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You are > Home > The wonder of Gooch
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Thursday, June 17, 2010
The wonder of Gooch
BY SEAN COUNIHAN
I HAVE often heard it said that a week is a long time in the game of politics but after what happened in Pairc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, it’s fair to say that a week is also a very long time in football.
After the draw the previous Sunday in Killarney, most pundits felt that the advantage had swung back in Cork’s favour for the replay. I was one of those. But I was not alone.
Why I always felt that this Kerry team is the side to beat in this year’s championship, it had looked like the All-Ireland qualifiers were going to be route once more.
And it certainly looked that way at half time on Sunday as Cork led by four points having played against a strong wind. You could see the strength of the wind by some of Alan Quirke’s kick-outs in the first half that were unusually wayward.
At half time, it was Cork’s game to lose because Kerry just looked off the pace but there were signs that they could mount a comeback.
Firstly, there was that man from Ardshanavooley, Colm Cooper, who even in the first half looked for the ball, coming deep when necessary and he was constantly showing for the ball. There was no way he was going to be quiet for two games in a row, not against Cork.
I have seen a lot of Gooch over the years and he never surprises me. He has his bad games, those matches when the ball won’t bounce right or when it moves a few inches to the left and wide but the one thing about him is that he never stops trying.
And Cork couldn’t handle him at all. Jamie O’Sullivan, who I have to say did well in the drawn game in Killarney, saw what top-level inter-county football is really like. The Cork corner back found the going tough but I feel that there isn’t a defender in the country that could shackle a Colm Cooper who is on fire.
Gooch was easily the man-of-thematch and if he keeps this form up, then it’s very hard to see any team getting the better of Jack O’Connor’s men this season. No wonder Jack called him a genius.
Speaking of O’Connor, it was a day when the sideline really came up trumps. It was the opposite for Cork who resorted to the past when bringing on some of their subs.
But all Kerry’s changes made an impact. That has as much to do with the players as well as the management team. The players that come on need to be in the right frame of mind to make a positive contribution and they need to know, in detail, what role that have to carry out.
From Paul Galvin in the first half right through to Donnacha Walsh coming back on in extratime, all the Kerry subs make a telling contribution. That was a key factor on Sunday.
A lot was made of Kerry’s strength in depth last season when they won the All-Ireland and it was perceived that it wasn’t there this year because of all the big name departures.
But while the marquee names are missing, the subs that Kerry can bring on can all make a difference.
Adrian O’Connell and Daniel Bohan, in particular, are two fine defenders, and we didn’t even see Padriag Reidy on Sunday so that shows that there is strength in depth in the backs. But we also need a bit of luck here because our current back six are our best six defenders. We need them to stay injury free.
Michéal Quirke caught a big ball to start the move that set-up Marc Ó Sé’s late point while young Barry John Keane kicked 0-2 when he was brought off the bench.
Now he is a player that is fast making a name for himself this season.
He has come from nowhere but in the three championship games that he has come on in, Keane has found the scoreboard and he looks like he has the head for the big occasion. That says something about the Kerry under-21 forward.
When a player is young like that, they don’t fear anything and that’s a great way to be. Some players could have froze coming on in a tense and right game like Sunday’s, in front of a mostly Cork crowd – where were all the Kerry supporters? – but Keane loved it.
The Kerins O’Rahillys man is a player that we might see a lot more of over the rest of the championship.
Talking of subs, we can’t look past Paul Galvin. What a difference he made when he came on in the first half for David Moran, who just didn’t get into the game at all.
But he wasn’t the only forward to suffer in the first half. The ball wouldn’t stick for Donaghy while Declan O’Sullivan couldn’t get a foothold in the game, but those two have the experience of big matches, so it was always going to be Moran that made way.
The boos that greeted Galvin’s entrance tells us how he is viewed by some supporters outside of the county but that doesn’t bother the Kerry man. Water off a duck’s back.
He gave Kerry a real edge around the middle and he won more than his fair share of breaking ball once more. Even though the management felt that he couldn’t be risked from the start because he mightn’t finish, he was flying around the field at the end of extra-time.
When he is in possession, he uses it very wisely. He never wastes it and always waits to take the right option.
So we are now looking forward to a Munster final against Limerick in Killarney and it will be another big day for Fitzgerald Stadium, which is doing well in this year’s championship. First there was the Cork game and now the Munster final – two nice pay-days in the one season.
We will look at the game against Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s charges in more detail over the next few weeks. And it will also be interesting to see how Cork regroup and get on in the qualifiers.
They have the players but it’s a lack of belief and an ability to close out a game that is costing them.
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