In 2004 and 2006, Andy Moran was a sub watching on as his Mayo sides were defeated by early Kerry routs in All-Ireland finals.
Twenty years on, one Kerry player stands out as having the best chance of repeating that history in Sunday’s final. The championship’s top scorer, David Clifford, will have to be Andy Moran’s first priority for a man-marking job out of the Kingdom’s forward line.
Only after that decision is made will the debate be had about whether players should be detailed specifically to pick up Paudie Clifford or Dylan Geaney, who have both played damn good football this summer.
In their last three games, Kerry have knocked out Armagh, Tyrone and Dublin en route to the final, and in each game, excellent defenders have marked David Clifford to varying degrees of failure.
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From open play against Armagh, the number 13 scored 1-6 from just 21 possessions, adding four more points from frees. Aaron McKay, the Armagh full-back. had a torrid time with the Fossa forward, who pulled McKay out from his preferred central role and to the right side of the arc, where Clifford dwells for most of the game.
Clifford’s lack of movement is notable, occupying the space out on the right, between the 45 and end line during almost every attack, only appearing on the left flank twice in that 70 minutes in Fitzgerald stadium. For such a big man, less than a quarter of the attempted passes to him in the last three games have been kicked, and most of them are low balls in.
Dylan Geaney’s bouncing, sidefooted pass found Clifford on one of his typical “backdoor cut” runs; showing out in front of McKay, and then spinning in behind to bag his goal in the Round 3 game.
Kerry’s most effective piece of slower pattern-play comes when they switch the ball from left to right quickly. With an onrushing ball carrier, this creates the opportunity for Clifford to show out in front, while also threatening that backdoor run, which usually either results in a Clifford score from the run in behind, or in a one-two to play the other man in on goal, such as for Jason Foley’s second-half point against Armagh.
The strong performance of Niall Devlin while marking Clifford in the quarter-final against Tyrone should give Mayo some hope, but it can also teach them a critical lesson; to make sure their first matchup is the right one. Cormac Quinn picked him up from the start, and it was only after Clifford had bagged 1-4 that Devlin was brought from centre back to mark the goalscorer. Moran will know first hand that it is critical to avoid such an early blitz on Sunday.
Devlin was much more physical than either McKay or Quinn, and, crucially, timed his tackles at the right moments; not fighting for the ball in, but applying pressure on Clifford’s kicks. Still, as the second half wore on, the Kerry man got back into the swing of things and fisted two points where his direct running and pace forced Devlin to accept the loss of a point and protect the goal.
The semi-final was David Clifford’s quietest game since Donegal beat Kerry in Round 1, which now feels like years ago. Davy Byrne was on him for most of the game, although Dublin played a more zonal and conservative defence, which meant the Naomh Olaf man was often a few steps off his man when there wasn’t a major danger present.
Clifford got one of those early goals from a rebounded penalty effort in the opening minutes, and possessed the ball 31 times, more than in either of the previous games. However, he never really got the ball in the places he wanted it, with no backdoor cuts or one-on-one situations, thanks largely to the covering runs of Niall Scully.
Although the mixture of zonal defence and man marking was slightly more successful for Dublin, there was one play that highlighted the costs of that system. When Byrne ventured away from his man to try and win a loose ball, it led to a mix-up, where two defenders sensed David Clifford unmarked and ran to him, while Paudie Clifford eased through the middle to slip over a point untouched.
By Clifford standards, two of the four men who have marked him in the last three games have done a good job. Clifford has scored 3-23 in those games, 3-16 from play. Clifford getting a big score is inevitable really, but Mayo will need to learn lessons from Niall Devlin, Davy Byrne and Dublin’s defensive system if they want to dampen his impact.
The priority for Moran will be selecting the best matchup for him from the first whistle, so that the game isn’t over inside the first half like in the other Kerry-Mayo finals of this century.
