No coincidence provincial winners are gone

THE CHAMPIONSHIP is wide open now and that is exactly what Gaelic football needed, to break the stranglehold Kerry and Tyrone have had on the All-Ireland since 2002.

Of the four remaining teams, Cork, despite their recent visit to All-Ireland finals, cannot be deemed outright favourites either – not with the way they are playing at the moment.

Another question must be asked of the championship structures.

What does it tell us about the four provincial winners now they have all been beaten? We have already seen the problem of the provincial runners-up being sent back out after just one week, now the CCCC must look at the disadvantage of a three- or four-week lay-off in contrast to a team building momentum through the qualifiers.

I didn’t hear anyone mention the possibility of an All-Ireland semi-final between Kildare and Down last week.

James McCartan, in fairness, did his homework on Kerry. When you are underdogs it is imperative to get off to a good start. When this happened, his young team realised they could hold their own with Kerry.

Their confidence soared as a result.

They went about targeting the aging Kerry defenders by constantly inter-changing players. The quick movement was all brilliantly marshalled by Marty Clarke.

He was the outstanding player on the field. His ball control seems effortless and he is possessed with the rare vision of being able to see a pass and possesses the maturity to let it go early and accurately.

Only 22, Clarke is a natural leader of men.

The irony is Kerry lose Tadhg Kennelly after just one season back to Australia, while Down profit from the return of their prodigal son.

They also coped well with the Kerry attack, apart from Colm Cooper, who was excellent throughout, but Kieran Donaghy failed to ignite this season. Dan Gordon, with support of covering backs cleaning up the breaks, handled the aerial threat impressively.

The key moments cancel each other out. Killian Young’s goal should have stood but so should the Down goal a few minutes later.

The game of Gaelic football is evolving all the time. If you want to be successful in Croke Park you need pace, stamina and all 15 players comfortable on the ball.

Down knew they possess all these attributes so they didn’t fear Kerry in Croke Park.

Ambrose Rodgers went very well in the middle and all six forwards were a threat. They ran hard at their men. The Kerry backs were not able to stay with them.

It is also critical that a team can go to their bench. Conor Maginn and Ronan Murtagh fitted seamlessly into the gameplan and were comfortable in kicking scores.

It reinforces the argument that consecutive qualifier games allow teams to find a rhythm. The break from the Munster final hurt Kerry. They could not simulate the intensity in training that Down got against Sligo last week. That militated against the All-Ireland champions. As did their unsolved midfield problems coupled with the loss of Tomás Ó Sé and Paul Galvin.

And still, it is no excuse. Kerry are expected to constantly replace their footballers. But this day had to come. They are now officially a team in transition. We saw it on Saturday very clearly – the spark just wasn’t there like it had been in recent campaigns. Too many pieces of the jigsaw were missing.

The Down record against Kerry is remarkable but I can’t see it having an impact on the modern players. When Down were strong in the 1960s, Kerry were weak. It is Down’s turn again, I suppose.

The real worry for me as a Kerryman was the sight of the Tyrone minors handing our teenagers a hammering. We can’t be relying on players to just appear anymore without a successful underage program.

We need to put in more work on our youths and not simply take for granted that another Gooch or Declan O’Sullivan or Darragh Ó Sé will magically appear on the scene. We have done that for too long now.

The Tyrone minors were vastly better than ours and that is because they have been working on the next generation for over a decade now.

Kerry go silent as Down move on to face Kildare – a team that now looks capable of handling anything. As a player, Kieran McGeeney was mentally unbreakable and we are now seeing that trait in his team.

The early loss of Dermot Earley didn’t faze them and they must be delighted to have performed so well around the middle of the field against Meath, especially the breaking ball.

The Meath defence was in trouble from the outset. Kildare are now an excellent second-half team and credit must go to McGeeney for having them so well tuned when things go wrong.

It is a mental toughness we have not seen before from them and they are also taking some fine scores. That combination has won All-Irelands in the past. But, as mentioned, it is wide open.

What amazed me about the Dublin versus Tyrone game was how Dublin survived despite conceding the opposing kick-outs.

I understand the logic behind the tactic – Tyrone couldn’t kick scores in their own half – but they could build up momentum just the way they like through their overlapping half backs.

I suppose the ends justify the means but Tyrone were uncharacteristically wasteful in the final third. Through the years, in this situation, they have turned to Seán Cavanagh for the big scores and he has always delivered. Saturday was his one off day. They went to him and he surprisingly didn’t deliver the points that would have seen them progress.

Eoghan O’Gara’s goal ultimately decided it.

Great credit must go to Pat Gilroy. His main philosophy is every player pulls his weight on the field until they are spent. He has got that honestly of effort throughout the pitch and when someone has run themselves into the ground, quality like Cian O’Sullivan, Paul Flynn, Eamon Fennell and Conal Keaney can come in.

I thought pulling off Alan Brogan was a mistake but maybe he needed a breather as they got him back in for the finish.

His brother Bernard also must be commended for producing nine points under that amount of scrutiny but the men who epitomise the unselfish Gilroy way are Michael Dara Macauley and O’Gara

I suppose it is the Dublin way now.

Cork will look at them and see the lack of discipline when players run at them at pace.

Cork may have felt all they needed to do was show up and they would beat Roscommon. They got a rude awakening by the pressure put on them high up the pitch. Roscommon simply stayed with them for as long as they could.

The depth of the Cork panel is key – Nicholas Murphy cannot remain on the bench against Dublin. John Miskella and Donncha O’Connor deserve starting roles as well but Pearse O’Neill remains the key man that Dublin must figure out without fouling him. The view of this meeting changes dramatically if the injuries sustained by Graham Canty and Ciarán Sheehan are serious.