Kevin McStay: Did Kerry expect Tyrone to line up as they had in Killarney?

Just like that, all has changed. As I watched the scenes in Croke Park at the final whistle on Saturday - Tyrone ecstasy, Kerry dazed - I thought back to the way both counties shuffled off the stage last winter. I was there when both Tyrone and Kerry made their exits from the All-Ireland in 2020: cold, dark and very dreary days at opposite ends of Ireland. Every town shuttered.

Tyrone's leaving remains sharp in my memory. To begin with, I got absolutely soaked to the skin in Ballybofey. And it was cold rain. There was a river running through the player's tunnel. Everyone was freezing. The place was empty and echoing and the world felt strange as Donegal held Tyrone at bay in an edgy, truly Ulster game.

It was a memorably lonely end to the splendour of the Mickey Harte era. Patience had run out with the supporters - and I think, perhaps, among the players also. Change was inevitable.

And it struck me on Saturday that such was the shock of the Tyrone win here that this could end the Peter Keane era in Kerry also. An All-Ireland defeat in 2019; last year's dismal exit against Cork and now this loss against Tyrone, of all counties: it is three years of disappointment.

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On the Sunday Game I listed off Peter's successes - two Munster titles and a national league. Tomás Ó Sé gently scolded me and let me know that those baubles don't count. It is a cruel world within Kerry. Produce or trot on.

The Covid backdrop made it impossible for anyone to be certain about predictions. We had no sense of where Tyrone stood. The understanding was that the virus had ravaged their camp. So the assumption was that it would rob them of energy and enthusiasm - two key attributes of their game. I would remind people here that the GAA made their decision based on having all the facts.

So it is not fair to be pointing the finger at Tyrone at their lack of transparency. It is up to the GAA to reveal that data and information and thereby end the accusations and innuendo.

Best case scenario

Now, I do believe we are been given the best case scenario from the Tyrone camp. I imagine the fine detail in terms of the number of vaccinations is fairly dubious and that information is never going to come out. My ultimate position is this: all parties agreed to the re-fixture.

The questions raised by Kerry voices before and after were legitimate but by then the show had moved on. It was too late. The tense stand-off between Sean Cavanagh and Pat Spillane on RTE before the game captured just what the issue has come to represent in both counties. Tyrone felt blackguarded. Kerry felt hoodwinked.

If Pat Spillane mirrored even a quarter of the concern of Kerry people then, yes, maybe they were spooked and were realising an hour before throw in that their team might be walking into the ambush of all ambushes.

And they did.

I detected a lack of urgency about Kerry. There was a general blasé air that their football would see them through

In four minutes Kerry had two points and a reasonable goal chance to their credit. So far, so good. Kerry seemed to be opening their requisite comfort-gap - that five or six point cushion against which they can exhibit their sumptuous football talents. The problem was by the eighth minute, Tyrone led by a point. This was the first system challenge.

It was clear that Tyrone were manically committed to keeping that scoreboard tight. They fought like dogs for every score they conceded. Kerry got very few easy looks. As warm-up games for an All-Ireland go, this one wandered badly off script early. It’s the old saying: the train you don’t see is the one you need to watch for.

Watching from my sofa, I detected a lack of urgency about Kerry. There was a general blasé air that their football would see them through. It appeared as if they hadn’t considered the advent of a blanket defence. Did they expect Tyrone to line up as they had in the league in Killarney?

They must have known they would be playing against a mass Tyrone defensive formation. And yet they repeatedly tried to force the ball through that cover - with the result that they coughed up 35 turnovers through which they conceded a staggering 2-9. That’s the story of the game.

Inspired

It’s not just the concession of possession you relinquish when you give the ball away. Each of those turnovers is a massive boost of oxygen to the Tyrone team. There was a memorable instant when Michael O’Neill robbed Sean O’Shea which vividly demonstrated how every defensive win elevated Tyrone into demented/inspired heights of increased effort.

Inevitably, that abrasive, brilliant defensive effort led to the concession of frees - some quite easy - and the loss of two players for 10 minutes through black cards. Saturday was the final straw for the black card as far as I can see. It threatens to bring the game into disrepute.

What we fail to notice about Tyrone because of their spikiness and the rest is that they are very smooth footballers

In the beginning, I was a fan because it helped to remove the third man tackles and cynical collisions. Both the Tyrone black card fouls were deserved and Darren McCurry and Niall Sludden were guilty of really silly fouls.

But Kerry's Gavin White should have been black carded for a late hit on Kieran McGeary in the build up to the Tyrone goal. And I thought Jack Barry was guilty of a hand trip. So Kerry got the bounce of luck a few times. But the bigger issue is that the 10 minutes in the sin bin does not allow for injuries, substitutes or miscellaneous delays.

It meant that Niall Sludden spent eight minutes in the can while Darren got away with just 4.56 spent in the bin while the ball was in play. The game was stopped for genuine injuries. The GAA either needs to impose the correct time sanction or bin the rule.

But Tyrone are one of the few teams in the country who don’t worry unduly about black cards. They drop an extra man back and get on with it. The drama was excellent and the tackling ferocious but as a spectacle of pure football it was average; poor decision making, bad wides and many errors.

It was the Tyrone attitude and tackling that created the atmosphere and the energy. They were so clever in their match-ups and the players executed perfectly. And their commitment to contact was fascinating.

What we fail to notice about Tyrone because of their spikiness and the rest is that they are very smooth footballers

I have noticed with underage kids that they are shy about contact. They defend now in a peripheral basketball stance where they shadow and lead and are even happy to concede a shot under pressure. On Saturday we had Tyrone men flying and diving in everywhere. They made Kerry aware of their presence. David Clifford is almost unmarkable but Ronan McNamee never gave an inch and won plenty of battles, too.

The psychology of the re-fixture was incredibly tricky for Kerry and I felt they were still trying to figure out the substance of the contest and of Tyrone even as they were on the way to losing the game. The framework of the game was contrived to make it appear as if Kerry were looking for an auld warm-up game before the final. They didn’t want to go in cold!

That’s not the truth of it. But it is the perception. And the Ulster champions, the team that has had the Indian sign on Kerry, felt disrespected. I think Kerry took too much comfort in the assumption that they would - that they must - score goals. Equally, they may have assured themselves that Tyrone wouldn’t score goals. Of course, the opposite happened. The co-ordinates became mixed up and confusing.

Conor McKenna had a huge influence in this regard. He is an interesting footballer. He backs himself. When he gets a goal opportunity, he is going for it. He didn’t play particularly well on Saturday but he took his goals very well and both scores had a seismic impact.

Both substantiated the vague idea that we were witnessing a shock in the making. What we fail to notice about Tyrone because of their spikiness and the rest is that they are very smooth footballers.

They are so comfortable on the ball. Is there a better support running team? Their conditioning is clearly superb. The Covid illness was not a factor. They got stronger in extra-time. Their one big worry is that they were destroyed on the kick out. Their saving grace was the turnover count.

But those critical factors may not align so perfectly for Tyrone in the final. You'd imagine that Mayo will study this with an idea of not simply claiming the short kick out all afternoon.

Because Tyrone opted to 'give' Kerry the short kick out uncontested, the losers finished with a 100 percent completion rate. But they still had to bring the ball 100 metres up field. And they walked into trap after trap. Why didn't Kerry kick long from their kick out more often? They also won 39 percent of the Tyrone kick out when Niall Morgan went long. And winning the ball high up the field is dramatically more beneficial.

There is less chance of turnovers. It’s unlikely that Mayo will accept that invitation of the short kick out time after time.

The Ulster champions are astute. They are brilliantly coached. They will come with a clear plan

So Kerry never quite reached their comfort gap. Twice they almost slipped away. It took that smashing goal from Cathal McShane to drag them into the epic contest it became. Then Tyrone themselves blew it wide open by opening up a five point lead in extra. Yet Kerry, through immense individual fortitude, had it back to a point with six minutes left in extra time. And still they weren’t quite good enough to beat Tyrone in the end. They had the opportunities.

Stress

Surprisingly, they committed a number of technical malfunctions - Killian Spillane using his wrong foot for a goal chance that was really only a point chance; Paudie Clifford jab-lifting beautifully at an angle but then using his left hand on the left side of the goal to attempt to palm the ball over the bar at an acute angle; David Clifford soloing with his weaker foot just before the ball was coughed up for Tyrone's first goal; a lot of over carries and fumbles and wides you don't associate with Kerry.

Maybe it was the stress of it. Maybe it was the five week break. Maybe they were just ambushed.

So now we have an All-Ireland that has already had three different dates. Four or five months ago, it was nailed down as a Kerry/Dublin final. Now the question: when will the next Dublin/Kerry final even be? Instead, this will be the first Ulster/Connacht final since 2012.

I imagine the phones ringing with Kerry men cancelling rooms in Dublin and Tyrone and Mayo people quickly booking. The old Mayo fatalism that we would never beat Dubliin and Kerry in the one championship is now redundant. Like Kerry, nobody in Mayo saw Tyrone coming. They'd better do so soon.

The Ulster champions are astute. They are brilliantly coached. They will come with a clear plan. They are motivated and are a hugely industrious and ambitious team. They will do whatever they are asked to do. For a few days, they genuinely could not have known if they were still in the All-Ireland championship.

Now, Mayo stand between Tyrone and what would be a very famous Sam Maguire year.