Kerry 0-15 Cavan 0-9
There's a bright red malfunction button in the Kerry dressing room. Accidentally or not someone keeps pressing it on the way out for the second half, and the problem is there doesn't seem to be an undo button.
Because for the second game in succession – and every bit as noticeably as their Munster final win over Cork – Kerry had a burning start here and then faded away. Had Cavan shown a little more belief in themselves, not shown too little, too late, the end result might well have been different.
Kerry won’t get away with pressing that malfunction button against Dublin in their All-Ireland semi-final in four weeks time and no one knows this better than manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
How Kerry allowed Cavan to outscore them 0-7 to 0-4 in the second half – having utterly dominated them in the first half – will cause Fitzmaurice a few restless nights between now and September 1st, and he admitted as much afterwards, baffled as much as anyone, it seemed, by his team’s glaring inconsistency.
“Well I don’t think it’s a physical thing,” he said. “I don’t know what it is. Like, we analysed what happened against Cork, felt we had nailed what happened that day, and hoped if a similar situation happened here we’d handle it better. So right now I can’t tell you what the issue is.
“But there was an awful lot of bad decision-making. If a team throws something different at you, like Donegal did to us last year, that’s fair enough. But this was a malfunction, simple as that.
“Often if you malfunction in August don’t get out of it. Last year we were going home with our tail between our legs, and against Down too (in 2010). We had to wait five or six months to put it right. But we’ve a game in four weeks to put it right. I’d just much prefer if we delivered more professional performance in the second half, even if Cavan came back.”
It may well suit Kerry to have all the hype and expectation surrounding Dublin but this was a game that raised far more questions about Kerry than answers - especially the pace and agility of some of their older warriors.
Kieran Donaghy, Paul Galvin and Darran O’Sullivan were all replaced and Kerry’s goal threat (besides one very early threat from Donaghy) was non-existent.
Worrying
Just as worrying for Fitzmaurice is the fact none of the Kerry substitutions could arrest the malfunction. On a brighter note David Moran (a late replacement for the injured Anthony Maher) marked his return from long-term injury with a strong display around midfield, while Colm "Gooch" Cooper showed just enough flashes of brilliant to suggest he can still turn a game in Kerry's favour, as did Declan O'Sullivan.
For Cavan, contesting a first ever All-Ireland quarter-final, some pride was restored in the second half after the terrible shortcomings of the first, their overly-defensive game actually playing straight into Kerry’s hands. Martin Dunne kicked the opening score after three minutes, but their game went rapidly downhill from there, and Dunne hardly touched the ball for the remainder of the half. Indeed it took another 25 minutes before Cavan would score again, through midfielder David Givney.
By then Kerry racked up nine points without reply: Johnny Buckley converted three 45s in succession, while Donnchadh Walsh, Declan O’Sullivan and Donaghy all scored from play – and Cooper hit four frees to leave Kerry 0-11 to 0-2 ahead at half-time.
Perhaps Kerry were always going to find it difficult to sustain their interest for another 35 minutes? Still, it doesn't explain why Cavan were suddenly able to take over in almost all sectors, running at Kerry with increasing confidence and winning ample possession.
Two frees
Substitute Niall McDermott made the biggest impact, hitting two frees and a point from play, while Rory Dunne stood out in their vastly improved defence. Manager Terry Hyland made some other big changes, replacing Dunne and Mossy Corr, while also introducing Jack Brady, who'd been replaced at the start by Dara McVeety – although not all of those had the desired effect.
Because although they had Kerry on the run, Cavan’s wide count also mounted (they hit nine in the second half, from nine different players) as their nervousness and inexperience cost them. Even when they got it back to five points with 10 minutes remaining – 0-14 to 0-9 – there was a lack of killer instinct about Cavan.
“We probably still needed a goal at that stage and we never threatened one,” said Hyland. “We panicked a little bit on some of the short options. Sometimes you have to just pare it back, pare it back. We should have been a little bit more patient with our shot selection in the second half.”
Still, any team which limits Kerry to four points in the second half in Croke Park can walk away with heads high. Kerry meanwhile walk on with heads down, which, facing Dublin, mightn't be a bad thing.
KERRY: 1 B Healy; 2 F Fitzgerald, 3 M Ó Sé, 4 S Enright; 5 T Ó Sé, 6 K Young, 7 P Crowley; 22 D Moran (0-1), 9 J Buckley (0-3, all 45s); 10 P Galvin, 11 C Cooper (capt) (0-6, five frees), 12 D Walsh (0-3); 13 Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), 14 K Donaghy (0-1), 15 Darran O'Sullivan. Subs: 24 P Geaney for Donaghy (49 mins), 20 K O'Leary for Walsh (52 mins), 21 P Curtin for Darran O'Sullivan (60), 18 E Brosnan for Young (62), 26 M Geaney for Galvin (66). Yellow cards: P Galvin (36), Declan O'Sullivan (60), P Crowley (70 mins). Red cards: None.
CAVAN: 1 A O'Mara; 8 D O'Reilly, 3 R Dunne, 4 K Clarke; 5 J McLoughlin, 6 A Clarke (capt), 7 R Flanagan; 2 T Corr, 9 D Givney (0-1); 10 C Mackey (0-1), 19 D McVeety, 12 F Flanagan; 13 M Reilly (0-1, a 45), 14 M Dunne (0-1), 15 E Keating (0-2, both frees). Subs: 25 N McDermott (0-3, two frees) for Flanagan (35 mins), 24 M Argue for Corr (44 ), 11 J Brady for Dunne (49 mins), 26 J McEnroe for Clarke (57), 23 K Tierney for Keating (69). Yellow cards: J McLoughlin (33), A Clarke (54), M Argue (70).
Red cards: None
Referee: E Kinsella (Laois)
Attendance: 63,466
