This weekend's All-Ireland final between Galway and Kerry should be an intriguing tactical battle.
Both sides have been crafting their game plans over the course of the year, often to differing degrees of success. We certainly have a clear idea as to how the two teams will approach this game. You'd imagine that it is unlikely that either county will drastically change their approach for this game.
Kerry's defensive system is something they have worked hard to fine-tune, with The Kingdom not necessarily a county that always put an emphasis on that side of the game. As for Galway, they have found a nice balance under Padraic Joyce having previously been accused of being far too conservative in their approach.
Heading into Sunday's final, you can be assured that both teams will have crafted plans to take advantage of the other side's potential weaknesses.
Eamon Fitzmaurice on All-Ireland final tactics
The kick-outs will be one area to watch.
Galway have done a lot of damage by going long in the last couple of games, with goalkeeper Conor Gleeson favouring a more direct approach against both Armagh and Derry.
Padraic Joyce and Conor Gleeson celebrate after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Final match between Armagh and Galway. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Kerry might be tempted to aggressively push up on the kick-out in order to win possession in promising areas, but Eamon Fitzmaurice believes that being too overzealous in that area could have a negative impact on their performance in the All-Ireland final.
Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, the former Kerry boss said that his native county should not push up too high on the Galway kick-out as it could leave them exposed at the back.
As always, the kick-outs are going be huge.
I think Kerry’s approach to Conor Gleeson, I’m going to be interested in it early on because basically Conor Gleeson is most comfortable going long.
He has a big boot, Galway plan for it. They have one that they kick out to [Paul] Conroy and they get a bit of an overload, [Matthew] Tierney helps them out, they get the bodies around the breaks.
Even though they’re at just over 50%, they’re happy to do that and if they lose it, lose it long.
They’ve another one that they like to go straight down the middle to Damien Comer, high or sometimes a low scud thing.
They do go with the short ones but it’s only if it’s really obvious, they’ll chip out the short one.
Another one they have is they come in for the bunch and rather than the backs being the target, it’s actually Johnny Heaney or Shane Walsh that comes down from the 12 [right half-forward] side into that space and they get a chip out.
Kerry have a press that they can do, they can do an aggressive press – the 4-4-4 or 5-3-4.
I don’t think they should do it on Sunday from the point of view that Conor Gleeson wants to go long. I think they need the bodies further out to the field.
They just need to tag the Galway backs, take away that pocket at 7 [right half-back] that Galway like to hit and then be out under the long one.
Kerry had plenty of joy on their own kick-out against Dublin in the semi-final, especially in the first half.
It is an area of the game that is becoming increasingly influential on the outcome of games, with these two counties leaders in the field in terms of maximising their own restarts.
This is certainly one area to keep an eye on in Sunday's All-Ireland final.
SEE ALSO: Peter Canavan Identifies Two Areas Galway Must Focus On Against Kerry
