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Kerry do enough in sloppy semi, will meet Cork in Sam decider

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Sloppy shooting, inept passing, suspect tactics and a depressing total of 32 wides between the teams made this a contest to forget. Meath were slightly more culpable, but Kerry were hardly much better, a pale shadow of the side that demolished Dublin with such skill and swagger in the quarter-final.
Conor Counihan and his Cork players were looking on with a view to the decider on September 20, and while they’re undoubtedly too experienced to be suckered by Kerry’s lack-luster performance, privately they must be thinking that the Sam Maguire is now there for the taking.
In mitigation, wet conditions and a slippery Croke Park surface had an adverse affect, but that still couldn’t excuse the poor overall standard of football. It also appeared that several players weren’t wearing long enough studs to gain a decent foothold which in one of the wettest Irish summers on record was difficult to comprehend.
Meath came in as overwhelming underdogs and yet despite the fact that the scoreline flattered them, they know this was a big opportunity missed. Approaching the interval, they had a period when they could have built up a lead such was Kerry’s lack of coherence. But with plenty of possession and field position, they still managed to squander a host of scoring chances.
Kerry turned over 1-3 to 0-4 in front, and when the impressiveTommy Walsh, who had come on as a first-half sub after being dropped by manager Jack O’Connor, hammered home a goal within a minute of the re-start, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome.
Kerry did enough to get by, and Meath were rewarded for their toil with a late goal from Cian Ward, however, for most spectators the second half was more akin to root canal surgery than 35 minutes of an All Ireland final.
“Well, it didn’t look pretty from the sidelines,” was O’Connor’s verdict. “I thought it was going to be a dogfight, I thought it was going to be tough. Especially with the rain, there was no easy ball won out there, the forwards in particular. Meath were probably praying for the drop of rain because maybe it does away with the form book a little more. But then in a semi-final, you don’t want a loose, open game where there’s no physicality, or no difficult aspects.”
On the subject of Cork, who beat Kerry by eight points in the Munster semi-final, O’Connor agreed his team had a hill to climb between now and the final. “I don’t think the way we played would do against Cork. It’s going to be a huge, huge battle and we’ll be put to the pin of our collar because they’re by far the most impressive team in the championship.”
Just as they lost a goal immediately after the break, Meath were hit by a penalty as early as the fourth minute of the first half. Colm Cooper, who made little impact following rumors that he would miss the game with an injured hip, was pulled down by Anthony Moyles, and Darran O’Sullivan converted despite slipping as he kicked the ball.
Meath also lost their captain, Stephen Bray, with a collar bone injury, and it took them 15 minutes before Brian Farrell opened their account with a point. Frustratingly, they had more than enough possession to make Kerry pay, but for the most part both their passing and their shooting were woeful.
Once Walsh was found one-on-one with Moyles by a perceptive pass from the excellent Tadhg Kennelly, Meath were effectively dead buried. Walsh, who had replaced Donncha Walsh in the 28th minute, beat Moyles to the ball easily and hammered the ball past Paddy O’Rourke.
That goal was the catalyst for Kerry to surge clear and by the 46th minute, they were eight points clear as Kennelly, Paul Galvin and Seamus Scanlon mopped up most of the breaking ball. To Meath’s credit, they kept plugging away but Mike McCarthy and Marc O Se were solid at the back for the winners.
“Look it, we were poor,” said Meath forward, Farrell. “They were probably eight points the better team, we gifted them two goals. We reached the semi-final twice in the last three years, so that’s a reflection of the team. I’m not going to say we can’t get beyond that, of course we can. We just have to build on that. We’ll get there eventually. Some day.”
Kerry are there, but the next challenge is an altogether different one.
Meanwhile, Mayo are through to the minor final after a 2-9 to 0-9 win over Down at Croke Park. Down had control of the game during the first half, but two decisive goals by Cillian O’Connor after the break paved the way for Mayo who will now meet Armagh in the decider.

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