Donegal 3-20 Kerry 2-10
What was real and what was phony in this Donegal 13-point hammering of last year’s All Ireland and League holders Kerry will only be revealed later in the year.
However, the reaction of both camps afterwards suggested they knew there was something of a phony war about this League final clash in Croke Park where Donegal were all conquering and Kerry didn’t raise a gallop until the last 15 minutes when they found enough scores to put some cloak of respectability on the scoreboard.
That said, league crowns are not that plentiful in Tir Chonaill and the men in gold and green were only claiming just their second title - now called the Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh Cup - in the centenary of this staple competition.
Neither side were full strength but injury and perhaps strategy meant Kerry lined out shorn of almost half of their All Ireland line up with the likes of the influential Paudie Clifford, skipper Gavin White, Paul Geaney, who came on as a late sub and Paul Murphy all absent at the throw-in.
Donegal entered the game preferring in some way to have avoided the clash altogether because they too want to play poker for higher stakes later on this summer.
What they revealed won’t be lost on Kerry - they have added younger, fresher and faster players to an already standout squad, which however were beaten out the gate in last year’s All Ireland final.
You sense that Jim McGuinness, the Donegal boss, was happy to win but is still driven to make up for that glitz in his otherwise top-class managerial record.
Last year, they found goals and two-pointers hard to get - on Sunday they were overwhelmed by both, particularly the goals - all of which came from carving the losing defense totally apart as if they were a Division 4 outfit.
On top of leading by eight points at the interval, they hit this second-half purple patch in which they scored three brilliant goals - and could have had a fourth. The green flags were hoisted thanks to the finishing of Conor O’Donnell, Michael Murphy and Caolan McGonagle in a three-minute spell which ended the game as a contest, even if it had already been ended by their work in the first half.
The laconic Kerry boss Jack O’Connor looked between indifferent and slightly shocked afterward when he declared this encounter was “one game too much” - a reference to the previous week grueling encounter in Armagh when his charges had to put in a herculean effort to escape the Athletic Grounds with a point in the drawn encounter.
It didn’t help that as well as the players not selected to start, they lost Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Seán O’Brien before throw-in with warm-up injuries. On top of all that, this was the first time in aeons that the new terrible twins of David Clifford and Seanie O’Shea were not just held, but well held to the point that they were peripheral to the game, with Clifford only getting his goal as a consolation near the end.
And so whatever shadow boxing went on, this week both regimes will look at the tapes and the analysis, put it in their rear window and motor on towards the upcoming provincial championships. Donegal begin with a warm-weather training camp in Portugal, while Kerry will have to put up with ferocious criticism from Kingdom fans before focusing on retaining their Munster title.
Aside from Keith Evans's goal for Kerry, the first half was noteworthy for the fact that Michael Murphy should have seen red for a clear punch into the upper neck in an off-the-ball incident with Kerry corner back Dylan Casey. That fact that ref David Gough didn’t see the incident and got a linesman’s verdict of yellow was unfair as Murphy ended up scoring 1-5 of his side’s total and being very influential around the middle of the field before being taken off to a rousing reception near the end of play.
His Manager McGuinness said he didn’t see the scene surrounding the punching incident and instead heaped praise on his talisman.
“Michael, for us, is a huge player and you're talking there about young Max [Campbell] who goes in to play at centre half-back, and Michael allows young lads like that to do that. He gives them the opportunity to be able to relax and talk them through the game, so yeah, we're delighted to have him.
“He’s still a huge player for us, and helps those younger lads coming through massively in training so delighted with that,” he stressed.
Paul Geaney’s introduction gave a hint of what the losers’ attack missed as he kicked a fine two-pointer on introduction and will be part of an all-star attack down the line this season.
Afterwards O’Connor admitted his “undercooked” Kerry team were devoid of injury from the Armagh tussle as they were totally exposed by Donegal.
“It was a poor day for us,” he said. “The warning signs were there early. We were well off today, a bit lethargic and tired. I think the game against Armagh last weekend took a lot out of the boys, the pace and intensity of the game, even the journey.
“We could see that during the week. The boys were finding it hard to get that energy back. Croke Park is a bad place to come if you don’t have energy. Donegal are a nice bit ahead of us at the moment. We have a bit of catching up to do.
“We improved gradually last year throughout the championship and we’d be hoping for something similar this year,” he said. “We have a load of work to do. We have a lot of fellas that are undercooked. We picked up three injuries in Armagh, that was a blow to us. Fellas we put in then are a little undercooked and that will be exposed ruthlessly in Croke Park with the size of the pitch.”
Donegal: G Mulreany; C McColgan, B McCole; E Bán Gallagher; R McHugh (0-3), C McGonagle (1-0), M Campbell (0-3); J McGee, H McFadden; S O’Donnell, M Langan (0-6, 2 tp), P Mogan (0-1); C O’Donnell (1-1), M Murphy (1-5, 2 tpf, 0-1f), Sa Malone Subs: F Roarty (0-1) for M Murphy (56), S McMenamin for S Malone (60), S Martin for M Campbell (62), E McHugh for R McHugh (64).
Kerry: S Murphy; T Morley, J Foley, D Casey; T O’Sullivan (0-1), M Breen, A Heinrich (0-2); M O’Shea, L Smith; J O’Connor, S O’Shea (0-1), G O’Sullivan; D Geaney (0-1), D Clifford (1-1), K Evans (1-1) Subs: T Kennedy (0-1) for L Smith (32), M Burns for G O’Sullivan (46), T Leo O’Sullivan for J Foley (52), P Geaney (0-2, 1 tp) for D Geaney (56), C Trant for K Evans (60).
Ref: D Gough (Meath).
