Bryan Sheehan can’t hide his concern over how things have gone for Kerry so far this year.
Sheehan is concerned that, realistically, they will reach an All-Ireland quarter-final without really having been road-tested in the championship.
He’s also concerned about a ‘defensive hole’ that, a far cry from the solidity of 2022, has mysteriously grown bigger and bigger in recent times.
He’s also concerned about a lack of goals and more pertinently, a lack of goal-chances down the other end of the field.
“Let’s be fair, Kerry will come out of the group and into the knock-outs not knowing where they stand,” the Kerry legend says at the launch of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championships.
“They’ve beaten Monaghan. With all due respect, they’ll beat Meath and I think Louth will be the toughest test that they’ll get.
“And if you compare that then to the other groups where Derry, Galway are playing, you’ve Donegal and Tyrone playing - they’re good competitive tier one teams and I don’t think Kerry have had a good test of a tier one team coming into the All-Ireland series, and I’d just have question marks as to where exactly they’ll stand.”
Pictured is former Kerry Minor footballer, Bryan Sheehan, at the launch of the 2024 Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships. This summer, Electric Ireland will use their social channels to spotlight players from across the Championships, in recognition of the major impact that playing Minor can have on young people’s future successes, on and off the field. You can follow the campaign on social media @ElectricIreland and via the hashtag #ThisIsMajor.
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
“The other side of it is defensively at the moment, that seems to be the main talking point in Kerry,” contends Sheehan.
“The amount of goal chances they’re coughing up against teams. Cork ran through them, Clare ran through them for a couple of goal chances. Monaghan had one or two down the middle as well.”
Kerry’s defence were the stingiest around in 2022, conceding just three goals in the entire year, but they’ve been more porous in recent times.
“It’s hard to put my finger on it and I have been looking back to see what the difference is (between 2022 and now)
“The personnel are by and large the same. It’s not as if they’re missing key players, leading to this ‘defensive hole’ as we call it.
“Foley’s still full back, Morley is still centre back.
“And to be fair, watching the games, the middle third and the top eight of the field are all working hard so you can’t turn around and say they aren’t working hard enough. I honestly can’t say that.
“But something is just not right,” he says.
“Look let’s be fair, I know it’s good to see the likes of Tom O’Sullivan coming up and he’s kicking scores but when you are taking Tom out of corner back and you might have Paul Murphy coming up as well, you’re leaving massive space at the back all of a sudden.
“And maybe that’s where they’re getting caught, that they’re committing too many bodies to the attack. Because when there’s a turn-over then they’re very exposed.”
18 May 2024; Tom O'Sullivan of Kerry during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 match between Kerry and Monaghan at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Kerry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Sheehan is conscious of not losing O’Sullivan’s attacking impetus but feels something must be done so that when he pushes up, the defence aren’t isolated if the ball is turned over.
“Two years ago, when they had the structure right, Tadhg Morley could drop off as a sweeper. But I don’t think he can afford to now because his two corner backs are gone ahead, the two wing backs too and all of a sudden there’s a lot of space around him.
“That extra man is almost redundant then because of all that space. One thing they could look at is keeping an extra body or two back there.
“How they do it I don’t know. You don’t want to take away from Tom’s ability to go forward, but they need to find a mechanism that if they allow to go, somebody else has to be sitting and holding.”
Kerry's problems in attack
Kerry haven’t scored a goal in three championship matches so far this year and this is another worry for Sheehan. He’s hoping that David Clifford will find another gear and bring the rest with him but stresses that he’s a ‘firm believer that this thing of scoring goals doesn’t just happen?
“Goals don’t just come like that, you have to be tipping away scoring goals all throughout the year. Dublin are always scoring goals. Derry are always scoring goals. You can’t just flick a switch.
“Kerry aren’t creating goal chances.
“It’s not that they’re not converting them. But look, I still think there’s another gear in David. He’s slowly building towards the championship as well and I think once he steps up to gear, other lads will come up with him. I’ve no doubt that Jack, Paddy and Micheál Quirke are working on something to come up with those chances.”
