By our crude count, there were slightly more seagulls at the Dublin versus Cork game on Saturday evening than attended the Kerry and Mayo quarter-final 23 hours later. For the first 15 or so minutes of Saturday’s second quarter-final it was actually difficult to spot the ball at times from our vantage point in the upper Hogan Stand such was the number of birds circling around the stadium. By the time the second half of the Dubs versus the Rebels game got underway most of the feathered interlopers had fecked off, doubtless having seen enough as Dublin dished out an 11-point defeat on Cork.
he Dubs were only leading 0-10 to 0-7 at half time but – like the rest of us – the seagulls knew the score. They knew Cork might have another ten minutes of fight in them but that a Dublin win was a fait accompli. Dessie Farrell’s men won that second half by 0-11 to 0-3, by which time the airborne spectators had moved on, bored and disengaged as the rest of us.
On Sunday we were all back in the big cathedral, birds and all. Maybe it was the brilliant sunshine and the 1.45pm throw-in, or maybe it was the fear of getting one in the eye, but there were very few seagulls vying for airspace in Croke Park alongside the high-flying Galway and Armagh teams that served up over 100 minutes of thrills and spills football in the most memorable game of the year so far. Forgettable, too, for the appalling scenes between normal time and extra-time that will always leave a stain on what was an otherwise brilliant contest.
By 5pm the birds were back. As the skies darkened and the sea of Armagh orange seeped out of the stadium, dozens of seagulls took up residence for the delayed Kerry versus Mayo game, perhaps in anticipation of another humdinger. Well, lightning rarely strikes twice, and so the madness of the first game was replaced by the mediocrity of the second. Kerry v Mayo Part III fell somewhere between the tense and tight Part I from March 12, and the lop-sided League final on April 3.
Much like Dublin the previous evening, Kerry huffed and puffed their way through the first 40 minutes against a resolute opposition that eventually ran out of gas and conviction. On Saturday, it was pretty much a case of Cork falling away and allowing Dublin to pull away to win a game they didn’t have to go beyond third gear to win. On Sunday, it was pretty much a case of Mayo falling away and allowing Kerry to pull away to win a game they didn’t have to go beyond third gear to win.
As Kerry eased away from a tired looking Mayo, it was hard not to feel short-changed – and have some sympathy – as James Horan’s tenure as Mayo manager came to an end a second time, again after a Championship loss to Kerry.
Quite what Dessie Farrell and Jack O’Connor will have learned from the weekend – about their own team and their now semi-final opposition – is what will occupy minds for the next fortnight, or 11 days as it is now. While players love the idea of having games every two weeks, the quick turnaround between quarter-final and semi-final is, obviously, not a lot of time for both managements to pull together their best laid plans.
Clearly the respective injuries in both camps will be a concern. Kerry have Jack Barry (calf) and Adrian Spillane (hamstring) on the treatment table, and David Clifford will be a source of concern (and endless speculation) between here and the All-Ireland semi-final. Rumours of his demise – or specifically the demise of his calf – ahead the quarter-final were, thankfully, wide of the mark, but a new ankle injury, suffered two minutes into Sunday’s game, will no doubt hinder his training for the next week and a half.
One or two other Kerry players needed medical attention towards the end of the game, and while nothing appeared serious or concerning, any interruption to Kerry’s three remaining high intensity training sessions won’t be helpful.
Dublin didn’t appear to have any injury problems coming out of the Cork win; rather their most pressing concerns were there before that game. Con O'Callaghan and James McCarthy missed out because of unspecified injuries, and the general sense is that Farrell will need O’Callaghan, at a minimum, if they are to beat Kerry to reach a seventh final in eight years.
Like Kerry on Sunday, Dublin were good, but not great, on Saturday. Of course, ‘good’ was good enough in both cases. Publicly Jack O’Connor and Dessie Farrell will be happy enough that their teams got a reasonable test in Croke Park while at the same time they didn’t have to show their full hand. Privately, one suspects, both will have worries this week about the rustiness and less than convincing performances from many individuals and the collective.
On the plus side for O’Connor, there was another clean sheet – the team’s 12th from 14 games this year not to concede a goal. Tom O’Sullivan was back to his free scoring best, while Graham O’Sullivan, Jason Foley and Tadhg Morley have anchored in as dependable columns in a well structured defence.
David Moran – who turns 34 today – shaved seven years of his age with a superb display at midfield, which in the absence of Barry and Spillane was not just encouraging, but absolutely essential.
Up front Paul Geaney – barring a small lull in the first half and that shot on goal he dragged wide – was all movement and pace and intent. Stephen O’Brien put in a very decent shift, and Sean O’Shea was quietly effective, even if he didn’t perform at his absolute best.
What will concern the Kerry management this week is the continuing patchy form of Diarmuid O’Connor at midfield, the fact Paudie Clifford was snuffed out of the game (albeit it by one of the best half backs, Lee Keegan, of this generation) and the jitteriness of Shane Ryan under the dropping ball.
Kerry will also need to decide how they deal with Evan Comerford’s restarts: do they press up on the Dublin kick-out and force them to go long to where Brian Fenton, Tom Lahiff, Brian Howard and, possibly, James McCarthy will be lurking, or drop off and concede possession to Eoin Murchan, John Small, Sean Bugler and Lee Gannon – who was every bit as effective against Cork as Tom O’Sullivan was against Mayo?
So, plenty to be pondered and worked on in Fitzgerald Stadium and Dublin’s training base at Innisfails this week, where the game plans will be devised and rehearsed, and injuries and knocks worked on.
What almost every expected months ago would come to pass on July 10 will come to pass: Kerry playing Dublin for a place in the All-Ireland Final.
Ten days for both camps to get their house in the very best of order.
Ten days for everyone else to say novenas for David’s ankle and Con’s hamstring/knee/calf/ankle/foot.
Ten days of playing the waiting game before 82,300 bums fill seats in Croke Park.
There will barely be room for the seagulls.
