Joe McDonagh Cup: Down 1-14 Kerry 1-26
IT didn’t take a lip-reader to work out what words were being uttered when the Down players gathered moments after a heavy opening Joe McDonagh Cup defeat to Kerry.
Limbs weary and spirits sapped, they stood - heads bowed – in a circle as Ronan Sheehan said what needed to be said. The Down boss didn’t labour the moment - there was little point.
With a daunting trip to Laois next weekend – one of three away days before the campaign is out - the Ardsmen have no time to dwell on what went wrong as, after just one game, thoughts turn to securing McDonagh Cup status rather than a possible final berth.
Given the high standards set in recent years, this was well below-par from Down.
Games between these familiar foes have been tight, tense affairs in recent years, rarely more than a handful of points separating them when all was said and done. The same was anticipated in Ballycran on Saturday.
Instead, Kerry came flying out of the blocks while Down, with a huge wind at their backs, were architects of their own downfall before the posts – 12 wides, two dropped short, and only six points at half-time leaving a mountain to climb after the break as they trailed by six.
Despite a Daithi Sands effort crashing off the bar and a Ruairi McCrickard penalty brilliantly saved by John B O’Halloran, before McCrickard did eventually find the net, Down never looked like closing the gap as Kerry got their Championship up and running.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Sheehan, who hopes to have Caolan Taggart, Chris Egan and Stuart Martin back in contention for the trip to O’Moore Park next Sunday.
“We missed a few very easy chances in the first half there, both from play and from frees - you can’t afford to do that. We just didn’t play to our ability.
“It’s not often we come to Ballycran and get a double digit defeat… you have to dust yourself down and go onto the next one.”
And the Newry man was irked by a flashpoint that occurred before the sliothar had even been thrown in, a tangle between Sands and Kyle O’Connor ending with the Down forward being shown a yellow card after referee Patrick Murphy consulted with his umpires.
“They came down with a game-plan to strike Daithi Sands, and they struck him right at the start of the game, he gave your man a bit of a touch and he fell down.
“They came down with a game-plan to upset our boys, and they did… it worked for them.”
Aided by Down’s inefficiency at the other end, Kerry quickly established a level of control they would never relinquish.
It took Shane Conway a few minutes to suss out the swirling wind in McKenna Park but once he did, he was fit to grab most opportunities that came his way – a superb sideline cut from close to the 65 metre line a standout moment of the second half.
After edging ahead, a 14th minute goal from Eoin Ross rubber-stamped the Kingdom’s early dominance and heaped pressure on Down to close the gap. In trying to do so they played into Kerry’s hands, with man-mountain Fionan Mackessy - operating as sweeper - gobbling up possession time and again before driving Stephen Molumphy’s men forward.
Like Masters leader Brooks Koepka eating up the yards at Augusta, Mackessy strikes the sliothar with such authority that it renders the wind irrelevant, two blistering first half scores drawing gasps along the stand.
Waiting for the right moment and picking their shots, Kerry utilised their physical advantage to press further ahead, despite Pearse Og McCrickard’s best efforts to energise the Ardsmen.
Things could have got interesting had Sands’s 54th minute shot crept under the bar instead of coming back out off it, as it would have cut the gap to seven heading towards the final quarter. Instead Kerry went up the field and stretched their lead out to 11 courtesy of another Conway free.
Having seen his penalty saved, Ruairi McCrickard did eventually find the net, flicking home with five minutes left, but the game was long gone by then – the Kingdom happy making the long trip home, with even Molumphy surprised by the margin of victory.
“The wides for Down really hit them,” he said, “we had it the last two games, 22 wides in the League semi-final, it was crazy. It makes a huge difference. Even if they put half them over in the first half, there’s nothing in it.
“On the way up we said it, Down never go away, no matter what. They’re dogged, and at half-time we were saying that again.”
The former Waterford captain also opted to drop Pádraig Boyle and Jason Diggins from the travelling panel on Friday as a result of a disciplinary breach, with Saturday’s performance answering any doubts about that decision as Kerry take plenty of confidence into next weekend’s clash with Carlow.
“The players drive this, they made the call for that.
“I know of all the times, on the eve of Championship, you don’t want it to happen. If we had come away and we’d lost today, it would have been far worse, but now we’re in a great position.”
Down: S Keith; J McManus, D Mallon; M Fisher; T Murray, M Conlan, N McFarland, B Trainor; L Savage, P Óg McCrickard (0-7, 0-3 frees); R McCusker, P Sheehan, T Prenter (0-1); D Sands (0-1), T McGrattan (0-2). Subs: F Turpin (0-1) for McCusker (HT), R McCrickard (1-0) for Sheehan (HT), J Doran (0-2) for Trainor (45), O Mac Manus for Prenter (51)
Yellow cards: D Sands (0 – before throw-in), T Murray (6), T McGrattan (28)
Kerry: J B O’Halloran; K O’Connor, E Leen (0-1), E Murphy; F Mackessy (0-2); C Trent (0-01), D Shanahan (0-2), C Walsh; E Ross (1-3), P O’Connor; G Dooley (0-1), M Leane (0-1), S Conway (0-8, 0-4 frees, 0-1 sideine); J Conway, B Barrett (0-1). Subs: N Mulcahy (0-2) for Dooley (43), D Goggin (0-3) for Barrett (47), P Lucid (0-1) for J Conway (57), S Weir for O’Connor (65), T Doyle for Ross (70)
Yellow card: E Murphy (61)
Referee: P Murphy (Carlow)
