MAYO MANAGER KEVIN MCSTAY has questioned the protection Kerry forward David Clifford had in the Allianz Division 1 league final.
Marked at various stages by each of the Mayo full-back line, his most regular opponent was Donnacha McHugh, who was called for three personal fouls on the Fossa player.
McStay suggested that Clifford’s game intelligence allows him to give the impression he is being fouled.
“He’s a fabulous player, we’ll all agree on that. But if you see the camera angles I’ll be looking at now Monday and Tuesday from behind (the goals), he is so clever at making sure the picture that the referee sees is an excellent picture for him (Clifford),” said McStay.
“He can’t always be out in front, nature doesn’t allow that, he can’t be out in front for every ball. I’d feel Donnacha was excellent, I’d give him a really good shot. I want to be careful because I really like him (Clifford) as a player, I think he’s a fabulous player in the game, but I thought today he got well looked after.
“I have to say, I love him as a player and all that, but Donnacha’s jersey must be resistant to pulling all together, I don’t know.”
He added, “I think David Coldrick is obviously a fabulous referee too, but the tackle (free) count, I think it was 13-1 at one stage. I thought we could tackle, that was the last time I checked, we’re a good tackling team.
“So that’s something, maybe we’ll have to work on that too and tidy it up, maybe we’re not presenting good pictures to the refs of our tackle. I’ve said that about David now and you’re (the assembled media) all going to jump off, that’s not what I’m saying, I have huge respect for him, but it has to be a two-way street when these big battles are, he’s six foot two or three, come on, is it a man’s game?”
Clifford scored 0-8, four from play and four from frees, three of the frees he was personally fouled for. Mayo goalkeeper Colm Reape also went into David Coldrick’s book for a yellow card after he shouldered Clifford out of his road when trying to take a kickout.
Mayo also switched the marking on Clifford, trying Jack Coyne and Enda Hession at various stages, with McStay noting, “When you have 40-50 minutes done on David Clifford, you’ve got a couple of days’ work done, he asks so many questions.
“We changed it up a few times and they all did fine, inside the three is nearly man to man. It’s very hard to get coverage in there, especially on the solo and go, especially on the quick transitions, very hard to get any sort of coverage.
“You do your best on David as you can, but I think if you minimise him. Five wides, four from play is about as good as, maybe three, four from play is not a bad target. Good goal chance blocked as well, well saved actually. He’s a handful, two handfuls.”
McStay also ridiculed the commentary around Mayo topping the league with a negative points difference.
“I saw that comment, that we topped the league on minus one, and that seemed to be a hilarious moment for those commenting on us. Did anyone look at who was one of the top defensive teams in the league? That was us,” he said.
“We’re a good defence. We take our defence very, very seriously, and that’s why the tackle count, or the free count, was surprising to me. And I say that with complete respect to the people involved in it.
“David Coldrick is a top, top ref, obviously. But, you know, if your defence is pretty good, you can hold tight enough scores. What was the final score for Kerry? 1-18. That’s manageable if you’re getting enough at the other end.”
As for the manager taking home the silverware, there was one element that certainly didn’t escape Jack O’Connor.
“Any day you come up here and get silverware, it’s good. Nice that it’s the Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh trophy as well. We didn’t do a lot of talking about it but looking at it now, it’s nice that we won the inaugural one,” O’Connor said.
“Now, I wouldn’t be giving us too much kudos. I thought we were average at times but we managed to raise our game then when we needed to. But for today it was good enough.”
Across this campaign, Kerry used 34 players, which seasoned observers would note is high for Kerry. But also fairly consistent with the other teams in the top flight, perhaps owing to the structure of the season and the changing nature of the game.
Asked what they need ahead of the summer, the Dromid man replied, “I think we’ll need to get our players back, you know what I mean? As I said earlier, that performance was good enough for today but I don’t think it’ll be good enough down the line. There are an awful lot of good teams going to be here at the business end of the year and we’re hoping to be one of them.
“But I think we need a bit of improvement on that. We need to get the Seán O’Shea, the Diarmuid O’Connors and these fellas back because they are some of the best players in the country in their positions. So, great credit to the lads that we’ve used all along and some of the new lads that came in. But no team can afford to lose big players like that.”
Same old Mayo. Kicking deplorable wides, dominating at times but not making it count, zero composure, gifting the opposition a goal – and then a moan about the referee.
@Aidan Farrell: Not even wides a lot of the time, but feeble little under-10 shots that the keeper could catch with his chest.
It all sounds like sour grapes. He made reference to the tackle count of 13-1. Well deserved. Fortunate not to be more in kerrys favour. Also, that mayo are 1 of the best defensive teams in the country, so why present “pictures” to the referee? Horse manure talk. He never mentioned the punch to the back of the head that O Donoghue gave Geaney @ the end and never said it was an advertisement to never watch garlic football again. Needless to say, I’m not from mayo.
@Diarmuid Concannon: I’d tend to agree. Clifford was man handled every time he got the ball, and indeed, on many occasions when he didn’t even have the ball. In fact, I think the referee was very generous to the mayo defence not to flash a yellow sooner than the 67th minute.
@Diarmuid Concannon: a bit of a double entendres there where people are moaning about someone moaning, quiet funny when one thinks about it.
@Diarmuid Concannon: foul on Geaney was nasty
It’s great when a manager speaks his mind and not going with the scripted robotic drab that most managers and players give to the media these days in case social medial warriors come out in force to condemn what they say. Fair dues Kevin, and I think there’s a lot of truth in what he said too.
Ridiculous comments by McStay. The defenders simply could not handle Clifford. The man handling was ridiculous. Clifford missed several scoring attempts, but Mayo’s defence was very poor.
@Aidan Cullinane: mayo were never going to win the league final day always find a way to lose how many finals now
David Clifford is a modern day great. Meanwhile Kevin McStay is an extremely sore loser. Always has been. To say a player “can’t always be out in front” as a team manager in todays game tells you all you need to know about the level he should be at
Poor old mayo not good enough as usual when it matters end of !
Yes Kevin, do have a good luck at how your team tries to tackle, and have a look at Aiden O Shea who wasn’t ticked for any of his attempts, your better off learning how to tackle a player, show your team and stop moaning
When Tipp u21 complained about Referee in all Ireland a couple of years ago McStay said they were whining little apples
Army Cadet.
St Clifford got it easy today deliberately blocked keepers quick kick out, a yellow for most mere motals then hit the keeper with a late match-ending tackle a definite yellow, but not even a card , a very poor days refereeing by Coldrick.
@Paul Kelly: That was a yellow card so therefore a free to Kerry. Unnecessary and daft from the Mayo keeper. Per rule you can shoulder a player without the ball provided you’re both going in the direction of the ball. Clifford was not going in the direction of the ball.
Mayo would want to start kicking the ball, stop playing basketball around the D area and stop being afraid to shoot when in a scoring position. It’s scores that win matches not possession.
Absolutely comical watching these Mayo handballers taking free kicks from the hand from relatively easy scoring positions and kicking wide. No football skills or football brains in that Mayo side whatsoever. My advice to the Mayo setup would be to go and watch a few games of school boys or school girls soccer matches and learn how free kicks are taken properly with a round ball.
@Leonard Barry: No need to watch soccer just watch D & P Clifford or S O’Shea. If they don’t like watching Kerry try Sam Mulroy or Con O’Callaghan
@Leonard Barry: Like a good man will you explain what exactly soccer has to do with gaelic football and while your at it give us the name of the team you are guiding with your football brains and skills,probably a boy’s or girl’s school soccer team