Straw-clutching time for Kildare ahead of Kingdom visit
Kildare manager Brian Flanagan will be hoping that his side can cause the shock of all shocks when Kerry come to town on Saturday. Photos: INPHO
Think about the greatest upsets in the last forty years in Gaelic football. A top five would no doubt include Clare beating Kerry in the Munster Final of 1992. Probably Offaly beating Kerry to deny them the five-in-a-row a decade before. Perhaps Cork shocking Kerry in the Munster semi-final of 2020. Down’s win over Kerry in the last eight in 2010. And maybe Leitrim’s Connacht final win over Mayo in 1994.
That’s the mighty Kerry on the wrong side of four of my personal selection of five seismic shocks.
There are two counterpoints. First off, it is of course natural that Kerry’s position at the top of the tree for the majority of the GAA’s existence leaves them more susceptible than most to the odd shock. Fair enough.
And secondly, it would seem a little ironic for a Kildare person to take any succour from those Kerry blips when we have been witnesses to Louth 1991, 1995 and 2010, Wicklow 2008 and Carlow 2018. On the receiving end of plenty of shock and awe there.
If I may just grab another straw for a second. In 1997 Maurice Fitzgerald, the great Kerry corner-forward virtually won an All-Ireland on his own, scoring 0-9 of Kerry’s 0-13 in the final against Mayo. That was when scores were hard got, none of your 2-25 and 3-30 scorelines in those days. Orange flags were for the twelfth.
But eleven months later the David Clifford of his day looked almost human as he struggled manfully but unsuccessfully to clamber from Brian Lacey’s back-pocket in Croke Park. Maurice managed a single point from play as Kildare pulled off a surprise, if not a shock, to reach the All-Ireland final.
If Kildare have a Brian Lacey hiding somewhere in Hawfield now might be a good time for him to break cover. With Clifford & Co coming to town on Saturday, the question of how to curb the Fossa man will be uppermost in Brian Flanagan’s mind.
When you consider the difficulty Brian Byrne and, later, Mark Dempsey, had in dealing with Rob Finnerty in the thirteen-point loss to Galway in Salthill, Kildare might need something radical to try to keep Clifford quiet. Whether they have such a resource within their ranks is another matter and on all evidence the answer is ‘no’.
Of course, some will argue Clifford shouldn’t be playing at all on Saturday. He was a very lucky boy to escape censure for his off-the-ball ‘incident’ with Caolan McGonagle in the defeat to Donegal which sees them join Kildare in the last chance saloon.
Kildare will have to hope the game’s outstanding current player has an off-day. Perhaps fourteen others will have the same? Maybe their bad luck with injuries will claim another few All-Ireland winners?
Perhaps St Conleth’s Park will be some sort of leveller, though it is unfortunate we invited the Kingdom down in December to get a feel for the place, even if that was mainly a scratch squad.
While Flanagan’s men may be hoping for miracles to keep their season alive, it wasn’t always thus when it came to Kildare versus Kerry.
A strange stat but a true one: the first NINE times the counties clashed in championship football were all in All-Ireland finals. Imagine. Those were the finals of 1903, 1905,1926, 1927, 1929 and 1931 and included replays in 1905 and 1926 and a second replay to boot in the first of those.
Kildare won two of those (1905 and 1927) as a rivalry spawned that went a long way to establishing the game in the psyche of the nation. No exaggeration.
Sadly, while Kerry went from strength to strength, Kildare fell into the doldrums and the 1998 win (the first championship clash of the two after the 1931 final) represents the only Lilywhite triumph since those halcyon days.
Three times since ’98 (2002, 2015 and 2018), Kerry have trampled all over Kildare to reassert their authority.
Saturday’s is a game that won’t hold much interest outside the competing counties. It’s Division 1 versus Division 3. It’s 39 All-Ireland wins playing 4. David versus Goliath. Or should we say David versus Brian and/or Mark. No TV coverage. No GAA plus. Or even minus. Off Broadway.
And yet. Surely there is a kick in Kildare? We might have thought the same in Salthill and, while the scoreline remained tight enough into the third quarter, Kildare never really looked like pushing Galway to the wire.
But this is knock-out. It’s game over for the season unless Flanagan’s players produce something extraordinary.
Are there any straws worth clutching? Some short ones perhaps.
First off, the Kerry injury list and the poverty of their challenge against Donegal (though they were severely hampered by Micheál Burns’ sending off). Missing from action that day were Seán O’Shea, Tom O’Sullivan, Paul Murphy and Paul Geaney while Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Joe O’Connor were only fit enough for minutes from the bench while Paudie Clifford departed after 45 frustrating minutes. We’ll have to see how many are available (and risked) in Newbridge.
If there’s a kick to be found in Kildare, perhaps Jack Robinson can provide it. Kerry won’t know a whole lot about him but any time the Clogherinkoe marksman has been on the pitch this year Kildare have looked an infinitely more dangerous outfit. If only he wasn’t hampered by injury. A starting Robinson would be a huge boost.
Eoin Sheehan was another positive against Galway. Without doing anything spectacular, the Johnstownbridge ‘keeper was steady on kickouts and generally looked sound in performing his base duties.
Winning primary possession will be crucial as always to Kildare hopes and they will need Sheehan on his game and the midfield sector showing an appetite for ball-winning they haven’t displayed enough of to date. If they can somehow break even there, a competitive enough performance may ensue.
As always, though, Kildare’s defence looks to be its weakest link, and the fear is that Clifford will make hay. On his day he is virtually unstoppable.
You couldn’t predict anything other than a Kerry win, and a comfortable one at that. Shocks do happen (see above) and one here would shake the gaelic football world to its foundations. Now where is that packet of straws?
