Mikey Conway tackles Michael Darragh MacAuley of Dublin
WITH 27 minutes gone on the clock, Kieran McGeeney had seen enough.
His experiment with Mikey Conway as a sweeper-cum-playmaker at the back had already undergone an alteration for the fourth outing of the league but even a change of scenery wasn’t enough to prevent Conway from self-destruction. Having just conceded his third foul of the game – the first two of which were converted into points by Bernard Brogan – Conway was replaced by Morgan O’Flaherty, the man who previously held down the everyman role at the back.
Although Kildare were well in contention on the scoreboard at the time, the signs were ominous during the opening half and when Conway was withdrawn it was an admission of defeat by Kildare. Their withdrawn gameplan wasn’t working and the man who was central to its execution was having a bad day.
It has been a familiar refrain from Kildare fans so far this year: Mikey Conway is not a centre-back. That’s as true as the fact that he hasn’t been playing centre-back and on Sunday against Dublin he was moved to wing-forward, from where he dropped deep to help out the defence and propel the attack.
In previous games he covered the space in front of the Kildare full-back line – invariably working in tandem with a teammate whereby the ball is broken down or laid off to Conway – and from there he has had licence to use the ball as he pleases. Given Conway’s passing skills it made sense to try him out in that role but early season pitches are far from ideal for the kind of expansive game that Conway likes to play. Too often he has over-complicated things and tried the Hollywood pass when a simpler alternative is available. His most effective game so far was against Donegal in the first round of the league, which is no surprise as they were the best conditions Kildare played in all year on the best surface in the country. It was a strange move then by the management to tweak things for their second outing of the year at Croker.
Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney said it was an attempt to get Conway involved higher up the pitch.
“We wanted to see if he could add a wee bit more to the attack but we weren’t picking up break ball,” the Armagh man reflected.
Conway had actually supplied Eoghan O’Flaherty for Kildare’s first point after five minutes and he converted a free which he helped to win in the 23rd minute but the negatives were weighing him down. Two of his foot-passes went astray while his defending was disastrous. He gave away two easy frees in front of the posts, which Bernard Brogan pointed, and he was saved by the post when he gave away his third foul in front of goal in the 25th minute. Brogan, inexplicably, walloped his shot from 20 metres off the left upright but it wasn’t enough to give Conway a reprieve.
Two minutes later he was called ashore although given the way things turned out for Kildare, that might have been a blessing in disguise for the Nurney man.
As he showed in 2009, Conway is more than capable of playing the quarterback role that McGeeney has developed for his side but he cannot spend most of the game in his own half without having to defend and defend well. In the last three games, Kildare have conceded seven points directly from frees that Conway has given away. The player doesn’t help matters by his enraged reaction everytime a decision goes against him.
It’s not as if Conway can’t defend. Against Kerry in round three, he made a brilliant tackle to dislodge the ball from Donnchadh Walsh in the 20th minute of the first half. As Walsh came forward at pace, Conway delicately flicked the ball out of his hands. It was no easy feat as Conway was off-balance at the time and had to be careful not to give Walsh a chance to pull his arm in and play for a free.
On the whole, you’d have to say he’s done as much good as he has bad so far this year and there’s no doubt that the faster, fluent games suit him better. He needs a stronger midfield in front of him as well. And if he improves his tackling, he will become a major asset again.
Fouls Frees Intercepts
Conway v Dublin 3 (0-2) 1/1 0
Conway v Kerry 4 (0-3) 0/1 5
Conway v Cork 3 (0-2) 2/4 2
Conway v Donegal 2 (0-1) 2/2 4
12 (0-8) 5/8 (0-5) 11
