All-Ireland SFC final: Donegal v Kerry, Croke Park, Sunday, 3.30pm. Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare) – Live on RTÉ 2 and BBC Two
Consensus, presumably still restoring its dignity after the hurling final, suggests that these two counties are the best teams in the country and so, appropriate finalists.
After all, wasn’t it consensus that elevated Armagh into pole position to retain Sam Maguire, going into the quarter-finals?
As early front runners, does the progress of Donegal and Kerry appear to be at odds with another consensual claim – that this was the most open All-Ireland in decades?
Not especially, because in a championship where no team has made the running consistently, it was always likely the initiative would be seized by the counties which co-ordinated the most effective conclusion to the season.
RM Block
That’s not always the case, and some champions just fall across the line or at least fail to give their best displays on the biggest days.
That distinction is unlikely to apply to both finalists by teatime on Sunday.
Another persistent view on the match is that it will go to a replay, the teams unable to gain mastery over each other on the first day. This isn’t unreasonable given how closely they match up on paper, taking into account performances to date.
Both have lost one match, but there are few reliable clues in those defeats by Tyrone and Meath – coincidentally, each beaten by the other finalist in the All-Ireland semi-finals – because in the first case, Donegal were understrength and in the second, Kerry have rectified the most glaring omission, poor work rate.
There were questions about whether any contenders should lose by nine points to Meath but then, the latter beat Galway and qualified for the semi-finals.
[ How Kerry or Donegal could win or lose the All-Ireland finalOpens in new window ]
There are well-documented differences in approach. Donegal are more of an almost single organism, moving and acting in concert whether in defence or on transition in counterattack, whereas Kerry play to individual strengths. They get the ball into their forwards to make things happen, whereas Donegal move possession forwards and aren’t fussy who finishes.
Kerry depend – or have depended – on purple passages: the 15 minutes against Armagh and the similarly timed phase against Tyrone when they kept their opponents scoreless and helped themselves to 14 and eight points respectively; what captain Gavin White referred to during the team’s media event as “a flow state”, which is a good description.
Donegal expect every match to be a scrap, or at least that’s what they are prepared for. Even in the Monaghan quarter-final, which was won well, the Ulster champions had to fight fatigue after a six-day turnaround and a decent first half by the opposition. What fuel they dredged from the bottom of a near-empty tank was impressive.
Of course, it was part of a run against Division Two opponents while Kerry were knocking out the All-Ireland champions and another top Ulster team. Neither Armagh nor Tyrone were entirely on their game, though.
Nobody should seek to diminish the quality of attacking play that put those teams away, but are Donegal likely to fall quite so inert if leading by five in the second half, or squander as many chances to stay in touch as Tyrone did?
Shaun Patton’s kick-outs have been hacked during the season, but his priceless ability to hit them into the middle of Whitehall if necessary and his unflappable temperament mean that it’s equally difficult to see Kerry annihilating him, as they did with Ethan Rafferty and his receivers.
David Clifford has been spotlit all week and Brendan McCole with him, but the Fossa phenomenon has won one out of four All-Ireland appearances – unsurprisingly, the one when he was in his best form. He has been excellent to date, prime footballer of the year status, and may be unmarkable one on one, but not in the context of a collective defence.
Neither is he the only danger, as Seán O’Shea and Paudie Clifford have recently shown, but he is the one who can conjure something out of nothing.
Donegal will establish a high tempo and require Kerry to keep moving at that pace. Their fast breakers, Péadar Mogan and Finbarr Roarty in defence and Ciarán Moore dropping back are also attentive defenders.
Interestingly, this broke down in last year’s semi-final when Galway successfully imposed their game on Donegal and simply outlasted them. Cian O’Neill, now back with Kerry, coached the Connacht champions last year and also was involved when Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s Kerry did the same to Donegal 11 years ago.
There are differences, however. Michael Murphy is back and his unexpectedly extraordinary form has combined with his entirely expected leadership on the field, the loss of which was highlighted against Galway 12 months ago. Roarty is also a significant addition of pace and ball contesting capacity.
Jim McGuinness is not alone broodingly mindful of what happened in 2014 but he has spent much of the interim involved in professional sport, acquiring soccer coaching licences and so on. Whatever he has picked up will be geared towards ensuring a performance on the big day.
That’s no guarantee in these circumstances. After all, Jack O’Connor could give courses at this stage on the basis of all he has experienced.
Between regular injury absences and the relatively low-key average of all performances – this team isn’t the same as the 2009 veterans, who recovered top form in a similarly miraculous short time span – compared to their opponents, Kerry may find this a hard final fence to jump.
