IN the end Down were probably the better team and that’s that.
Not enough of Kildare’s ‘marquee players’ turned in the kind of displays that many of their counterparts did.
Nevertheless when you ask yourself the question, where was this game won and lost, a couple of very dodgy umpiring decisions spring to mind.
Now Benny Coulter, like all good corner-forwards is a natural predator. It’s in his nature to get himself into scoring positions and the closer to goal the better. But when you hear the man coming on a national radio station on Monday morning and admitting that he may well have been ‘in the square’ for the Down goal, it makes it all the harder to take.
Benny quite wisely decided not to try to defend the indefensible and in fairness it was not his business to do so. That said, it beggars belief that Monaghan referee Pat McEneaney and his umpires at the Canal End were the only people in Croke Park who failed to see that the Down captain was most definitely ‘in the square’ comfortably before the ball landed from Martin Clarke’s accurately aimed centre.
When you take into consideration another incident at the other end, when a seemingly perfect Kildare point was waved wide, you wonder why these five worthy men hadn’t gone to Specsavers. It was a bad way for McEneaney to bow out of a long and glittering refereeing career at the very top but it must have absolutely gut-wrenching for Kieran McGeeney and his players.
It’s now long past time for the GAA to take their heads out of the sand and introduce video evidence to adjudicate on this sort of thing at major games.
All that is to take nothing away from Down’s victory. They totally dominated the vital midfield area and small wonder. It would have been some feat for Kildare to overcome the loss of one first-choice midfielder (Earley) in the run-up to the game and the other (Darryl Flynn) to injury during it. That situation led to Kildare’s half-back line coming under horrendous pressure for most of the trip and while two of them, Morgan O’Flaherty and Bolton both scored, that is not the primary function of a halfback.
A couple of cases of unforced errors from the half-back line led to Down regaining possession and counterattacking to deadly effect. Perhaps the introduction of Clane’s Tomás O’Connor into this area should have happened a lot earlier. At least he would have been able to get up and contest some of the aerial tussles.
As it was the Down midfielders were either charging through or else breaking balls to colleagues who were in on them at the speed of light.
Mourne county boss James McCartan certainly had his homework done; with no less than three players descending regularly on Kildare talisman, John Doyle, almost as soon as the Allenwood man touched the ball. With James Kavanagh kept efficiently under wraps, a lot of the sting was taken out of the Kildare attack.
While Kieran McGeeney and the players will have plenty of time for reflection on this one, where do Kildare go from here?
A long, hard look at the lower end of the panel will be absolutely vital. Currently – and this without naming names – there are far too many of ‘yesterday’s men’ warming the Kildare bench.
At least three of them should be immediately stood down, as they have, with all due respect, nothing to contribute in the long term. It would also be no bad thing if Kevin O’Neill returned.
If the Moorefield man’s form holds up in the forthcoming club championship campaign, his reinstatement should be seriously considered. Gary White is another who should be given a definite role – preferably at centre-back – and allowed time to grow into it. Game time during the next National League campaign for players like David Lyons and Karl Ennis will also have to be a priority. The bottom line is that both players would appear to have at least as much to offer if not more than some of Sunday’s starting 15.
After all that there is light at the end of the tunnel. This management team have brought this group of players a very long way. The journey doesn’t have to end here. Only the width of the cross bar and Down midfielder Kalum King’s outstretched hand denied them a place in the All-Ireland Final at the death.
Winning a provincial title next year or better still bringing Sam home to his original resting place of 1928 is not at all beyond their compass.