MOSTLY FOOTBALL: Kerry’s conservative approach let Dublin show how exceptional they are

So many thoughts and emotions flooded through me at the final whistle of last Sunday’s All Ireland Final.
Who had really survived the 70 minutes? Was it Dublin who were reduced to 14 men just before half time, or was it Kerry who must’ve collectively been reaching for their GPS devices to do a Lee Keegan on it as Dean Rock stepped up to take that free in the 77th minute of the game.
If I was involved with the Kerry panel I’d be walking away from this game somewhat energized by the performance from a number of their team, but also somewhat regretful that they hadn’t truly made the most of the opportunity they were presented with when Johnny Cooper got his marching orders.
Up to that point Dublin had been the better team. In terms of chances created Kerry had amassed an impressive tally by that stage, but in terms of quality chances created it was Dublin who was out in front. Put simply, Kerry were taking shots about 15 to 20 yards further out the field than Dublin were. That’s not to say they weren’t expected to put them over. Young David Clifford definitely would’ve expected to do better with one or two of his early efforts, but when you have one team able to consistently penetrate into the scoring zone that little bit easier then over the course of the 70-plus minutes of action it should result in more easier chances and subsequently more conversions.
Kerry tried to press Cluxton’s kick-out, forcing him to go long and they got some early success off this, but then Cluxton started to really go long, as long as he is capable of kicking it. And with everyone from Dublin’s half forward line to their full forward line coming out to attack those kick outs behind the press, it left Peter Keane’s men very exposed whenever Dublin won one.
Jack McCaffrey’s goal came directly off a press that went badly wrong for the Kingdom, yet Jack Barry had managed to win two on his own in the early moments of the game to show what Kerry could do, when they got it right.

Domination
Of course all games take on an ebb and flow of their own and who is to say Kerry weren’t going to have a sustained period of domination regardless of the number of players on the field, however there is no doubt about it that the sending off of Johnny Cooper aided their attempted second half comeback. The surprising thing is that their period of domination was so short lived. For the opening 20 minutes of the second half the expected Kerry onslaught was admirably held off by Dublin. Kerry’s zonal press that had been showcased in the opening half never reappeared after half time.
Given their numerical superiority it was something of a surprise to me that they didn’t get more men into the middle third of the field to execute something, anything, to force Cluxton to go long and into uncertain areas. The opening 20 minutes of the second half saw Dublin retain every single one of their restarts. Given their respective efficiency rates I wrote last week about how Kerry needed to have more of the ball, and Dublin to have less of it if the Kingdom were to win this game, and here they were given a great platform to make sure that situation materialised but they never hammered it home. Much of this was down to the execution of Cluxton, but also to the hard work of his outfield players like James McCarty and Brian Howard to give him clear targets to hit uncontested restarts to.
Jack McCaffrey continued to bring punch to the attacking end of the field, so much so that it was becoming clear that Dublin had decided to use McCaffrey in this capacity when Kerry tried to press them. In a period of time when Kerry should’ve been reeling Dublin in they actually found themselves a further point adrift than they had been at halftime. This was the period when Dublin could’ve lost the game, and didn’t.

Walsh's impact
Tommy Walsh, once introduced, again showed he can terrorise defences offering both an aerial threat and ball winning ability out in front. James McCarthy is an exceptional defender but he found the inward movement of Walsh off putting, losing sight of the ball on one occasion. The problem for Dublin’s full back line was they were a man down and the sweeper they often free up to work in tandem with that line was now becoming a tactic that was harder and harder to execute, even if they tried admirably to scramble it together in open play.
Kerry had to use their spare man in numerous ways in that second half. They had to make sure the extra body meant they retained all of their second half kickouts. This didn’t happen. They had to make sure they kept the ball out of contact and work it up the field when they were a point up entering injury time. This didn’t happen. They had to make sure they forced Cluxton to go long with everything in the second half, contest those kickouts and win breaks. This didn’t consistently happen. They had to consistently get their spare man involved with their attack, especially if Dublin freed up a player to sweep. This didn’t happen or not enough to make a difference. And finally they had to use the spare man as a deterrent to ball being kicked into the full forward line. This they did do on occasion but if you want to go out and win an All Ireland the limitations of their approach with the extra man was conservative in my view. 
Of course all of the above can’t be done by one player and having a rotating spare man would’ve been better in order to share the workload.

Exceptional
The final 12 minutes of football from Dublin were exceptional in exceptional circumstances. The 12 minutes they produced against Mayo in their semi-final was all about what they did with the ball, but here we had the finest 12 minutes they have produced under Jim Gavin without the ball. The level of tackling and tracking and pressure they put on Kerry made you wonder which team was actually a man up.
The substitutes Gavin introduced covered for tired legs where they had to, closing off gaps and forcing Kerry into numerous turnovers. It was a collective effort that will undoubtedly bring much pride to their manager given the circumstances. The easiest thing to say is Kerry missed the boat. Had Cooper not got his marching orders I could’ve seen Dublin winning the game by seven to eight points the way it was progressing. The fact of the matter is Kerry made more mistakes than Dublin, and in many ways will learn much more from this game than Jim Gavin’s side will. That’s not a bad situation for them to be in. It’s now very much all to play for.