ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL Kerry 1-20 Limerick 0-10:SOMETIMES THE only value in an All-Ireland quarter-final is not who you played, but watching who played after you – and from that perspective Kerry learnt at least something from this 70-minute jog around the park.
They were certainly lethargic at times and their casualness was hardly camouflaged by the few moments of splendour, yet Kerry did all they needed to do to brush aside the challenge of Limerick, and still have 13 points to spare. With that, manager Jack O’Connor said his usually cautious words, wished us well, then headed back up to the stands for a live preview of his All-Ireland semi-final opponents.
What happened next probably wasn’t what he expected, and while O’Connor may be glad to see the back of Cork for another year, he’ll know Kerry won’t want to underestimate the Mayo resistance, fully realising the performance here against Limerick simply wouldn’t match up.
Chances are we will see a very different Kerry team in three weeks, not only because they’ll be back in the green and gold. Perhaps it was just the navy blue and white jerseys on their backs, but Kerry looked a little off-colour – the defence scored more than the half-forward line, the Gooch-Donaghy combination never clicked, and Paul Galvin’s much-heralded return didn’t exactly inspire.
What will have people talking was Darran O’Sullivan’s goal after 25 minutes. There’ll be more important and probably better goals scored in Croke Park this summer, but none as magical, instinctive and ultimately incomparable as O’Sullivan’s back-heel flick that completely surprised the Limerick defence, and possibly even himself.
“We weren’t practising it in training anyway,” said O’Connor afterwards, although that’s not saying O’Sullivan didn’t know what he was doing. Bryan Sheehan – looking increasingly deft around midfield – provided the ball across the Limerick goalmouth. It looked harmless enough, until O’Sullivan darted in, and somehow used his right heel to flick it clean into the goal. Several Limerick defenders shook their heads in disbelief, and several of us in the press box did too.
A few minutes later O’Sullivan could easily have added a second goal, had Stephen Lavin not made a brave and decisive block, although that shot came with a cost – moments later O’Sullivan was holding his right hamstring, and Kerry didn’t take any chances. He was replaced by Kieran O’Leary, on 32 minutes, but having already scored 1-3 from play, O’Sullivan probably emerged as Kerry’s best player on the day – even if he was only on the field for less than half of the game.
His goal gave them a 1-5 to 0-2 cushion, as Limerick struggled to match Kerry’s intensity over the opening 30 minutes. It was 17 minutes before Stephen Kelly finally had the gall to run at the Kerry defence and convert their first score, and Séamus O’Carroll added a second four minutes, yet Limerick’s limitations were already apparent.
Manager Maurice Horan made three late replacements, starting Stephen Lucey, John Cooke and Eoghan O’Connor, yet was soon forced into further running repairs as Lucey only lasted eight minutes, and Cooke up until half-time, when a suspected broken collarbone ended his game.
Still, the only time Limerick honestly competed with them was early in the second half, as Kerry seemed to lose any appetite for the game. Kelly fired over two fine points, and Ger Collins added a third – which reduced the deficit to four points. However that was as close as they’d get. Tomás Ó Sé hit the first of two trademark scores – running powerfully through at goal – and Sheehan began extending his scoring too, with two frees, and a 45 (he ended with 0-6).
O’Connor played down the significance of Kerry’s apparently slack attitude in the second half, suggesting it was more a case of being a little stale, given the four-week lay-off, and there’s no doubt the game will bring Kerry on, even if it was a non-contest. Donaghy was surprisingly mute for long periods, and Cooper – although scoring 0-3 – definitely lacked his usual intent.
The last 20 minutes was played out in an air of inevitability. Most of the double-bill crowd of 22,732 were in their seats, and yet the only sound were the shouts of the players on the field. Kerry out-scored Limerick 7-2 in that period, and also saw Declan O’Sullivan denied a certain goal after a fine save from Brian Scanlon.
Limerick will at least feel they stayed with Kerry longer that their Munster semi-final meeting, when they lost by 11 points. As Horan pointed out, they have now lost their last four championship matches to either Kerry (three times), or Cork (once), so can feel they are at least losing to the best. For some teams, reaching an All-Ireland quarter-final is an achievement in itself.
KERRY: 1 B Kealy; 2 K Young (0-1), 3 M Ó Sé, 4 T O'Sullivan; 5 T Ó Sé (0-2), 6 E Brosnan, 7 A O'Mahony; 8 A Maher (0-1), 9 B Sheehan (0-6, 0-4 frees, 0-1 45); 10 P Galvin, 11 Declan O'Sullivan (0-2), 12 D Walsh; 13 C Cooper (0-3, 0-2 frees), 14 K Donaghy (0-1), 15 Darran O'Sullivan (1-3). Subs: 18 K O'Leary for Darran O'Sullivan (32 mins), 17 S Enright for O'Mahony (49 mins); 19 D Bohan for Brosnan, 23 S Scanlon for Maher, 26 J O'Donoghue (0-1) for Galvin (all 62 mins).
LIMERICK: 1 B Scanlon (0-1, free); 6 J McCarthy, 26 S Lucey, 2 T Stack; 4 S Lavin, 7 P Ranahan, 5 J Riordan (0-1); 8 S Buckley, 3 S Gallagher; 10 S Kelly (0-4), 14 S O'Carroll (0-1), 25 J Cooke; 13 G Collins (0-1), 22 E O'Connor, 15 I Ryan (0-2, frees). Subs: 19 M O'Riordan for Lucey (8 mins), 11 J Mullane for Cooke (h-t), 9 J Donovan for Gallagher (half-time), 17 B Fitzpatrick for O'Riordan, 21 E Hogan for Mullane (63 mins). Yellow cards: Mullane (48 mins), Buckley (61 mins), Riordan (68 mins).
Referee: P McEnaney(Monaghan).
