfortable on the ball. Tommy and Killian had great games aswell,
Tommy wore O' Neill down like a pro boxer and his great cathes inside
in the full back line were a joy to behold.
In Midfield, Seamus Scanlon once again gave a brilliant 70 minutes of
honest workrate and he really was a 7th defender throughout. He is
truely the unsung hero of this team and is a shoe in for an All Star.
Darragh once again had too much for Nicholas and what a player he has
been for Kerry. What more can this man do for his county, a true
servant and what a leader, it is fitting that he has 6 Celtic crosses
for his years of service.
Tadgh plays big game
Up front Gally, Tadgh and Darren picked up plenty of breaks
and prevented their markers from attacking up the field. Tadgh had a
super game and kept Canty very quiet throughout. Tadgh is a big game
player and his 2 points in the first half really steadied the ship for
the Kingdom.
Tommy, Declan and Gooch had the upper hand on their
opponents all day and this was in direct contrast to their poor
perrformance in Lee side.
Gally once again proved how important he is
to this Kerry team. he is a bundle of energy and is a joy to watch
driving in to win those vital breaks. He should be very proud in the
manner he turned around his own position from the nightmare of 2008
with Paddy Russell. Sunday was sweet vindication for Gally.
We didn't believe Sam would be on train to Kerry
Kerry now have won 5 all irelands in this decade, having played in 8 of
the 10 All Irelands, a super achievement by all concerned.
Tyrone are a
super team having won 3 titles and beating the Kingdom in 2 finals but
Kerry without doubt deserve to be the Team of this decade, there
ability to return to centre stage year in and year out is a credit to
this team.
Congrats to Jack, Fitzi and.........
A huge congrats must go to Jack, Fitzi, Ger , Alan and Pat Flanagan for
keeping this team together throughout the year.
Many questions were
asked by the public and not many believed that Sam would be on the
Kerry train on Monday morning. Jack is a top manager and lets hope he
stays on now for a few years and rebuilds a new Kerry team for the
future.
Tonight Sam is heading for Glenbeigh, what a honour this will be for
Darren O' Sullivan, coming back to a small village, no doubt it will be
ablaze with bonfires from Fossa back to Glencar.
As the song goes by
The Cars "let the good times roll" now for this Kerry team,
celebrations will be delirious this week and by god they deserve it.
So all the best - I'll be back for the 'warm down' next week
Till then...
the pony
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