Something to look forward to looking back on

On Gaelic Games:Both Kerry and Tyrone could take something from what happened over two distinct halves on Sunday, writes SEAN MORAN

ON THE surface everything looks much the same. The early-season skirmishing is up and running, with a Tyrone-Kerry agenda already set for the year and another file of work for the CCCC arising from the weekend’s main televised match.

The national leagues fulfil one great need among the GAA public – the hunger for raw data. There may be an entertaining spectacle or so along the way, but the spring competitions bring the opportunity to take the lessons of the previous year, assess them in the light of new players, managers and other developments, and store them for future use.

Omagh on Sunday was a perfect example. Both Kerry and Tyrone could take something from what happened over two distinct halves. For the first 35 minutes it was as if the visitors had somehow stepped through the looking glass and revisited last September, but this time enacting the game that they had hoped to unleash on Mickey Harte’s team.

The defence read Tyrone’s – admittedly sluggish – movement well and came out quickly to the ball and moved it forward briskly. One notable performance came from Daniel Bohane, whose 2008 season was disrupted by injury, apart from an influential cameo when he came off the bench in the All-Ireland quarter-final to establish some sort of order on Galway’s Joe Bergin, who had been causing mayhem in Kerry’s faltering full-back line.

At centrefield, David Moran gave further glimpses of what he may become for the team, surprisingly physically for such a young player and possessed of a thoughtful kicking ability.

But it was in attack that the plan really came together. Supplied with good chances, Colm Cooper was able to deliver his customary good performance in the fixture, except this time he had decent support and two goals resulted, as he punished defensive slackness of a type that Kerry haven’t been given the chance to exploit in their fruitless summer encounters with the All-Ireland champions.

The other major item of wish fulfilment was the amount of trouble Tommy Walsh caused at full forward, especially under high ball. In the absence of Kieran Donaghy, Walsh became the prime target in the early-ball attacks and, unlike last September when he and Donaghy were poorly supplied and well marked, he caused havoc.

That would have been more evident but for Jonathan Curran in the Tyrone goal making a couple of sharp, one-on-one saves. And Walsh wouldn’t have been thrilled with the options he took on any of those occasions, and the question arose as to whether he has the same finishing instincts as Donaghy.

The other notable feature of the attack was the display of this year’s captain, Darren O’Sullivan. A stand-out minor, he has taken his time coming to the fore at senior level. The attitude in the county appears to have been governed by a reluctance to bring him on too quickly, as well as misgivings about the, at times, mixed outcome of his elusive running.

On Sunday, O’Sullivan made an impact, from scoring the first point in the opening minute to his second score at a vital juncture just after Aidan O’Mahony had been yellow carded and Colm McCullagh capped an out-of-sorts afternoon by dropping short a chance to cut the deficit to four with 10 minutes left.

Instead, O’Sullivan took a ball from Maurice Corridan and sped in towards goal, having the calm judgment to fist a point and restore a two-goal advantage despite a riot of missed opportunity by Kerry in the second half.

Admittedly, O’Sullivan has shown well against Tyrone, from the spirited resistance of the 2004 minor All-Ireland to appearances in the senior finals of 2005 and ’08, but Jack O’Connor will be hoping that the player’s white-hot pace can be harnessed by the team.

The match wasn’t without consolation for the champions. Their imperturbable calm when carefully picking away at an 11-point deficit in the second half strongly suggested that the psychological balance between the counties hasn’t altered much. And if Ryan McMenamin gets a deserved suspension for his behaviour, even that setback might act as a useful brake on his disciplinary excesses.

The team’s extraordinary adaptability is obviously also still intact, as could be seen from the two players who most embody it.

The McMahon brothers had switched just before Joe was yellow carded, rendering it impossible to judge the effect he would have had in the full back line, but his brother Justin, currently the All Star full back, put behind him two creaky displays in the NFL campaign to play a useful role in the forwards.

Joe’s departure allowed Conor Gormley take the field, and his performance must have provided great reassurance to Harte even in the unlikely event he had become spooked that Kerry had somehow figured it all out in a league match in February.

In the three quarters during which Gormley was on the field, Tyrone outscored Kerry by two to one. That’s not to ignore the chances the visitors had in the second half, but the momentum of the match had changed. Tyrone could also point to a goal opportunity of their own, in the 25th minute, which drew a sharp save from Diarmuid Murphy, but which also showcased again the ability of Davy Harte to ghost through defences into goal-scoring positions.

Footballer of the Year Seán Cavanagh has been a bit quiet in the matches, although he was able to rouse himself to put Dublin in their box in injury-time three weeks ago. But so far Harte must be encouraged at the prospects for what he’ll be hoping is the team’s most serious title defence of the three they’ve mounted.

Even that is in the balance though, as the injury and misfortune that wrecked attempts in 2004 and ’06 weren’t visible at this stage of the year. In that context, the fresh evidence of Stephen O’Neill’s vulnerability to injury must be a little alarming after the sensational return from retirement he’s been enjoying.

By the time the championship is unfolding under – what we hope will be – blue skies and heat haze, what happened in Omagh in February will seem farther away than the aching cold of fireworks night in Croke Park.

But there have been few meaningless minutes in the league clashes of Kerry and Tyrone this decade and it will be fascinating, especially should the counties meet again, to look back and understand what was really on view last weekend.

smoran@irishtimes.com