Kerry V Dublin

[orangeman]

I have a feeling Galvin will get sent off.

Hope not. Don't want another circus.

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

I have a feeling Galvin will get sent off.

Dont think so. He seems to more focused this year, unlike most of his team mates. Although that could all change on Monday.

[INDIANA]

I have a feeling Galvin will get sent off.

Dont think so. He seems to more focused this year, unlike most of his team mates. Although that could all change on Monday.

Can't see that myself either. Best wing forward in the game along with Dooher.

[Frank Casey]

Galvin seems to be on a more controlled boil in the last couple of matches. He's a key man for Monday.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Couldn't see Galvin getting sent off either, but depending how things are going for Kerry in the last quarter, if they're not going well, and there's an inevitability about the result (for the Dubs) one or two of the veterans (whose last year it is) could sail a bit close to the wind, but a bit too close for Mc Enaney.

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

Massive game for both teams and very close to call. However i think there is at least one big game left in the Kingdom and think
they could just shade it by a point or two in the last 10 minutes.

[Eastern_Pride]

I have a feeling Galvin will get sent off.

It wont be just Galvin.

[Main Street]

Galvin is on the path of redemption

[comethekingdom]

My head says Dublin, my heart says Kerry -- I just hope I'm wrong

By Paidi O Se


Sunday August 02 2009

There has never been a match that I have found more difficult to assess than tomorrow's clash between a floundering Kerry and a resurgent Dublin.

Apart from the closing stages of last Sunday's win over Antrim, Kerry have been alarmingly dysfunctional in this year's championships.

In the years before the back door was opened, they would have been unceremoniously bundled out at the Munster final stage, without having to prolong the agony against Longford, Sligo and Antrim.

Any cautious optimism in Kerry about this match can only be put down to that familiar human condition, the triumph of hope over experience.

The hope is that the combination of Dublin as opponents and Croke Park as venue will re-awaken the X-factor in Kerry, the stuff you can't bottle that has won them so many All-Irelands in the past, whether you call it self-belief, confidence, will, or the last drop of adrenalin that gets you over the line.

On the other hand, Kerry's real experience in this year's championships is of a strangely hesitant side which, though full of talent and real guts, simply can't get its act together, can't fix on the best combination to put out on the field, and through its body language alone, looks like a loser.

Any Kerry supporter who has not identified these symptoms can only be in denial. To be fair, most Kerry followers, no matter how loyal they are in their hearts, are only too well aware of what I'm talking about.

I don't doubt that Kerry have the footballing ability to beat an impressive Dublin team that is gathering strength as it goes along. But will they be able to get into their minds, bodies and psyches the X-factor which in the past has made Kerry teams unbeatable?

Dublin, to me, look like a well-conditioned team. Pat Gilroy will have psychologically countered some of the razzmatazz that inevitably accompanies a few Dublin successes. He will have tried to innoculate the team from the effects of the media hype. Dublin will have about them a freshness, a fitness, a sense of purpose, and an impressive discipline, notwithstanding the incident in the Leinster final.

Pound for pound through the field, Kerry have by far the better footballers; they will have a big edge with their ball skills, their speed of movement on and off the ball, and their kicking ability. Another advantage possessed by Kerry is that they have had four competitive championship matches, none of them played at a frantic pace, all of which went down to the wire. Only in the last five or six minutes against Antrim did Kerry pull clear, but they were in a real contest in all the games and that might come to their assistance.

A big imponderable will be the state of the pitch. It has been completely re-sodded and two matches will be played on it today. The weather forecast is uncertain, and if there is a wet ball on the freshly covered surface it will be a total lottery.

Kerry, I believe, will have the advantage at midfield through Darragh ó Sé and Seamus Scanlon, a pair I expect to have the beating of Darren Magee and Ross McConnell. This game is made for Tadhg Kennelly. He is a player with an engine that will be well able to stand up to the physical and footballing demands of the contest.

Don't expect either team to actually play as it lines out. The Kerry defence will have men earmarked to cover Alan and Bernard Brogan, and that will apply irrespective of what positions the talented Dublin brothers play in.

Similarly, Pat Gilroy will have Declan O'Sullivan, Colm Cooper and Tommy Walsh earmarked for the attention of specific defenders, no matter what positions those Kerry forwards play the game in.

Dublin, it must be said, have looked in better shape than Kerry in the earlier rounds, and their performances have to be respected, especially the wins over Westmeath and Kildare.

Rarely have I wrestled so much with my thoughts about a football match as I have on this occasion. I'm drawing on my own experience of 17 years as a player and 15 years as a manager, in an effort to come to a valid prediction, whether it be right or wrong, about the outcome.

Reluctantly, I have decided that I have no option but to go with the evidence that is before me, which is that this Kerry team is afflicted with some malaise of the spirit that, up to now, has severely and cruelly blocked them from expressing their potential.

There is something psychologically stunted about the way they are playing at the moment. That is all I have to go on. My heart and my sense of hope will have me say otherwise, but it is with no joy that I today predict a Dublin victory, possibly by a narrow margin.

I could well be wrong, of course. But form in any sport is a fickle mistress. On Tuesday evening last, Aidan O'Brien's horse Rip Van Winkle, was 'ten out of ten lame' with a quarter crack in a hind hoof.

He went out the following afternoon to win the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. "It never happens. I was ready to show the white flag. It was down to the team that he made it," said an amazed O'Brien afterwards.

Yes, it never happens -- except when it does!

This match is a classic case of the heart versus the head. My head says Dublin, my heart says Kerry.

And on this occasion I am going, unwillingly, with the voice of reason. My heart hopes I'm wrong and that Kerry, like Rip Van Winkle, will awake from their slumbers and play with all the verve and flair that we know is within their capacity.

Come on Kerry!

PS: Last week we buried Canon Pat O'Doherty, formerly of Rathmore, the first stop of the Kerry train within the borders of the county on our way home from All-Ireland victories. Pat would make a great speech from the platform ending with 'I hope to see you all again a year from now'.

- Paidi O Se

[Owenmoresider]

what price a draw? Banty will surely be told if its close to blow it up and another big payday for the chiefs in Jones rd!

Bear in mind there's extra time if its level (as with all the quarter-finals), meaning a replay is less likely.

Is there? I didn't think that was in place for QF's. Though it only applied to qualifiers and early rounds in the provinces.

[SLIGONIAN]

what price a draw? Banty will surely be told if its close to blow it up and another big payday for the chiefs in Jones rd!

Bear in mind there's extra time if its level (as with all the quarter-finals), meaning a replay is less likely.

Is there? I didn't think that was in place for QF's. Though it only applied to qualifiers and early rounds in the provinces.

ET if necessary for all QTR finals,

Calling all Dubs, can you please do me a huge favour, Im working tomorrow, can you please delay the Throw in by about 2hrs so I can see the game .... Cheers and good luck,

[Frank Casey]

Calling all Dubs, can you please do me a huge favour, Im working tomorrow, can you please delay the Throw in by about 2hrs so I can see the game .... Cheers and good luck,

FFS Sligonian they don't need anymore encouragement.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

Delayed Kerry games this year: 2
Delayed Dublin games this year: 0

[Canalman]

Won't be delayed. As stated many times before the entrances to the Canal End and Hill 16 have been widened some seasons ago to stop the crowd chaos in the non AIF 70,000 plus games.

Very mute show of colours here in the City......... last year's shameful defeat to Tyrone has imo left us very wary and defeatist.None of this mythical "hype" to be seen.

[MadMayo]

I wonder will Kerry come out and practice on the hill 16 end tomorrow before the game, some laugh if they do!!  Whats the story with Dublin and them having to go up the hill end before every game anyway??