God help us, Napoleon and Co. are building an empire
NO one does a reality check quite like Kerry. After a season of trying to pick holes in a team we believed to be in decline, they delivered a final performance suggesting quite the opposite.
This is not the beginning of the end for Kerry, probably more like the end of the beginning. Five All-Irelands in 10 years; could have been seven if it wasn't for Oisín McConville and Peter Canavan.
Kerry did not peak against Dublin; rather they delivered a stirring performance worthy of the occasion before saving their glorious finale for the big day. Maybe we're all part of the Kerry thing without knowing it. Do we give them the credit they deserve? Do they want it?
Do they feed off the doubts raised by a sceptical media?
Are we always criticising their opponents rather than praising their performances?
Why was Darragh Ó Sé omitted from the Sunday Game's team of the year despite negating Nicholas Murphy twice in the one season?
Doubts
Perhaps it was because three of the previous four titles were at Mayo's expense that doubts as to Kerry's greatness continued to emerge. Let's be honest, Kerry did not need to hammer Cork to assert their class.
However, by doing so, they have nailed their critics once and for all. In an era of unprecedented competition and fitness, this Kerry team has now started to eclipse their illustrious predecessors -- and that is an astonishing feat.
By breaking the sequence of one-off victories their dominance is now taking on the trappings of an empire. God help us.
This great team is personified by Darragh, the Napoleon of Gaelic football.
A hard man with immense football ability, he has worn the same jersey for 12 years. He will play it any way he needs to, but he leads by example with the end always justifying the means. He is a real footballer's footballer.
On Sunday his task was, as it has been so often in the recent past, to stop Nicolas Murphy from dictating midfield. He wiped him out.
And there is no point playing down the opposition now with the benefit of hindsight. Previews were laden with talk of Cork's midfield prowess, much of it centred on Murphy whose form going into the final was spectacular.
Kerry hammered the life out of them in the middle third.
The Kerry defence was monumental. Marc Ó Sé, clearly the player of the year, was a model of consistency, while Tomás Ó Sé took up where he left off in the semi-final, forcing himself on the game and putting the Cork half-forward line on the back foot. Young Padraig Reidy, who got the Kerry 'treatment' after the Monaghan game has grown in stature, backing up his excellent display against Dublin with another in the final. Ditto Killian Young.
After Sunday's virtuoso performance, the Gooch has taken up Canavan's mantle as the game's truly outstanding forward. It was one of the greatest displays in an All-Ireland final, and you get the sense that he meant to deliver it. Alongside Cooper, Kieran Donaghy's value continues to rise. Besides his obvious talents, he exudes honesty and was rewarded for it.
Paul Galvin was again at the heart of Kerry's performance.
Always playing on the edge, he mixes aggression and skill like few others. He is a warrior and without him Kerry's stars would not shine as brightly.
I got a bit of stick from a few belligerent Kerrymen during the summer for pointing out some of the delicious cynicism in their game and in their approach, but I stand over what I said and take my hat off to them. Kerry do whatever it takes; we can be as romantic as we like about them, but they certainly know how to stop teams playing.
And they do this by targeting the opposition's strong points. Cork were expected to have an advantage in the middle third, but ended up being cleaned out in that area. Physically Kerry destroyed them, and once that area was secured it was only a matter of time before they outscored them. The fact that this was done far more easily than expected due to a series of calamities in the Cork defence shouldn't detract from Kerry's powerful display. They hit Cork hard and often.
I sympathise with Cork and Billy Morgan, but gifting Kerry three soft goals rendered all their preparation irrelevant.
Gooch may be a genius, but he should have suffered for his first goal. The second one killed the game. No further analysis is required.
So Pat O'Shea has grabbed the baton and taken a huge stride in his first season.
With confidence at an all-time high and a bench to die for, he is entitled to mull over a potential three-in-a-row this week.
Kerry are masters of their own destiny. Cute hoors to the bone, they never want for motivation; back-to-backs, the media, fights in the camp, rows over managers, f**king animals... they do whatever it takes. Just like Kilkenny, champions to the marrow.
Hats off boys.
