Kerry 2-11 Dublin 0-14 Winter provides nothing more than hints and hopes and Dublin and Kerry came to Killarney yesterday looking more intensely than most for signs of either. The home side pocketed an important three-point win and probably took the riband for wonderkids on show.
Most touted of the tyros was Kerry's Donncha Walsh, who started the day as a wing forward, and his effort would have been deemed highly satisfactory had he not been eclipsed by other parts of the forward line.
Walsh, whose future seems to be at midfield, is a deceptive player, quicker and harder to catch than he looks. He processed a decent amount of ball yesterday, but the cutting edge action was happening in front of him where Declan O'Sullivan and Declan Quill were making merry. Just inside him at centre forward, Eoin Brosnan was also pillaging.
Kerry played with fitful brilliance in the first half, but when they wanted to turn the screw they appeared capable of doing so at will. It was a reminder to Dublin of just how much work remains to be done.
Paul Griffin looked like a lock at corner back for Dublin in Parnell Park a couple of weeks ago. Barry Cahill has the mark of a quality player. Yesterday they were often found flailing.
Kerry's forward play before half-time was at times of such exuberance that it stilled the talk of whether Maurice Fitzgerald would be returning imminently and had the cognoscenti wondering just where Mike Frank Russell and Colm Cooper might be accommodated upon their return.
Dublin have made no secret of the fact that they reckon themselves to be three players short of a winning bundle. Their problem is like that of the advertising executive who knows that only 50 per cent of advertising is effective but can't tell which 50 per cent. For Dublin the missing trio of talents keeps changing.
Tomás Quinn appears to have arrived. Before leaving the play with a knock yesterday he produced three fine points and a handful of kicked passes that reminded one of Tommy Conroy in his pomp.
Brian Cullen, the young centre forward, is having a tougher winter, however. He has already kept the company of Kieran McGeeney and yesterday was asked to manacle himself to Seamus Moynihan. Impossible.
That Moynihan's bursts were at the heart of almost every good thing Kerry did should not be used as evidence against the kid. When Moynihan explodes from the centre back position it would be easier to stop a speeding bullet with one's teeth than rebuff him.
Kerry started yesterday's game with a detonation. A ball palmed from midfield. Moynihan! Bang. A smuggled pass to Brosnan. Eight seconds, a point ahead.
Mossy Quinn showed twice for Dublin in the following couple of minutes, scoring both times as the Dublin forwards caused head-scratching on the Kerry bench with the ease at which they transferred possession.
As well as Quinn's form, there was some promise from Collie Moran that he might be regaining the confidence and dash that made him such a stand-out two years ago. He fussed and foraged well and scored Dublin's third point as the game settled.
The problem for Dublin, however, is that having decided on a full forward line that accommodates the quicksilver talents of Quinn, Brogan and Cosgrove, they can't always come up with the sort of service required. Too often the ball going in suits a big ball-winner rather than players who run well in prairies of space.This was the difficulty yesterday when Kerry got motoring and crowded the area between the two 45s.
On 13 minutes Eoin Brosnan snapped another point, and then two minutes later Kerry produced a wonderful score, with Quill coming up with the loveliest of passes to find Declan O'Sullivan on the edge of the square. O'Sullivan slipped a neat daisycutter into the small space between Stephen Cluxton and his right post. Thirty seconds later Quill turned the screw with a fine point.
Suddenly Kerry were a goal ahead and motoring. Donncha Walsh was involved in the intricate build-up for their next score,taken calmly by O'Sullivan again, and on 20 minutes Moynihan got his reward for repeated incursions into Dublin territory, clipping a fine score.
That little run of 1-4 without reply set Kerry up for the win and everything that came afterwards was almost anti-climax.
There were still four points in it coming to the break when suddenly Kerry ignited again. Quill was supplier again this time, slipping a fine pass to Brosnan, who all but broke the rigging with his confident finish.
Alan Brogan, growing in influence, reduced the margin by a point before half-time.
After the break Kerry did no more than they had to. O'Sullivan filched a fine score after 12 seconds and then Dublin set about hauling the game back.
Ray Cosgrove, back in blue after his summer of wonder last year, had a couple of points but couldn't come up with a goal, the commodity he produced almost at will in happier times.
Still, he looked sharp and was unlucky late on when Peadar Andrews dinked a point effort off the Kerry posts and the rebound caught him by surprise a split second later. The equally shocked Kerry defence managed to bundle the ball away.
Dublin managed a run of five points without reply and a good goal attempt from Mossy Quinn was stubbed out - but by then Kerry were playing within themselves, giving stalwarts like Johnny Crowley and Liam Hassett a chance to remind the selectors that experience has its place in summertime too.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; B Cahill, P Christie, P Griffin; P Casey, S Ryan, P Andrews; C Whelan, D Magee; C Moran (0-2), B Cullen (0-1), L Óg Ó hÉineacháin (0-2, 1 free); A Brogan (0-4), R Cosgrove (0-2), T Quinn (0-3). Subs: J Sherlock for Quinn (55 mins), P Andrews for Casey (58 mins), J McNally for Cullen (60 mins), D O'Mahony for Cosgrove (67 mins).
Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).
KERRY: D Murphy; T O'Sullivan, M McCarthy, M Ó Sé; T Ó Sé, S Moynihan (0-1), J Sheehan; D Ó Sé (0-1) , D Daly; S O'Sullivan, E Brosnan (1-3) , D Walsh; D Quill (0-2, 1 free), D Ó Cinnéide, D O'Sullivan (1-3, 1 free). Subs: S Scanlon for Daly (47 mins), L Hassett (0-1) for S O'Sullivan (51 mins), J Crowley for Ó Cinnéide (54 mins), P Kennedy for Walsh (60 mins).
