GORE VIDAL ONCE reckoned he was not a conspirationalist theorist, but a conspirationalist analyst.
Vidal had no track record as a Gaelic football theorist, but as the next fortnight opens up before us, he might have made for quite the analyst.
The conspiracy is hardly a new one when it comes to football; it is Kerry’s world but not only is everyone else paying rent to live in it, these days they are getting fleeced while doing so.
The latest file of evidence might even invite a Prime Time Investigates special. Fresh off the questionable calls – the undisputed foul on Peter Teague and the ghost ’45 that were so critical in the quarter-final win over Tyrone – comes a bulging dossier to be sent if not to the DPP, at least then as far as the next best thing, TikTok.
Two Kerry goals, one sourced in a dubious penalty, the other in a square ball, and another not awarded to Dublin despite a suggestion of crossing the goal-line.
And as if all of that was not enough, as Kerry – in a deliberate act of such poor mouthed cunning that it would leave the Healy Raes blushing – limp into the final, they will face a Mayo team full of wide-eyed innocents riding the crest of a 17-point semi-final win.
As we all know, and perhaps none more so recently as Donegal, winning big in an All-Ireland semi-final when Kerry are waiting in the final is a bit like basting yourself in lashings of barbecue sauce and hoisting yourself onto a spit. If you end up as hog roast for their end of summer picnic, you have only got yourself to blame. Indeed.
There is no disputing that Kerry for the second week running got some big calls, but not as many as suited to pad an obvious narrative.
The allegation of Joe O’Connor’s “dubious” penalty was based on the supposition that he “invited contact” .
Advertisement
Dublin's Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne fouls Kerry's Joe O’Connor. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
But is that not why players who are in possession and on the front foot are referred to as ball carriers and not ball couriers? The issue is that the invited contact made has to be legal, and when a player inside the penalty areas has his 6ft 4in frame sent crashing to the ground after being hit chest high from the front and not the side, is not a penalty the obvious outcome?
However, the non-Dublin goal, which is a compelling argument for goalline technology and the Sean O’Brien “square ball” is yet another reminder that going halfway down the road with Hawk-Eye scoring technology makes no sense – especially given the introduction of the two-point arc – and officials should be supporters by a video assisted official where conclusive proof of an error having occurred is evident.
Had that been the case, it is more than likely that Dublin would be facing Mayo in the final – the O’Brien goal was a cruel momentum killer and the non-goal a crucial missed momentum changer, so add the two together, and you are likely to find even more than a six-point differential in a four-point game.
Sean O'Brien celebrates scoring Mayo's second goal. Laszlo Geczo
Laszlo Geczo
At this stage, all of that is well ploughed ground.
And, yet, despite an acceptance – one which extended to Jack O’Connor’s post match citation of “luck” – that Kerry are blessed to be in the final, there is no shifting the perception this is a done deal.
That may, in part, be down to the lazy notion that a brand new and very different Mayo team are somehow prisoners of their past when it comes to All-Ireland finals, but it is primarily down to the conviction that Kerry are playing on a different level to everyone else.
That feels a rather odd observation to make about a team that could have lost in an epic game against Tyrone, and should have lost in a tense, tactful game against Dublin, and in which both they enjoyed the bulk of what luck was going.
That is the thing about champions, it is a lot harder to see them being beaten, until they are and then the threads that have been fraying before finally snapping are identified.
In the aftermath of last Sunday, as with the previous weekend, the consensus was that “experience and know-how” got Kerry over the line,
Had Dublin won, what are the chances that Kerry’s “experience and know-how” would have been reinterpreted as a team with high mileage, tired of mind and body.
Paudie Clifford celebrates Kerry's victory. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Would the contribution of the Cliffords and Seanie O’Shea, who among other things each kicked critical two-pointers in the third quarter, which amounted to compelling validation of the quality Dublin could not match, have been instead painted as a team that did not have the collective energy to back-up their headline talents. Fine margins and all that.
When was the last time Kerry won back-to-back games in Croke Park they could just as easily have lost?
We are asking the question, because we genuinely don’t have the answer. That is how rare this is.
What is beyond argument is that Kerry are not playing as well in defence of their title, as they did in their winning of it.
There has been no repeat of their shock and awe in the third quarter against Armagh, the devilish movement that carved open Tyrone to create at least half a dozen goal chances in the semi-final and then the almost foot perfect demolition of Donegal in the final.
This summer’s high was a second half storming of a weakened Armagh team and a compelling refusal to bend to Tyrone’s will in a game sauced with absolute quality on both sides.
But there is a sense of fragility about them; that second half no show against Donegal was easily explained by having Micheal Burns sent off, but the team’s energy levels visibly dipped in the closing minutes of that first half as the price of hunting down Gavin Mulreaney’s kick-outs was exacted.
It is questionable whether that issue has been resolved. Key to Kerry’s success this summer has been their capacity to not only win their kick-outs, best exemplified in retaining 27 out of 32 against Tyrone, but in bleeding them for all they are worth.
Even though they lost the percentage kick-out count against Dublin, they claimed 1-12 out of the 19 they won, Dublin managed just 0-5 from the 15 they held.
Related Reads
Dublin will have regrets and grievances, but Kerry's attacking class was the decisive factor
The GAA's skinflint attitude towards refereeing has to change
'I think it's a bullshit question' - Mayo get their hate on
The issue for Kerry, and this has been the constant, is that when they are not in control of the ball, they have struggled to control the game, which was not how it felt last summer.
Delightfully setting up the final, Kerry will face their polar opposite on Sunday week.
Mayo have been bettered on kick-outs in back-to-back games in Croke Park, but were indisputably the better team both times because they have routed the opposition on their aggression in both their set-up and in their execution in the tackle without the ball.
That it was Cork and Louth they schooled in those games might invite dismissive snorts of the head, but in an age where all top teams are schooled in taking care of the ball, when you are stripped of it at the cost of 3-12 – as happened Louth last Saturday – that is a more impressive KPI of where a team is at than control of kickouts, which are a mix of set-plays and organised chaos.
Mayo manager Andy Moran. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
That verve and that ambition to win the ball back in Mayo is surely fuelled by the conviction that they have an inside line, just like Kerry, primed to make ball in hand count in ways that others can’t.
That is one thing Kerry have not faced yet – Dublin’s argument that the result was stolen from them was weakened by 13 wides – but face it they will.
Far from this being a fanciful conspiracy of a championship gift wrapped for Kerry, they are left facing not only a team that will check their lungs, legs and gut for the fight, but who can exploit it if it is not there.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Kerry are not playing as well in title defence as they did last year, now Mayo test awaits
GORE VIDAL ONCE reckoned he was not a conspirationalist theorist, but a conspirationalist analyst.
Vidal had no track record as a Gaelic football theorist, but as the next fortnight opens up before us, he might have made for quite the analyst.
The conspiracy is hardly a new one when it comes to football; it is Kerry’s world but not only is everyone else paying rent to live in it, these days they are getting fleeced while doing so.
The latest file of evidence might even invite a Prime Time Investigates special. Fresh off the questionable calls – the undisputed foul on Peter Teague and the ghost ’45 that were so critical in the quarter-final win over Tyrone – comes a bulging dossier to be sent if not to the DPP, at least then as far as the next best thing, TikTok.
Two Kerry goals, one sourced in a dubious penalty, the other in a square ball, and another not awarded to Dublin despite a suggestion of crossing the goal-line.
And as if all of that was not enough, as Kerry – in a deliberate act of such poor mouthed cunning that it would leave the Healy Raes blushing – limp into the final, they will face a Mayo team full of wide-eyed innocents riding the crest of a 17-point semi-final win.
As we all know, and perhaps none more so recently as Donegal, winning big in an All-Ireland semi-final when Kerry are waiting in the final is a bit like basting yourself in lashings of barbecue sauce and hoisting yourself onto a spit. If you end up as hog roast for their end of summer picnic, you have only got yourself to blame. Indeed.
There is no disputing that Kerry for the second week running got some big calls, but not as many as suited to pad an obvious narrative.
The allegation of Joe O’Connor’s “dubious” penalty was based on the supposition that he “invited contact” .
But is that not why players who are in possession and on the front foot are referred to as ball carriers and not ball couriers? The issue is that the invited contact made has to be legal, and when a player inside the penalty areas has his 6ft 4in frame sent crashing to the ground after being hit chest high from the front and not the side, is not a penalty the obvious outcome?
However, the non-Dublin goal, which is a compelling argument for goalline technology and the Sean O’Brien “square ball” is yet another reminder that going halfway down the road with Hawk-Eye scoring technology makes no sense – especially given the introduction of the two-point arc – and officials should be supporters by a video assisted official where conclusive proof of an error having occurred is evident.
Had that been the case, it is more than likely that Dublin would be facing Mayo in the final – the O’Brien goal was a cruel momentum killer and the non-goal a crucial missed momentum changer, so add the two together, and you are likely to find even more than a six-point differential in a four-point game.
At this stage, all of that is well ploughed ground.
And, yet, despite an acceptance – one which extended to Jack O’Connor’s post match citation of “luck” – that Kerry are blessed to be in the final, there is no shifting the perception this is a done deal.
That may, in part, be down to the lazy notion that a brand new and very different Mayo team are somehow prisoners of their past when it comes to All-Ireland finals, but it is primarily down to the conviction that Kerry are playing on a different level to everyone else.
That feels a rather odd observation to make about a team that could have lost in an epic game against Tyrone, and should have lost in a tense, tactful game against Dublin, and in which both they enjoyed the bulk of what luck was going.
That is the thing about champions, it is a lot harder to see them being beaten, until they are and then the threads that have been fraying before finally snapping are identified.
In the aftermath of last Sunday, as with the previous weekend, the consensus was that “experience and know-how” got Kerry over the line,
Had Dublin won, what are the chances that Kerry’s “experience and know-how” would have been reinterpreted as a team with high mileage, tired of mind and body.
Would the contribution of the Cliffords and Seanie O’Shea, who among other things each kicked critical two-pointers in the third quarter, which amounted to compelling validation of the quality Dublin could not match, have been instead painted as a team that did not have the collective energy to back-up their headline talents. Fine margins and all that.
When was the last time Kerry won back-to-back games in Croke Park they could just as easily have lost?
We are asking the question, because we genuinely don’t have the answer. That is how rare this is.
What is beyond argument is that Kerry are not playing as well in defence of their title, as they did in their winning of it.
There has been no repeat of their shock and awe in the third quarter against Armagh, the devilish movement that carved open Tyrone to create at least half a dozen goal chances in the semi-final and then the almost foot perfect demolition of Donegal in the final.
This summer’s high was a second half storming of a weakened Armagh team and a compelling refusal to bend to Tyrone’s will in a game sauced with absolute quality on both sides.
But there is a sense of fragility about them; that second half no show against Donegal was easily explained by having Micheal Burns sent off, but the team’s energy levels visibly dipped in the closing minutes of that first half as the price of hunting down Gavin Mulreaney’s kick-outs was exacted.
It is questionable whether that issue has been resolved. Key to Kerry’s success this summer has been their capacity to not only win their kick-outs, best exemplified in retaining 27 out of 32 against Tyrone, but in bleeding them for all they are worth.
Even though they lost the percentage kick-out count against Dublin, they claimed 1-12 out of the 19 they won, Dublin managed just 0-5 from the 15 they held.
The issue for Kerry, and this has been the constant, is that when they are not in control of the ball, they have struggled to control the game, which was not how it felt last summer.
Delightfully setting up the final, Kerry will face their polar opposite on Sunday week.
Mayo have been bettered on kick-outs in back-to-back games in Croke Park, but were indisputably the better team both times because they have routed the opposition on their aggression in both their set-up and in their execution in the tackle without the ball.
That it was Cork and Louth they schooled in those games might invite dismissive snorts of the head, but in an age where all top teams are schooled in taking care of the ball, when you are stripped of it at the cost of 3-12 – as happened Louth last Saturday – that is a more impressive KPI of where a team is at than control of kickouts, which are a mix of set-plays and organised chaos.
That verve and that ambition to win the ball back in Mayo is surely fuelled by the conviction that they have an inside line, just like Kerry, primed to make ball in hand count in ways that others can’t.
That is one thing Kerry have not faced yet – Dublin’s argument that the result was stolen from them was weakened by 13 wides – but face it they will.
Far from this being a fanciful conspiracy of a championship gift wrapped for Kerry, they are left facing not only a team that will check their lungs, legs and gut for the fight, but who can exploit it if it is not there.
Suspend the theories, the ultimate test awaits.
*****
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
column GAA Kerry Mayo