Derry v Kerry AISF Sunday 16th July 4pm

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

I'm a shell of a man after the weekend. Can't handle a big session at all these days. Old age. 

What can I add to what has been said already, probably not much. Was a game that could have gone either way. Even with the fallow period of scoring they had it felt around 61/62 mins that Derry might shade it, but thankfully we sprung to life and a scoring burst in last 10+ got us over the line but it was very hairy, too hairy really for us. Derry folk will not like watching the video as they had a massive chance to take it.

Like many I was worried we'd struggle to replicate the intensity of Throne game and it proved that way for a large part Sunday. A good spell in 3rd quarter and last 15 aside we were mediocre. At best. At times in the first half we were a mis-shapen mess. Loads of players unsure of their men, where to go etc and as a result Derry had plenty point chances under zero pressure. The goal was a shambles aswell. One thing to allow McKinless to waltz through into the box but to then have Rodgers and him follow up the shot unattended was fairly criminal. I'd love to say it wasn't repeated but McKinless has a good chance of a goal on 50 mins which only for Ryan making a good save (aided by good pressure from Diarmuid O'Connor) would have put Derry 3 up.
That being said the second half was a much better performance overall. 0-9 to 0-4 doesn't really tell the full story as both sides missed a lot but it was a good return from our POV anyway.
You'd have to say, fair play to Derry players and mgmt - Like many, I thought there was no way their performance and shape against Cork would be good enough here but this was a different approach and the first half was a serious, serious performance level. We were glad of it being only 1-11 to 1-8 at HT really. Rodgers, McFaul, McKinless, Conor Doherty and McCluskey were absolutely piling forward and creating havoc. McGuigan was sharp and took Foley for 0-3 from play. Kickouts were faultless mainly for Derry. Kerry had a black card. It was going fairly well for Derry overall.

Straight from the throw in after HT we got into it though and I do think when we got O'Brien and Begley on we were a much improved team, even though poor use of the ball and some bad shooting meant there was 17 mins we didn't score which is poor. We did enough though. Defended a lot better. Jack Barry had a better handle on Rodgers, McGuigan and McKinless had good moments but ran out of steam a bit. Lynch's kickouts were cracked late when forced long. We have David Clifford..who again, I think can play better, but the service into him at times was sh*t. He lost it at one point after a stupid lobbed ball over his head was sent in when he actually was 1 v 1 in a pocket of space. Still, he just takes so much marking and does so much he's invaluable.

Anyway, on we go. Met a lot of Derry supporters over the weekend, very sound largely to be fair. Derry people are football die-hards and know their football as well as anyone so it was interesting to get some views on the game from outside a Kerry bubble. One Derry fan said to me that he though Derry might have the upper hand conditioning wise but was surprised that Kerry seemed to stay the course a lot better. This was a major achilles heel a few years ago and we were behind the curve completely. But it has been addressed big time now with full time S&C director and other coaches working hard with all groups. The other one Derry people mentioned was the poor shooting and lack of other options up front.  Which was obviously another huge factor and will continue to be a factor until addressed a bit.

I think it'll be a hard one for Derry supporters to take, but some of the players I mentioned above absolutely emptied the tank for the cause. And it's not patronising as I can't imagine an Allstar team being picked without at least McKinless, Rodgers and McGuigan in it. Top class players.

For Kerry, it was one of those games that's great to win as you know there is so much to work on but we got a serious test right down to the last few mins. There have been a lot of semi finals that were drab and fairly one sided but this was not one of them. So, once the bodies recover and the video work is done it should prove very useful. I hope!

P.S: Deliberately not mentioning ref. It's been debated enough. I don't think it was the winning or losing of the game, factors I mentioned above were way bigger IMO.

[Mario]

Did nobody else think Glass was at fault for the Kerry goal?
I know I said before that White is fast but Glass seemed to let him go.
Not sure would McKinless or others have done the same.

Yeah it was poor from him, was also poor from Clifford for Derrys goal, he let Rogers run past him.

I see a lot of posts about Derry changing their style. I don't think they really did, they attacked with 15 and defended with 15 like they always do, they pressed the kick outs like they always do, they used Lynch as a spare man out the field like they always do, they went for goals like they always do.

They've put in very good attacking displays before playing like this which the media fail to acknowledge (eg All Ulster champ games in last 2 years bar the finals, Clare last year, Donegal this year, all the Div 2 games they won at a canter). The boring games are when teams replicate them and there have been a few high profile games like this eg the last 2 Ulster finals, Galway last year, Cork. The main difference was how Kerry set up against them imo.

[lenny]

Did nobody else think Glass was at fault for the Kerry goal?
I know I said before that White is fast but Glass seemed to let him go.
Not sure would McKinless or others have done the same.

Yeah it was poor from him, was also poor from Clifford for Derrys goal, he let Rogers run past him.

I see a lot of posts about Derry changing their style. I don't think they really did, they attacked with 15 and defended with 15 like they always do, they pressed the kick outs like they always do, they used Lynch as a spare man out the field like they always do, they went for goals like they always do.

They've put in very good attacking displays before playing like this which the media fail to acknowledge (eg All Ulster champ games in last 2 years bar the finals, Clare last year, Donegal this year, all the Div 2 games they won at a canter). The boring games are when teams replicate them and there have been a few high profile games like this eg the last 2 Ulster finals, Galway last year, Cork. The main difference was how Kerry set up against them imo.

Totally agree with this, Derry didn't change their style at all.

[redzone]

Kerry pushed up on the kickouts last 10. Derry couldn't deal with it. Same as the Ulster final when Armagh had them on the ropes.. If you concede pocession it's very hard to get it of them.

[Lucifer]

Did nobody else think Glass was at fault for the Kerry goal?
I know I said before that White is fast but Glass seemed to let him go.
Not sure would McKinless or others have done the same.

Yeah it was poor from him, was also poor from Clifford for Derrys goal, he let Rogers run past him.

I see a lot of posts about Derry changing their style. I don't think they really did, they attacked with 15 and defended with 15 like they always do, they pressed the kick outs like they always do, they used Lynch as a spare man out the field like they always do, they went for goals like they always do.

They've put in very good attacking displays before playing like this which the media fail to acknowledge (eg All Ulster champ games in last 2 years bar the finals, Clare last year, Donegal this year, all the Div 2 games they won at a canter). The boring games are when teams replicate them and there have been a few high profile games like this eg the last 2 Ulster finals, Galway last year, Cork. The main difference was how Kerry set up against them imo.

Totally agree with this, Derry didn't change their style at all.

This was irritating me also. On the RTE GAA Podcast last week Damien Lawlor seemed to be scoffing at the suggestion from Paddy Bradley that Derry would go all out to win the game and not go into a defensive shell.

Also the notion that Derry wouldn't have done this under Gallagher is similar, it was him that led the team to play this way (along with his management team, who have continued in the same vein.) For me though, it was the best performance from Derry in the past 2 years, but they are a year further down the line and had the experience of playing a full blooded AI Semi in Croker so were also in a better place to deliver that (the facile win v Clare didn't really count for much in terms of big game experience last year tbh.)

[BuzzCagney]

I'm a shell of a man after the weekend. Can't handle a big session at all these days. Old age. 

What can I add to what has been said already, probably not much. Was a game that could have gone either way. Even with the fallow period of scoring they had it felt around 61/62 mins that Derry might shade it, but thankfully we sprung to life and a scoring burst in last 10+ got us over the line but it was very hairy, too hairy really for us. Derry folk will not like watching the video as they had a massive chance to take it.

Like many I was worried we'd struggle to replicate the intensity of Throne game and it proved that way for a large part Sunday. A good spell in 3rd quarter and last 15 aside we were mediocre. At best. At times in the first half we were a mis-shapen mess. Loads of players unsure of their men, where to go etc and as a result Derry had plenty point chances under zero pressure. The goal was a shambles aswell. One thing to allow McKinless to waltz through into the box but to then have Rodgers and him follow up the shot unattended was fairly criminal. I'd love to say it wasn't repeated but McKinless has a good chance of a goal on 50 mins which only for Ryan making a good save (aided by good pressure from Diarmuid O'Connor) would have put Derry 3 up.
That being said the second half was a much better performance overall. 0-9 to 0-4 doesn't really tell the full story as both sides missed a lot but it was a good return from our POV anyway.
You'd have to say, fair play to Derry players and mgmt - Like many, I thought there was no way their performance and shape against Cork would be good enough here but this was a different approach and the first half was a serious, serious performance level. We were glad of it being only 1-11 to 1-8 at HT really. Rodgers, McFaul, McKinless, Conor Doherty and McCluskey were absolutely piling forward and creating havoc. McGuigan was sharp and took Foley for 0-3 from play. Kickouts were faultless mainly for Derry. Kerry had a black card. It was going fairly well for Derry overall.

Straight from the throw in after HT we got into it though and I do think when we got O'Brien and Begley on we were a much improved team, even though poor use of the ball and some bad shooting meant there was 17 mins we didn't score which is poor. We did enough though. Defended a lot better. Jack Barry had a better handle on Rodgers, McGuigan and McKinless had good moments but ran out of steam a bit. Lynch's kickouts were cracked late when forced long. We have David Clifford..who again, I think can play better, but the service into him at times was sh*t. He lost it at one point after a stupid lobbed ball over his head was sent in when he actually was 1 v 1 in a pocket of space. Still, he just takes so much marking and does so much he's invaluable.

Anyway, on we go. Met a lot of Derry supporters over the weekend, very sound largely to be fair. Derry people are football die-hards and know their football as well as anyone so it was interesting to get some views on the game from outside a Kerry bubble. One Derry fan said to me that he though Derry might have the upper hand conditioning wise but was surprised that Kerry seemed to stay the course a lot better. This was a major achilles heel a few years ago and we were behind the curve completely. But it has been addressed big time now with full time S&C director and other coaches working hard with all groups. The other one Derry people mentioned was the poor shooting and lack of other options up front.  Which was obviously another huge factor and will continue to be a factor until addressed a bit.

I think it'll be a hard one for Derry supporters to take, but some of the players I mentioned above absolutely emptied the tank for the cause. And it's not patronising as I can't imagine an Allstar team being picked without at least McKinless, Rodgers and McGuigan in it. Top class players.

For Kerry, it was one of those games that's great to win as you know there is so much to work on but we got a serious test right down to the last few mins. There have been a lot of semi finals that were drab and fairly one sided but this was not one of them. So, once the bodies recover and the video work is done it should prove very useful. I hope!

P.S: Deliberately not mentioning ref. It's been debated enough. I don't think it was the winning or losing of the game, factors I mentioned above were way bigger IMO.

Excellent post.

[markl121]

Just look at the scores derry have put up all year in ulster and the all Ireland series, hardly the mark of a cagey negative team.

[AustinPowers]

Thomas niblock is hard to listen to commentating. He is awful. Bring back Mark Sidebottom.
And Philly mc Mahon is even worse.
The BBC used to be much better at this.

Niblock isn't the best , but  I'd rather listen to him  than Ger canning.

Once you get over McMahon 's accent , he isn't too bad.  Unlike the other dub , Paul Flynn. I  can't listen to him  at all.  PLUS he seems to appear on  everything, like the Jermaine jenas of RTE.

Overall , the BBC coverage  has been very good.  It trumps RTE for me , although Canavan is quite good there , and O'se  can be decent too

But yes , need Sidebottom back .  It's hard not to  like Sidey.

[Wildweasel74]

There were a couple of mistakes for the Kerry goal with about 3 men to blame. It was too easy a goal to give away.

[An Watcher]

Sidebottom, seriously.  Seems a decent enough fella but just OK.  Don't think there's that much between them in all honesty

[sensethetone]

Sidebottom, seriously.  Seems a decent enough fella but just OK.  Don't think there's that much between them in all honesty

Sidebottom's quip one time, as cool as the underside of a pillow though.

[quit yo jibbajabba]

Where is Sidebottom and will he be back? Hes like one your old friends who annoys you but you still like the fcuker deep down

[Applesisapples]

I prefer BBC coverage to RTE at the minute myself. RTE comms never done saying how poor a game is.
I think BBC pundits are head and shoulder above others. Michael Murphy is very good, and they have a bit of debate.

RTE ones seem to have pre-rehearsed lines they are determined to push.

Thomas niblock is hard to listen to commentating. He is awful. Bring back Mark Sidebottom.
And Philly mc Mahon is even worse.
The BBC used to be much better at this.

And Ger Canning is a dose.

[imtommygunn]

Is there any worse than Sean Cavanagh. Purely there to get attention for himself.

Agreed on BBC. It's better. Murphy is very good.

[statto]

Is there any worse than Sean Cavanagh. Purely there to get attention for himself.

Agreed on BBC. It's better. Murphy is very good.

Agree makes these really unfunny jokes then starts laughing at himself.  If RTE had any sense would took him to task about the comments he made about Clifford being able to save RTE and got rid of him for everyones sake.