A meeting of like and like in Cork, a clash of age-old rivals in Killarney and an in-form Michael Murphy all feature in our preview of the weekend’s action in the National Football League.
Survival of the fittest in Páirc Uí Rinn
You’ll often hear a game described as a clash of styles between one side and another, but that could hardly be applied to the meeting of Cork and Kildare on Saturday night.
Both sides have battered lesser opposition by virtue of their superior physical conditioning in recent seasons and although it’s harsh to say it of Cork considering they won an All-Ireland title a little over two years ago, they have both been arguably lacking a little bit of quality against the best teams at the business end of the championship.
In Cork’s case, the shortfall has been down to a lack of a definitive Plan B, while in Kildare’s case it has been the lack of a marquee forward outside of Johnny Doyle. What the Lilywhites would have given, for example, for a Colm O’Neill, a Donncha O’Connor or a Paul Kerrigan in their ranks.
In that regard, it will be interesting to see if both sides use the league as a testing ground for an alternative approach that might be brought into play further down the road.
Both Cork (through Nicholas Murphy and Aidan Walsh) and Kildare (Tomás O’Connor) have used a target man with varying degrees of success, but it will be interesting to take a look at the handpassing stats after this game to see if McGeeney and Counihan are sticking with what they know best or if there will a departure from type this season.
How do Down go about stopping Michael Murphy?
Accused of having an average season (by his incredibly high standards) last season until a virtuoso performance in the All-Ireland Final, Michael Murphy seems to be making up for lost time at the start of this campaign.
Currently top scorer after a nine-point haul against Kildare last weekend, Murphy then almost singlehandedly demolished Queens University while togged in DCU colours during the week. If you haven’t seen his exhibition of point taking, you really should have a look (see below), unless you’re a Down fan, of course.
The league wouldn’t be particularly high on Jim McGuinness’ list of priorities, but he won’t want Donegal getting relegated either so the All-Ireland champions could do with a win over Down in Ballybofey on Saturday night.
If Murphy is in the mood he’s been in all week, Down will have a job on their hands trying to curb his influence.
Way too early to panic but…
It’s way too early for any team to worry about their situation in the league at this stage, but we dare say Eamonn Fitzmaurice will sleep a lot easier on Sunday night if Kerry can claim two points against the Dubs on Sunday. He mightn’t sleep at all if Finuge can do the business in the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Final on Saturday night but that’s another matter altogether.
The Kingdom have only three home games in the league this year and after the clash with Jim Gavin’s men on Sunday, they face two trips to Newbridge and Ballybofey during a period where they could well be without the likes of the Gooch, Kieran O’Leary and Johnny Buckley if Dr. Crokes overcome the challenge of Ballymun in the All-Ireland club semi-final on Sunday week.
The return of Tomás Ó Sé and Bryan Sheehan to the starting line-up should ensure that Kerry have more about them than they did during a woeful second half display against Mayo last week and they’ll be going all out to make things as uncomfortable as possible for the visitors on Sunday.
Speaking of uncomfortable, we wonder if Fitzgerald Stadium will be able to accommodate the absolutely huge backroom team Dublin will be bringing with them this weekend. It was revealed this week that Ray Boyne has joined the Dublin set-up as Head of Performance Analysis, which now means that there are 19, yes 19, people involved in total, including a development coach, an athletic development coach, a lifestyle coach (Bernard Dunne), a cameraman, a media manager and a commercial manager.
Granted, every single one of them mightn’t be in attendance in Kerry on Sunday, but is there really any need for that many people to be involved in the running of an inter-county team?
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