IT MAY NOT have been a game of the highest quality or one that contained moments of breathtaking football but the first of this year’s All-Ireland semi-finals was an edge of the seat thriller.
It was an absorbing and exciting contest between two teams that went at it full throttle. It’s a pity there had to be a loser because you’ve got to admire both Kerry and Tyrone for the way they went about their business.
Kerry will take the plaudits and they deserve them all but it was a performance to be proud of from Tyrone’s point of view.
In the end, a couple of spurned opportunities cost Mickey Harte’s men and in a tight game that was probably the difference between two sides that exchanged blows for much of the contest.
Tyrone have received a lot of criticism for the way they play the game but today provided further evidence that it’s not all merited. They know what they’re good at, they play to a system that suits and you have to admire them.
But you can’t help but look back on a couple of defining moments.
When Connor McAliskey stormed through on goal, he just needed to flick it across the square for Darren McCurry. They had other chances too and you’d imagine if that was Colm Cooper or Donnchadh Walsh, they would have done the right thing but that’s maybe a little bit of inexperience.
Of course the overriding emotion will be disappointment but there are plenty of positives for Tyrone to take from this campaign and I’m sure Mickey Harte will be looking forward to next summer already infused with the confidence and belief he can deliver another All-Ireland title to the Red Hand county.
But today they came up against a Kerry side who know how to win.
They’re a bit like Brian Cody’s Kilkenny – they play whichever way they need to and adapt their tactics and means to the circumstances on front of them.
People cricitse Tyrone for getting men behind the ball but Kerry were very good at it today too. They worked really hard and I think they’ve learned to play a little differently under Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s watch.
Even when they’re not playing at their best, the Kingdom can still grind out results and James O’Donoghue said it after the game to RTÉ that this side now know how to prevail in an attritional battle.
We’ll still associate Kerry with the tradition of lovely, crisp and open football but they can also be industrious when they need to be. They can put their head down and give as good as they get and we saw that today.
I think the harder you come at Kerry, the harder they’ll give it back and certainly the intensity of the tackling was a stand-out feature from today’s game and you could argue Kerry got the rub of the green in terms of decisions.
I couldn’t understand Maurice Deegan’s decision to book Padraig McNulty for what he perceived as simulation when the game was on a knife edge and I think he booked the Tyrone forward to try and justify it in his own head.
That said, the referee doesn’t have the luxury of three or four television replays and has to make his decision in a split-second but I do think he’ll look back on that one and feel he got it wrong.
Yet Tyrone will reflect on this game and rue those missed opportunities. Fans and players might lambaste the referee but that’s the way it goes – you win some, you lose some and ultimately Tyrone were guilty of wasting glorious openings in such a high stakes game.
Instead it will be Kerry returning to Croke Park next month. They were obviously favourites heading into today’s game and although the weather acted as a leveller, you can only admire Eamonn Fitzmaurice and his side.
A lot of teams would have buckled when Peter Harte tucked away that penalty but Kerry aren’t like other teams. They have this winning mentality and a determined resolve to better themselves in each passing game.
They’re now in a great position and are certainly still the team to beat. It tells you everything about the strength in depth at their disposal that neither Paul Galvin or Tommy Walsh saw any game time today.
There’s no doubt Fitzmaurice would have wanted a tough, competitive game and they certainly got it. Whether it’s Dublin or Mayo, you’d expect it to be a completely different game of football but as they showed today, Kerry can adapt to anything that’s put on front of them.
