Opinion dubs are singing in the rain

AS predicted I felt Dublin would have too much pace and firepower for Kerry. 

Kerry were fortunate to get as close as they did in what turned out to be a bit of a damp squib in awful conditions. 

I expected Kerry to crack Cluxton’s kick outs, which they did for the third time in a row but the Dubs have beaten them each time now. 

Cluxton didn’t have his best game with a couple of loose restarts. I think this was down to the fact that his kick-outs are the most analysed section of any tactical discussions in the history of the game which reflects his greatness I suppose. 

Stephen will move on from this and will work on ways to improve his game as he has always done.

What I didn’t expect was how poor Kerry were. Before the game I felt that some of the greatest players to grace the game were on the wrong side of the hill and the Dubs’ pace would find them out. That’s what happened. 

The most poignant moment for me was ‘Gooch’ (Colm Cooper) defending against Philly McMahon when the Ballymun man scored a point. 

The joke after was that Gooch did well to hold his man to only a point. It’s sad to say that we will never see one of the greatest, if not the greatest forward the game has seen, in full flight again as father time and the cruciate injury has dulled him of his once magical grace.

I thought the Kerry management had a poor day. Some of their decision making was baffling. They took off O’Donogue and Geany who had score five points from play between them.

Their positioning of ‘Gooch’ was shocking as he was never the hardest working forward even at his best. Maybe the management felt that if they played him out the field, Dublin’s defenders would stay at home. This I felt is where Kerry lost the game as the Dublin halfback and midfield lines totally dominated and ran the legs off their opponents from start to finish. 

I said in previous articles that this backline on the front foot are the best attacking force the game has seen. They are sublime to watch in full flow and the only way to beat them is put them on the back foot.

To illustrate this, when Darren O’Sullivan came on he took the game to Dublin. It took a couple of shrewd moves by Jim Gavin to tilt the game back in Dublin’s favour by taking off Cooper and McCaffrey who were both superb up to that point. Gavin opted to go for a safety first policy for the last 15-20 minutes with Fitzsimons and Small who are both more defensive minded than Cooper and McCaffrey.

I also got a sense during the game that there was a bit of friction on the Kerry sideline as on numerous occasions selector Diarmaid Murphy seemed to get very animated with Fitzmaurice for whatever reason. 

So the Dubs regained Sam for the third time in five years to match the haul of the great team of the ‘70s, and there is a lot more potential for more in the years to come.

My Player of the Year would be Jack McCaffrey, closely followed by Bernard Brogan and a special mention to Philly McMahon. His efforts this year were just phenomenal. To keep close tabs on both Aidan O’Shea and especially ‘Gooch’ in the last two games, and conceding only one point and scoring 1-3 in the process as a corner back, is simply breathtaking. 

Roll on 2016 and a possible double!

*Vinnie Murphy won an All-Ireland Senior medal with Dublin in 1995