1. A rousing Dublin win in Tralee
ONLY ONCE LAST night amidst the gale in Tralee did Dublin go ahead on the scoreboard.
But it was at the most critical juncture, substitute Luke Breathnach clipping over the valuable score that nudged them ahead of Kerry by 0-19 to 1-15. It crowned a comeback fuelled by a pair of two-pointers that another replacement Lorcan O’Dell had belted over to tie the game.
The impact of those Dublin reserves was crucial in enabling them to overhaul Kerry. Fresh faces did their bit and it was in keeping with the overall theme of a new-look Dublin team making sure the long trek to the south-west was rewarding one.
Only seven players that saw action last night (David Byrne, Brian Howard, Lee Gannon, Ciarán Kilkenny, Niall Scully, Seán McMahon, and Cian Murphy) played a part for Dublin 19 months ago when these teams met in the All-Ireland final.
It was a rousing victory for Dublin, erasing a 12-point deficit to fashion the county’s first league victory at this venue since late winter 1982.
Little wonder the Dublin fans departed in such an enthused state on a wild night in the Kingdom.
“Even if we didn’t get the result which is a bit of a bonus, I was just very pleased with that effort in the second half, the bit of bottle that the lads showed,” said Dessie Farrell afterwards.
“We’re not chasing results this year, it’s about making progress, it’s about young players developing, growing into it. It’s about building for the future.”
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2. New thinking on leads in Gaelic football
Dublin’s joy was sourced in how they wiped away an 11-point half-time deficit, while Kerry’s disappointment centred on not protecting that to claim victory.
But in this new Gaelic football world, our thinking around scoreboard positions has been fundamentally altered. The raft of new rules, particularly the weight of the two-pointer, has changed the conditions of the sport. There is no lost cause anymore; football is now similar to hurling in that large deficits can be erased.
The strong wind underlined that situation all the more last night in Tralee, Dublin harnessing it so effectively. With each of their two-pointer kicks – Lee Gannon on 47 minutes, Ciarán Kilkenny on 57, Lorcan O’Dell on 65 and 67 – you could see the Dublin figures on the pitch and in the terrace, growing in belief and feeding off the energy generated by the waving of the orange flag.
“I still think people are still trying to navigate their way through it,” admitted Farrell.
“The two-pointers are significant particularly in a breeze if you have the ability to kick some of them.”
“Ten-point leads aren’t safe anymore, you know,” stated O’Connor.
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3. Kerry’s wasted goal chances
The home support was in full voice before the break in applauding the goalscoring instincts of Paul Geaney, the Kerry full-forward in the right place at the right time to plant the ball in the Dublin net, just like he did up in Derry a fortnight ago.
It helped construct a hefty half-time lead of 1-12 to 0-4, but interval discussions amongst the Kerry support would surely have touched on the goals they had left behind them. Micheál Burns, who sparkled early on, punched over the first point of the game, but there was an option for greater reward with Darragh Lyne waiting at the far post.
Joe O’Connor dragged a shot wide after seven minutes when clean through, opting not to pass to Paudie Clifford alongside him. Lyne was crowded out on another occasion after Geaney released him with a superb crossfield pass.
Butchering those first-half goal opportunities became a source of greater regret as Dublin chipped away at Kerry’s advantage during the second half. Bagging five goals was central to Kerry’s success in Derry in their opening game, but the profligacy hurt them here.
“I think the telling factor was a couple of goal chances in the first half that we didn’t avail of,” remarked O’Connor.
“We just needed an extra bit of a cushion at half time that would have allowed us to play out and hang on to the ball and maybe wear down the clock a bit. Dublin kept closing on us and came strong.”
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4. The Kerry outlook with difficult schedule
Two Saturday games on home soil and two narrow defeats for the Kerry footballers. It’s been a difficult eight-day period: a two-point defeat to Donegal in Killarney preceding them being pipped by one by Dublin in Tralee.
The tight nature of those losses illustrates the fine margins that exist at this elite level of league football. It creates something of a headache now for Kerry in the scrap for points to preserve their Division 1 status. The schedule doesn’t help them.
They travel to Omagh next Sunday to play Tyrone, and then go to Castlebar to play Mayo on 1 March. That’s a lot of miles to cover and the postponement of their first fixture against Donegal, rearranged for last Saturday, creates a jam-packed schedule of five games in the space of 27 days.
When they settle after that burst of activity and get a chance to breathe, they must brace themselves for a league finish that sees encounters against last year’s All-Ireland finalists Armagh and Galway.
Kerry are also trying to reintegrate their Austin Stacks and Dr Crokes players after their long campaigns — 11 across both clubs — while Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Tom O’Sullivan joined their injury list last night.
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5. Dublin’s Sigerson stars
Testing spring schedules are nothing new for rising stars of the Gaelic football world.
On Wednesday night at the home of Connacht GAA in Bekan in Mayo, the Sigerson Cup final was contested by DCU and UCD.
72 hours later, and a distance of over 250km away, the Dublin footballers landed in Austin Stack Park for a league game.
On the victorious DCU side, Alex Gavin, Greg McEnaney, and Lorcan O’Dell all featured, while Theo Clancy and Luke Breathnach played for UCD. That quintet all sampled action for Dublin last night, with a few other colleges players on the bench.
The hectic week didn’t dilute contributions – McEnaney was the most capable Dublin player in judging the tricky conditions in the first half, as he fired over two of their four points in that opening period. His half-time withdrawal was linked to the recent demands, but Dublin then got a scoring injection through players like O’Dell and Breathnach.
“We’d a few bodies creaking there from Sigerson during the week,” admitted Farrell afterwards.
“Greg, his hamstring tightened up. It was tough out there, a bit of a war of attrition.
“A lot of newbies, young lads out there trying to prove a point and fight for a jersey, and it was great to see them enjoying their football.”
HEADLINE: “Ger Brennan hasn’t played in the championship since 2013 and that won’t change any time soon”
ARTICLE: “He should be back soon, very soon.”