Kerry 1-26; Donegal 0-19
So now we know - making Kerry the underdog in an All-Ireland final and expecting not to get bitten is foolhardy as they use such a slight to galvanize themselves into a vortex which blows away everything in front of them.
Just ask poor Donegal, almost everybody’s favorites to bring back Sam, who were hit with a tornado in front of a full Croke Park from the first second to last that they were left shaking their heads and wondering what they had just been through.
Man of the Match and Kingdom skipper Gavin White set the tone by bursting forward from the throw-in to create a point for Dylan Geaney and the same defender popped up twice in the coming minutes to strike for two single points.
These were more than mere scores - they were statements of intent. It said out loud to Jim McGuinness on the sideline and his charges on the field: “You're playing by our rules today.”
The reason many backed Donegal to win was they felt that McGuinness would be the superior tactician when it came to a gameplan to smother the Cliffords and open up the Kerry defense.
Instead it was Jack O’Connor and his management team’s greatest day as they were not just one, but several steps ahead of the Ulster champions in how they lured Donegal out of their defensive zonal structure that allowed Kerry kick 0-17 first half points and an impressive 1-26 in total against their own 0-19 scores.
Another major factor was the new rules. McGuinness’s plan was not to dwell too much on two-pointers as his players were kicking so many single scores it didn’t matter - witness the 3-26 they hit against Meath in the semi-final.
That was a huge mistake as on the day Kerry kicked five two-pointers to Donegal’s zero return - a 10 point haul instead of just five points. And when you consider that Kerry only scored a late goal, Donegal could have been much closer had they shown the ambition to land those uplifting double scores.
This was a day when Kerry showed what we all knew - that more so than any other county, they can rebuild on the road and arrive with a powerhouse outfit to Croke Park on All Ireland final day.
My man of the match was Paudie Clifford and that is some statement when his younger brother David kicked nine points from play. Both were way ahead of White but the RTE panel in their wisdom gave it to him - stressing that his scores set the tone. A fair point but it doesn’t hold water when measured against Paudie’s 76 possessions and his sibling’s brilliant contributions - none better than the two-pointer after the hooter which sent the boy in blue (yes Munster blue as both teams changed normal colors) into the dressing-room for half-time seven points to the good instead of a mere five.
That blistering first half saw also a dominant midfield dismantle Shaun Patton’s restarts but it was the hunger of the Munster champions for the ball which left Donegal looking as if they were overawed and lacking in their usual energy.
This reflected in Kerry leading by 0-13 to 0-14 20 minutes into the game and we all knew then that barring an ‘82 like comeback, Donegal were already a beaten docket.
Clifford the younger spent much of the first half about 40 yards out under the Cusack Stand while midfielders Sean O’Brien, with two points, and Mark O’Shea took turns to bamboozle the so-called zonal defense with their constant infractions of normal team placements.
In retrospect, the Kerry plan was simple - confuse the losers’ defense and at the right time Paudie would release David. This happened to tell effect as the soon to be crowned Player of the Year swung over three brilliant two-pointers, the first with his first kick of the ball after eight minutes and the last in first-half overtime.
At 0-17 to 0-10, the focus went on McGuinness to see what he could conjure up to get his players back into the fight. Michael Murphy had a poor start but worked his way into the game through frees and two good single points while Oisin Gallen scored three early points before fading badly, leaving it to the two O’Donnells to become the biggest scoring threat for the men from Tir Conaill.
It didn't help Kerry began the second moiety again at breakneck speed again with the ubiquitous Seanie O'Shea scoring a fine point on the run.
Then Paudie orchestrated a lovely move made years ago in the Clifford back garden by planting the ball ahead of David to make it 0-19 to 0-10.
The climb had become ever more steep for the men in white and green on the day. In fairness they rallied and with Jason McGee and deposed midfielder Hugh McFadden now on board, they wrestled control of the middle third for the first time.
Kerry, in particular full-back Jason Foley, began fouling and Murphy was unerring as he began cutting the deficit. It was slow and it was an arm-wrestle for every score but that said they had the deficit back to four points with the O’Donnells getting three without reply and sub Daire Ó Baoill later landing one from his left, when the enormity of their labors began to catch up.
That showed in a few poor wides and without a two-point threat, the challenge was now running on fumes rather than fuel. White showed his leadership by running half the pitch on a mazy solo-run to fist over a vital score and when Paudie came marauding yet again and was fouled outside the arc, Seanie waved ‘keeper Ryan away and stuck a dagger in Donegal hearts by landing the subsequent two-pointer to push it out to half a dozen again.
Paudie then did a White and ran half the pitch to fist over to make it 0-25 to 0-18.
David Clifford had most of his work done for the day but when he beat Brendan McCole yet again, he went on a gallop and right-footed his first from that peg - maybe his best score of the day.
Almost immediately, a botched kick out from Patton saw O’Shea put David in for a goal but his effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by a brilliant Conor O’Donnell goal line save.
However, there would still be a chance for a Kerry goal and it came when sub Killian Spillane fed the indomitable Joe O’Connor who blessed home after rounding his marker.
On the line, a fifth All-Ireland victory for Jack O'Connor, across 11 seasons in total, began to be celebrated - one of the sweetest for him considering where his squad were after losing to Meath in Tullamore in the final round of the Sam Maguire league format.
Later on Sunday the big question was - would this win spell the end for O’Connor?
“I'm a long time at it, and I might be passing the baton onto somebody else,” the manager said on RTE. “I'm on record as saying it's my last hurrah. But there's no hurry.”
On how Kerry performed, he went on: “If you take the year as a whole, we had a lot of adversity. We had a lot of injuries, we lost a lot of good men but we had a tremendous panel spirit. We had men like Mark O'Shea and Seán O'Brien, lads like that that didn't think they'd be near the team, starting midfield in an All-Ireland final for Kerry.
“|It's the stuff of dreams so I'm delighted for them all. A massive team effort, panel effort, backroom team effort, so I'm thrilled for them all. We'd two big performances here against Armagh and Tyrone. We felt that we were well tested coming into the game. Maybe the hammering that Donegal gave Meath two weeks ago mightn't have done them the same amount of good that our game with Tyrone did.
“We felt we were well tested, we were in great shape leaving the hotel this morning. There was a great atmosphere in the room, just a great anticipation, ready for battle. The boys fought on their backs out there.
“There were times when Donegal looked like they were coming back. I think that two-pointer before half-time was a massive score by David. It was a massive fillip going in at half-time. We said in the dressing room that what happened to Cork last week wasn't going to happen to us. We were going to come out and play and we were going to try and win the second half. We did win the second half by three points so overall it was two good halves.
"We needed to get our hands on the ball, use up the clock and get a good shot off. Near the end we were able to enjoy the last three or four minutes after Joe got the goal. I'm thrilled for them all, this was a tough auld year. There were times when we were well tested this year but I'm delighted that it finished like it did,” he stated.
Defeated boss Jim McGuinness saluted Kerry in victory and admitted it just hadn’t happened for his side on the day.
“Hard one to take. Felt very good going into the game and it didn't turn out that way. Hats off to Kerry, very good performance. We struggled with wee bits and pieces in the game and paid heavy prices. I suppose, a bigger analysis will probably be the first half. I thought both teams were tracking scores well in the first half but Kerry seemed to go after the twos and kicked a lot of them.
“David Clifford, I suppose some of them were absolutely exceptional so we have no qualms. We've no qualms at all. Disappointed for the boys, disappointed for our supporters. They were there with us. They were waiting for things to happen and it didn't happen. Listen, some days, you just have to take it on the chin.
“You have to take your medicine and that's what we're going to have to do today. One of the times we got it back to four, we had three wides in a row at that stage.
“So even one point there might have made the difference in terms of momentum shift and would have kept you in the game, particularly with the new rules. There's always that opportunity then. But once them things are sort of drifting on the wrong side of it, then Kerry are always going to respond anyway at certain times. And then it got away again at the end. As I said earlier, hats off to Kerry. They've come in, they've done the business and we'll have to go home and think about it.
Kerry: S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley, D Casey; B Ó Beaglaoich, M Breen, G White (0-3); S O'Brien (0-2), M O'Shea; J O'Connor (1-0), S O'Shea (0-6, 2tpf, 0-1f), G O'Sullivan; D Clifford (0-9, 3tp), P Clifford (0-3), D Geaney (0-3) Subs: D O'Connor for O'Brien (49), K Spillane for Geaney (54), E Looney for Ó Beaglaoich (62), T Morley for Breen (65), M Burns for O'Sullivan (68).
Donegal: S Patton; F Roarty, B McCole, P Mogan; R McHugh, E Bán Gallagher, C McColgan; C McGonagle (0-1), M Langan; S O'Donnell (0-2), C Thompson, C Moore; C O'Donnell (0-4), M Murphy (0-8, 0-6f), O Gallen (0-3) Subs: D Ó Baoill (0-1) for Thompson (22), H McFadden for McColgan (35), J McGee for McHugh (40), P McBrearty for Gallen (49), J Brennan for Gallagher (58).
