WHEN you think of this Kerry team, the general mood is well established: deadly forward line, an unsure midfield and not good enough in defence.
It’s an easy mindset to buy into. Who wouldn’t want the attacking luxuries that Peter Keane has at his disposal? And who could argue that they haven’t properly replaced the defensive stars that have departed the scene in recent seasons.
Of the side that put the fright up Dublin in the semi-final three years ago, Killian Young and Aidan O’Mahoney are gone, Peter Crowley’s out for the year injured, while Shane Enright, Mark Griffin and goalkeeper Brian Kelly are all out of favour.
The inability to find the balance between protecting their defence and supplementing the attack was something that hounded the latter part of Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s reign.
Through the two games with Mayo in 2017 and their Super 8 ties with Galway and Monaghan last year, they struggled to find what was best.
When they were held by Mayo in the first game, it was when they went sweeperless and left Andy Moran an entire playground to himself. They dropped a man back for the replay and were terrible going forward, with no support lines to the men inside.
They fell the same manhole against Galway last summer, before going man-to-man on Monaghan and giving Conor McManus oceans, from which it will never be known how they sneaked a draw.
The manager has changed but the quandary hasn’t. Peter Keane seemed to lay out a blueprint when he played a most un-Kerry brand in the early league win over Tyrone, keeping their visitors to just 0-7 by putting the entire team behind the ball.
It caught Tyrone out but it didn’t solve their attacking problems. Kerry won but they only scored 0-11 themselves that day.
Beating Dublin in the league in a game that was largely man-to-man offered great hope, but the difference in what they achieved that night and what they’ve done since comes down to their defensive plan.
Kerry went at the Munster final as you expect they will come at the Super 8s. They’ve gone out to squeeze teams in the middle third and try to strip them of the ball.
That plan has had two major flaws. The first has been the workrate and effectiveness of some of their forwards.
Perhaps it’s part of the adjustment to senior football, but for all his undoubted brilliance on the ball, there’s a definite sense that David Clifford doesn’t lend enough hand going the other way.
The problem with that is when Kerry are trying to push high up the pitch, all it takes is for one runner to break the press and open them right up.
Within that, there’s the ineffectiveness of that press. In the Munster final, Cork actually turned Kerry over in their half more often than the other way around (4-3).
There were times when their tackling left an awful lot to be desired, which must be especially frustrating given that they’ve had Donie Buckley back working with them this year.
But when you look at them, a half-forward line of Dara Moynihan, Sean O’Shea and Diarmuid O’Connor has plenty of football and legs about it, but they’re physically a light unit to do the job they’re being asked to do.
Of the 3-10 they conceded last weekend, 3-8 of it came from the Cork full-forward line, and the Rebels could easily have had another three goals.
More indication, you’d think, that the Kingdom’s full-back division just isn’t up to it.
But look at where so many of Cork’s scores came from.
Cork kicked a bit of ball, but not much. It was largely about their runners. For instance, when they were right in the game late on, Luke O’Donovan set up a score for Mark Collins.
O’Donovan had started on his own 21’ and ended up passing the ball to Collins on the far 21’. In between, he’d sprinted past three Kerry men who trotted back at a leisurely jog.
In a challenge game with Roscommon earlier this week, which they won by six points, Kerry went with Mark Griffin at wing-forward. That’s undoubtedly a reaction to the problem.
Jack Sherwood was clearly uncomfortable playing as the sweeper against Cork too. He was hesitant in whether to drop off or step out.
The fact that he was operating in the role when he looked so unsure seemed like an admission that they don’t really want to play a sweeper, and haven’t been putting the man hours into the setup on the training ground.
So their defensive strife is about far more than their full-back line.
Had Peter Crowley not suffered a torn cruciate on club duty, he and Morley would have been their full-back line. To lose him will be a blow of which the significance will be become more and more apparent as the summer goes on.
Defensively, they’d be getting away with it if their forward line was properly firing. Paul Geaney has been off-colour for a while now. The movement on their inside line against Cork was nothing that would trouble the better sides.
Equally, though, their inside forwards must be tearing their hair out. Whatever it is about Kerry’s middle third at the minute, whether it’s by instruction or individual failure, they aren’t looking to kick the ball.
They’re not playing the heads-up football that you associate with the green and gold. To all intents, they’ve become a running team.
Then there’s the Kerry kickout press. Their full-forward line is pressing zonally, while the rest are marking man-to-man. It’s hard to get your head around the thinking behind that.
They’ve all the talent coming through but whether the established players are of the quality to lead an All-Ireland winning team is a fair question that only they can answer.
If they put a bit more gristle in the half-forward line, their press might work a bit better. If they kick a bit more, they can unlock the potential in their forward-line. If they designate a proper sweeper, they can sew up the gaping wounds when teams come at them.
Kerry have far more about them than they’re presently displaying. In Gavin White and Tom O’Sullivan, they’ve two deadly attacking wing-backs.
Given service, Clifford will get scores all day. Geaney, if he clicks, will too. Stephen O’Brien has been excellent and carries a goal threat. James O’Donoghue is in reserve, and perhaps ought to have a more established role.
Say you put him centre-forward as your postman, move Sean O’Shea – whose been closely tagged in every game in recent weeks – to the wing, and go for a bit more physicality on the other wing, look at how the team changes.
Unless they put a bit more meat into the side, the Dublins and Tyrones and even Mayos of this world will run clean out over the top of them.
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PETER KEANE’S BEST TEAM
Shane Ryan
Jason Foley
Tadhg Morley
Jack Sherwood
Tom O’Sullivan
Paul Murphy
Gavin White
David Moran
Jack Barry
Dara Moynihan
Sean O’Shea
Stephen O’Brien
David Clifford
Paul Geaney
James O’Donoghue
2019 OVERALL TOP SCORERS
Sean O’Shea 1-68 (0-57f)
Stephen O’Brien 3-10
David Clifford 0-14 (0-5f)
Dara Moynihan 0-9
Tom O’Sullivan 1-6
2019 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP SCORERS
Sean O’Shea 0-13 (0-11f)
David Clifford 0-7 (0-2f)
Tom O’Sullivan 1-1
James O’Donoghue 1-1
EVERY MINUTE MEN
Players to have played every minute of league and championship
N/A
Highest: Sean O’Shea (700)
SUPER 8s FIXTURES
Group One
Killarney, July 14, 4pm: Kerry v Galway/Mayo
Croke Park, July 21, 4pm: Kerry v Donegal
Navan/Ennis, August 3/4: Meath/Clare v Kerry
