got away

unleash his prize arsenal of McCaffrey, Scully, McMahon and more if needed on the final furlong.

In the 46th minute Kerry were turned over, yielding a very significant goal in their fightback. Lady Luck is with you or against you. Unfortunately she did us no favours in this final. Gavin White had his usual fine game but his pass was intercepted by the marauding Colm Basquel, who delivered smartly to Small. Despite a last-ditch effort by Paul Murphy to block the kick, the leather ricocheted past his clubmate Shane Ryan.

All the momentum was with Small and at that range the Kerry keeper had no chance. Instead of Kerry kicking on, all of a sudden Dublin were back in the game. Two forwards stood out in the second half. Paudie Clifford was his old self, driving at the Dublin defence with that quicksilver ciotóg delivering passes and scoring three great points from play.

In fact, Kerry were three points ahead on three occasions, but they failed to kick on to four points and that is a hell of a different mountain to climb for the chasers. McCaffrey came in after 48 minutes, but there was no budge from the Kerry management until the 55th minute when referee Gough made a controversial call. The ball went in between Clifford and Fitzsimons and both ended up on the ground. The ref clearly pointed a signal for a free in, just a tap over which would put Kerry two points clear. When I saw Gough going in to consult with his umpires my worst fears were realised. As outlined here last week Gough’s umpires are his father, brother, uncle and cousin. To the consternation of the majority, the ref reversed his earlier decision, gave both players yellow cards and instead of an easy point for Kerry he opted for a hop ball. Ironically, Dublin won that hop ball transferred it very quickly down field to Paul Mannion, their ace marksman in that second half, who scored yet another equalising point.

The Stretch

Instinctively, two ideas merged in my head. Instead of Kerry being two points ahead, Dublin were level once more, with 15 minutes left in normal time. The buzz phrase for this time in a game is ‘coming down the stretch’, reminding me of the horse hitting the two-furlong mark in the Killarney Race Couse. From here in is all that matters to claim the big prize and there is no solace in being pipped by a short head. Winner takes all. The prize jockey on the best horse will time his run and get up past the winning post. Equally significant was the dreadful fact that Kerry never led again in the remaining 21 minutes. Fenton scored his second point, but Killian Spillane responded with an excellent point from a good distance. Who would blink first?

Cahersiveen native Gerry Grogan informed all over the PA that there would be at least six minutes added on. Ó Beaglaoich came in for Paul Murphy, Micheál Burns for Stephen O’Brien (who had been excellent for 58 minutes), and Adrian Spillane came in for Dara Moynihan. Countdown by the minute. 74: Ó Beaglaoich loses possession going forward and Basquel must score a goal but he is denied by Mícheál Burns with a superb block down. Within seconds Ryan reaches up over the crossbar to save a point but up pops Mannion, scoring his fifth point.

75: There is a chance of an equaliser but David Clifford pulls his shot narrowly wide.

76: McCaffrey sets up the attack. Basquel is fouled and Dean Rock has an easy free to tap over. Game over. Dublin win 1-15 to 1-13.

So many of the disgruntled Kerry sup- porters blamed the ref for Kery’s defeat, especially when he reversed his decision. The advice he got from his umpires was they were both at it. No blame to Gough for that decision and the basis on which he changed his mind.

Red Card

Referees are human and all humans err.

In my view he made one huge mistake. Dublin captain McCarthy lashed out with the full force high elbow into the face of Seánie O’Shea. Even in rugby it would have warranted a straight red. That and another deliberate foul should have made it a short game for the Dublin captain who went on to win his ninth All-Ireland. Seánie O’Shea, who was playing so well in the early stages, was badly shaken and lost momentum.

Imagine Dublin down to 14 men for three quarters of the game. Rudderless without Captain James.

That incident, along with the wasteful wides and the gifted goal, compounded Kerry’s difficulties and ultimately influenced the outcome, more so than any other decision. The game took a different turn.

Significantly, Dublin scored strategically coming down the straight, seven points to Kerry’s two. I was hoping to God that Kerry would have lofted some direct high ball into Clifford. Even the Holy Mary types would have put pressure on Dublin in those greasy conditions. All captain David wanted was one.

Load

Wanted: at least two more forwards, scoring forwards. Spread the load and ease the overload on Captain David. The loss was painful for the Kerry spectators, but nothing like the pain of the players, a pain that will linger on not just to the end of summer (whenever the rain stops) but into winter too.

This was one that got away. Painful.

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