All-Ireland SFC quarter-final: Kerry 0-32 Armagh 1-21
If the Devil’s greatest trick is convincing people that he doesn’t exist, then Kerry’s is the old, recurring impression that they are too weakened by injury or in such poor form that they can be written out of matches like this.
In such a state, they arrived into Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final. Riddled with injuries, exacerbated when Tom O’Sullivan had to be replaced in the 24th minute, they produced one of their best halves of football this century to overwhelm champions Armagh just as it looked as if Kieran McGeeney’s men were going to pull away at the start of the second half.
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The winners tapped a major energy source off the bench with the introduction of Paudie Clifford at half-time. Manager Jack O’Connor said that they had been thrilled with how the player had turned a corner in his injury woes and spoke highly of his impact. Micheál Burns came in later and he too added to the forcefield of energy.
David Clifford came alive with an exhibition of kicking for four second-half points, one a two-pointer. It was like a boxing fight where the apparently technically superior fighter suddenly loses rhythm and starts to get hit from every angle. Armagh just couldn’t get back into the fight.
Their middle third disintegrated. Joe O’Connor, one of Kerry’s players of the year, was specifically lined out in his most productive position on the wing before the start but as his manager mentioned, the switch back to centrefield after a subdued first half was like everything the team did after half-time, blessed with success.
Part of the dynamic for the overwhelming change of fortune was the devastation of Armagh’s kickout, which fell to a match total of 50 per cent after a reasonable first half, while Kerry were touching 70 per cent.
They were the bullets and the team were firing them remorselessly. After David Clifford dropped one short in the 42nd minute, they hit 0-17 with no wides to bury the champions.
Who knows how or why momentum shifts in matches but the clinical detail of this match was that after Rian O’Neill had kicked a point to put Armagh five ahead, 1-16 to 0-14 in the 40th minute, Kerry set about a demolition job. Fourteen unanswered points went over the bar to turn the contest on its head.
Back in 2009 when a comparatively unfancied Kerry arrived in Croke Park for the quarter-finals to play an unusually fancied Dublin, it took seconds for Mike McCarthy to make a rapier thrust through the middle and set up Colm Cooper for a goal. From then on, Dublin disintegrated.
This wasn’t as clearcut as that precedent. Armagh led at half-time despite not playing brilliantly and when they began to extend the lead after the break, heads nodded wisely and muttered conversations more or less concluded that the champions now had a grip on the match that would be difficult to prise loose.
That first half was an entertaining back-and-forth affair but it was clear that Kerry had come to play. Jack O’Connor said afterwards that with the pressure of favouritism on Armagh, his team were able to play with some freedom and they certainly did that.
Seán O’Shea was a deserved Man of the Match with an afternoon’s total of 12, including three two-pointers. When Armagh clicked for the goal in the 29th minute – a turnover on Dylan Casey by Tiernan Kelly – Rory Grugan raced in for a finish to regain the initiative for the Ulster side, who now led 1-8 to 0-9.
O’Shea launched a fierce riposte within a minute, kicking a point and a two-pointer to wipe out the goal. Dylan Geaney added a point and Armagh were on the back foot again. They rallied well with a two-point free from Ethan Rafferty and a carefully crafted score after the hooter had sounded to give them the lead.
There was no doubting Kerry’s stomach for the fight, however, and if O’Shea’s 0-8 was the most tangible manifestation, there were other signs. From the throw-in routine, which sent Gavin White (who would have a super game) flying through the middle – an unconsummated move but reminiscent of Kevin Moran’s flinging down of the gauntlet in 1976 – Kerry brought energy and focus, which their opponents sometimes lacked, as when Jason Foley disrupted Rian O’Neill during an overly casual Armagh passing move in the 23rd minute.
The resumption started promisingly for the champions as they outscored their opponents 0-5 to 0-1 to establish that watershed lead of five. O’Neill kicked a two-point free – as hard won an award as any with Jarly Óg Burns being fouled three times as referee Brendan Cawley followed with his hand out to signal advantage.
Kerry’s surge began with Joe O’Connor’s second point and the barrage continued for 15 minutes of relentless ball winning, clever movement and assassin finishing.
Armagh wilted and fell, their All-Ireland tenure at an end. For Kerry the road ahead is clear, a date with old foes Tyrone in the semi-finals in a fortnight. The blood is up and silverware on the horizon.
KERRY: S Ryan; D Casey, J Foley, P Murphy; B Ó Beaglaoich (0-0-2), G White (capt; 0-0-2), T O’Sullivan; S O’Brien, M O’Shea; J O’Connor (0-0-2), S O’Shea (12: 0-3-6, 2f), G O’Sullivan (0-0-2); D Clifford (7: 0-2-3), C Geaney, D Geaney (0-0-1). Subs: E Looney for T O’Sullivan (24 mins), P Clifford (0-0-2) for C Geaney (half-time), M Burns (0-0-2) for O’Shea (50 mins), K Spillane for D Geaney (63 mins), T Kennedy for G O’Sullivan (69 mins), TL O’Sullivan for Casey (temporary, 69 mins, unreversed).
ARMAGH: E Rafferty (0-1f-0); P Burns, P McGrane, B McCambridge; R McQuillan, T Kelly (0-0-1), J Óg Burns (0-1-0); N Grimley, B Crealey; R Grugan (1-0-0), J McElroy (0-0-2), O Conaty (0-1-4); D McMullan (0-0-1), A Murnin, R O’Neill (0-1f-4, 1 45). Subs: C Turbitt for McQuillan (50 mins), J Duffy for Grimley (50 mins), A Forker for Kelly (54 mins), C McConville (0-0-1) for Crealey (56 mins), S McPartlan for Grugan (66 mins), C O’Neill for Murnin (temporary 66 mins, unreversed).
Referee: B Cawley (Kildare).
