Jack O’Connor satisfied with strong Kerry finish to snuff out Dublin fightback

NFL Division 1: Dublin 1-10 Kerry 1-16

Jack O’Connor entered the press conference room and immediately requested that the interrogation be quick – the engine was humming outside and a busload of Kerry footballers were eager to depart. It was the most frantic moment of the night.

On the pitch at Croke Park, his side had just eased to a six-point win over Dublin in a lifeless National Football League Division 1 clash. The Kingdom never trailed during the encounter, leading from the fourth minute to the long whistle.

Saturday’s game lacked intensity and aggression, and few among the 25,027 in attendance will recount this fixture with much affection. Kerry won without having to extend themselves while Dublin continued to try figure out what they are about in this new post-dominance era.

Kerry were 0-9 to 0-6 ahead at half-time and after 60 minutes had pushed that advantage out to eight points before a late mini-Dublin flurry briefly threatened to set the game alight as the gap was cut to three, only for the Kingdom to quickly extinguish that particular fire.

It marks Dublin’s third defeat in four outings and leaves them dangling over the relegation trapdoor.

But perhaps the most worrying aspect of the evening for Ger Brennan was Con O’Callaghan suffering another hamstring injury.

O’Callaghan was named to start against Mayo earlier in the campaign but didn’t take to the field in Castlebar due to a hamstring strain. On Saturday night the Dublin captain was forced off at half-time with a recurrence.

“Con tweaked his hamstring,” said Brennan. “Con being Con, he wanted to push on, but (with the) bigger picture in mind, we just said we’d better pull him back. He just tweaked it chasing back on Jason Foley.”

Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne started in midfield for Dublin, allowing Brennan to experiment with Ciarán Kilkenny in the full-forward line, though the Castleknock man eventually dropped further back out the field.

“We abandoned that because it didn’t work,” Brennan said afterwards. “We said we’d try something different, but it didn’t work.”

But it was hardly Dublin’s only problem in what was a largely passive and lacklustre display.

To sum up their night, David Clifford’s marker Nathan Doran received a yellow card in the 33rd minute and, rather than risking a booked player getting sent off, Dublin reacted instantly by making a substitution.

Seán McMahon replaced Doran but on entering the fray immediately received a yellow card for his greeting to Clifford.

“We got caught with a bit of Kerry cuteness. But fair play to them, we have to be able to learn from it and look at what the top teams do, as Kerry are at the moment, and learn from it. But David, certainly, he’s a cute, talented footballer,” remarked Brennan.

Kerry made two switches at the interval, bringing in Paul Murphy and Paudie Clifford. Coupled with O’Callaghan’s withdrawal, the Kingdom appeared to have the stronger hand coming to the table for the second half.

And Kerry’s bench press certainly played a part in the victory. Paudie Clifford was influential and chipped in with a point while Tom O’Sullivan impressed with two points.

The kickout battle played a significant part in the outcome of the match too, with Kerry creating two clear goal chances in the second half from winning Dublin restarts.

Ten minutes after the resumption, they turned over a Dublin kickout but Tony Brosnan failed to capitalise as his miscued his shot wide of Evan Comerford’s post.

However, the Dr Crokes clubman showed admirable composure in the 56th minute when Kerry won another Dublin kickout and the move ended with Clifford sending Brosnan through on goal again. On this occasion, he calmly slotted the ball beyond Comerford to give Kerry what felt like an unassailable 1-12 to 0-8 lead.

When O’Sullivan extended the lead to eight on the hour mark, nobody in Croke Park was expecting much from the final 10 minutes.

But then Seán Bugler sent over a two-pointer and then with five minutes remaining a rapid move involving Kilkenny and Niall Scully ended with Ó Cofaigh Byrne drilling the ball beyond Shane Ryan, 1-13 to 1-10.

From nowhere, the gap had been cut to three. Game on. Maybe. But not quite.

O’Sullivan, who had only been introduced midway through the second half, sliced over a beauty off the outside of his boot for his second point and then in the dying seconds Seán O’Shea curled over a right-footed two-pointer to seal the victory.

“Look, the first thing we wanted was to try and win the game, and try get a more levelled performance,” said O’Connor.

“I thought last weekend (against Galway) halfway through the second half we were 12 points up and we finished up lucky not to lose the game. Something similar started happening there towards the end of the game, we conceded a goal and a two-pointer to bring it back to three points.

“And I didn’t think it was a three-point game at that stage. But thankfully we finished strong and won it by five or six in the end, but plenty room for improvement.”

The Dubs are certainly hoping there’s room for improvement too.

“I think we may have finished on 43 per cent shot-to-score ratio, Kerry were 63, give or take,” said Brennan. “They had four two-point opportunities, they scored three.

“You just have to be efficient with your use of the ball. But fair play to Kerry, they’re All-Ireland champions for a reason.

“We had nine two-point opportunities, we scored two, so that’s the part of the game we’re going to have to go after, especially with the new rules.”

New rules, and a new reality for Dublin.

DUBLIN: E Comerford; E Murchan, N Doran, D Byrne; R McGarry (0-0-1), B Howard, A Gavin; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne (1-0-0), C McMorrow; L O’Dell, S Bugler (0-1-0), N Scully (0-0-1); P Small (0-0-1), C O’Callaghan (0-0-3, 2f, 1 45), C Kilkenny (0-1-0). Subs: S McMahon for Doran (34 mins); J Quigley for O’Callaghan (h-t); L Breathnach for O’Dell (43); K McGinnis for McGarry (45); C Tyrrell for Gavin (62).

KERRY: S Murphy; E Looney, J Foley, D Casey; A Heinrich, T Morley (0-0-1), G O’Sullivan (0-0-1); J O’Connor, M O’Shea; C Trant (0-0-1), S O’Shea (0-2-0), M Burns; T Brosnan (1-0-2), D Clifford (0-1-2, 1f), K Evans. Subs: P Clifford (0-0-1) for Burns, P Murphy for Looney (both h-t); T O’Sullivan (0-0-2) for G O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan for Trant (both 54 mins); L Smith for M O’Shea (63).

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