Gavin O’Connor analyses the main talking points from Kerry’s victory over Donegal yesterday, with some great action shots from the game (below)…
1. An awesome display by Johnny Buckley
It can sometimes take a player a few years to grow and really stamp their authority on a game, yesterday was one of those days for Johnny Buckley.
When Buckley bagged his only point of the game, the dummy that bought himself space was reminiscent of another Dr Crokes ginger-haired assassin.
Fancy skills, were just the cherry on top in a game where Buckley showed fantastic levels of intensity for this time of year, snatching possession out of a Donegal’s hands on more than a few occasions and bossing his area of the pitch.
Truth be told, Buckley could do a job anywhere between both 45s. It’s very hard to see Paul Galvin creep into the side if Buckley remains our best ball winner in the forward line.
2. The midfield partnership of Moran and Maher
Once again David Moran and Anthony Maher controlled centre-field. The importance of this pairing showed up last week when just as Kerry began to get on top of Cork after a nightmare start Maher sustained a head injury and didn’t make it out for the second half. In that moment Kerry’s day was done.
Their opposite numbers on Sunday, Christy Toye and Neil Gallagher are no mugs, but were well beaten by the Strand Road man and his comrade from Duagh.
Moran and Maher are a great example of two traditional style midfielders able to mix in the modern game. High-fielding was in danger of going out of style, thankfully these two men are at the forefront of the revival.
3, Defence held firm
The changes in Kerry’s back line worked a treat after an awful afternoon in Cork where they struggled with the pace of the Rebel attack.
Against Donegal, only once did the sea part in Kerry’s rearguard when Ryan McHugh scored Donegal’s first goal of the game.
After a shaky day out against Cork, Mark Griffin, put in a very encouraging display on Micheal Murphy. Though Killian Young was moved onto Murphy in the second half the danger-man got no score from play.
4, What’s a black card and what isn’t?
Maybe it’s the Monday blues, but I’ve got a little bit of a gripe here.
After the introduction of the black card last year, inside every match programme there was a graphic clearly showing what are the five black card offences.
Here’s a suggestion; it would be great if the GAA could go one step further and place a 20 foot high billboard behind the goals at each ground to hammer the rules home to those supporters who still haven’t got the message.
The black card offences are; deliberate collide, deliberate trip, deliberate pull down, abusing officials verbally and abusing players verbally.
A player being caught around the neck is not a black card offence. A lot of patrons would save themselves a lot of energy and maybe the air wouldn’t turn so blue quite as often if they realised that.
5. Kerry now in good position to book semi-final spot
As it stands now, Kerry are one of the four teams in line for the semi-finals. In fourth spot behind – but level on points with – Monaghan and Mayo though behind both counties because an inferior score difference.
The next outing is Monaghan at home in two weeks time. A win there would really cement Kerry’s claim for a couple of extra games in spring, before the final trip of the campaign away to relegation-threatened Tyrone.
Winning the league is not the be all and end all, but having two more competitive games before the huge layoff until the first championship game would help the cause no end.
Especially as Kerry have a number of Key players to come back – the likes of, Colm Cooper, Donnchadh Walsh and James O’Donoghue who still have not got a run out. There’s also the curious case of Paul Galvin…