Allianz Football League Division One: Kerry v Monaghan (tomorrow, 3pm, Fitzgerald Stadium, deferred on TG4)
AS the years go by, the mind will play tricks about that day in Clones in the summer of ’18. Remember the day Monaghan destroyed Kerry? Except they didn’t.
Everything about their epic championship clash rings like a famous Farney win, yet despite having completely outplayed the visitors they failed to get across the line.
It was, however, the day it fell apart on Kerry. Their fate fell from their own grasp and nothing they did against Kildare was able to rescue it, or subsequently Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
It’s perhaps a stretch to suggest that tomorrow is the afternoon on which their early-season promise is truly measured. Given they’ve beaten Dublin on their way to four straight wins that leave them on the brink of another league final, there’s an argument that they’ve already done enough to suggest improvements have been made.
Peter Keane is clearly his own man with his own mind. There has been a very different and definite look about them in the early weeks of this season, most notably in defence.
The obvious change has been the tendency to draw 14 back behind the ball, but the real difference is in how they’re doing it and what they’re at when they turn the ball over.
You certainly wouldn’t see a full-back hung out to dry in the way that Mark Griffin was in St Tiernach’s Park last August. Conor McManus skipped and danced his way around all day, scoring 1-9.
Griffin himself has been reborn as a tower of gristle at midfield, where Jack Barry’s beginning has also heartened. He hasn’t quite fulfilled the early promise as the Kingdom’s answer to Brian Fenton, but his display on the Footballer of the Year in Tralee suggests he’s getting there.
Yet it’s fair to say that, even in beating Dublin, McManus is the kind of threat they haven’t yet faced. Physically he’s that little bit more than Paul Mannion, who was picked up by Brian Ó Beaglaoich that night.
Damien Comer’s absence from the Galway team and the lack of a physical focal point for either Cavan or Tyrone meant they haven’t had to face this type of challenge yet. It’s whether they feel Jack Sherwood, who’s been wearing three, is up to it.
Peter Crowley might be asked to do it but there’s a height deficiency, while Tom O’Sullivan’s been going well at wing-back.
They will have Paul Murphy operating in front of McManus as well so the supply lines won’t be straight down the middle, but this will be a good look into how well set they’ll be defensively for this year’s championship and whether they have that one defender to snuff out a top-class forward.
Their running game has had a zip to it but in true Kerry style, they’re not afraid to use the boot. Tommy Walsh was a good foil for marks against Galway in a game that they should have won far more handsomely but for a very soft goal. Shane Ryan may well lose his spot between the posts.
Drew Wylie won’t shirk a battle with Walsh, while Sean O’Shea’s been the man dictating things up front, and the Monaghan defence is likely to see a bit of rejigging that will place the returning Colin Walshe up against him.
Karl O’Connell is also set to come back in and Malachy O’Rourke will hope he adds the zip that their running game has been missing ever since their opening day win over Dublin.
It was exceptionally flat against Tyrone and once the haphazard kicking game to McManus stopped paying off, they were held out comfortably. Despite not being named, expect to see Conor McCarthy return to the starting team.
Monaghan, who have won on their last two league visits to Kerry, have missed Niall Kearns at midfield and have been struggling a bit off their own ball because of it.
Kerry will have to prove they’re able to cope with McManus so Monaghan may have to prove they can cope with him tied up. If their running game doesn’t show vast improvements, they’ll lose again and find themselves deep in trouble.
THE TEAMS
Kerry: TBA
Monaghan: R Beggan; C Walshe, D Wylie, R Wylie; D Mone, B Kerr, K O’Connell; D Hughes, G Doogan; R McAnespie, Jack McCarron, S O’Hanlon; D Malone, C McManus, D Ward
Subs: S Garland, John McCarron, C Lennon, V Corey, N McAdam, O Duffy, S Carey, C McCarthy, M Bannigan, B McGinn, D Garland
