Kerry happy to go the distance

GAELIC GAMES: How to sum up the surpassing tedium of yesterday's second All-Ireland football semi-final? Try this. In the last five minutes of play Derry scored five points without reply. They also manufactured a half-decent goal chance. None of those things gave any pause to the river of people hurrying out of the ground early. None of it raised the pulse of the Kerry team.

By then Kerry were like heavyweights disdaining the ostentatious cruelty of the knockout blow. Derry were swaying low, gloves up to protect their youthful faces. Kerry put their guard down and took a few feathery cuffs. No need for the smelling salts. No need to throw in the towel.

Kerry won by six points and were worth double the margin. Thus they regally advanced to what will be the county's 50th All-Ireland final. Progress to many of the other 49 finals has often been just as perfunctory. Little wonder Kerry people stay at home till the final.

Derry people stayed at home in convincing numbers yesterday too. There were only 35,457 people rattling about in the immense stadium and the football did little to cheer them.

The small, tight football constituency of south Derry was not quite convinced that Mickey Moran's boyish wonders were quite ready for such an outing. Parched though the Oak Leaf faithful are for success, they looked south at a Kerry team which even without Séamus Moynihan just looked too strong.

Part of the deal with those surreal last few minutes when Derry were jabbing and floating was propaganda. Kerry never like the burden of favouritism and from now on they will be broadcasting the news. Yesterday proved nothing. Just six points in it. Mayo will be a different proposition altogether. Team captain Dara Ó Cinnéide was first on message.

"In the second half in the first 10 minutes we seem to pull away. That's been a pattern but there's a lot of work to be done. We have huge room for improvement. People can talk about the margin but we're papering over the cracks. There's plenty of stuff to work on."

Dara's face, like those of his team-mates, betrayed no joy at merely reaching an All Ireland final. In Kerry All-Ireland finals are what September is for. Right now Dara is just in the shadow of the volcano.

"Mayo's hunger will be insatiable. It's not going to be easy. We've had huge disappointments in the last few years. A lot of questions asked. We haven't answered them. Derry could have punished us a lot more."

That is as maybe but you couldn't help noticing as Kerry introduced their substitutes how festooned with stars they really are. Darragh Ó Sé went off injured after 22 minutes. It made no difference. Moynihan didn't start due to injury and Mike Frank Russell was benched due to lacklustre form. It made no difference. The bench contained luminaries like John Crowley, Noel Kennelly, Declan Quill and Seán O'Sullivan.

As for Derry they couldn't score. "We weren't clinical at the right time," conceded Mickey Moran afterwards. "We've a lot of learning to do but even the subs that came on today showed they wanted it. Some people wouldn't even know their names but I have great belief. I think there's something there to work on."

Sometimes they weren't clinical at all. In the middle of the game, for a great barren patch either side of half-time, they went 41 minutes without bothering the scorekeeper. Kerry stitched 10 points into the game while Derry were mending things, taking off four of their starting forwards.

When Kerry danced they did so lightly, moving the ball crisply and quickly. Memories of last summer's semi-final visit to Croke Park and that well-thumbed passage where Tyrone just buffeted them about under the Hogan Stand were banished.

"We're happy, lads," said Jack O'Connor afterwards. As a man in his first year of managing a constituency so famously filled with people who are animals after success the progress was more welcome validation.

"It's the first day we were close to playing to our potential. Any day you are in a final you're happy but they weren't giving out any medals there today. We got sloppy during the end. Fair play to Derry they didn't throw the towel in."

The bad news. Darragh Ó Sé was in the hospital having his foot injury looked at. There was an absence of optimistic words about that. And Moynihan, who resumes training on Tuesday night, was at pains (almost literally) to point out he would be taking things very gradually.

Still.

"We wanted to train for another month," said O'Connor. "We didn't want the rollercoaster to end now. School is back tomorrow. It'll shorten the month of September for us."

September will be short and interesting. Two traditional football counties topping out a season built on novelty and newness. The occasion begs them to do it justice.