27-04-2025
Kerry have not embraced the benefits of the new gaelic football rules – it could cost them in the All-Ireland race
IF Kerry continue to turn their noses up at the new double-or-nothing opportunities presented by the new rules, it could prove costly when the stakes get higher.
A preference to feed inside forwards of the quality of David Clifford and Paul Geaney is understandable.
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David Clifford of Kerry reacts after his point, after the hooter, wasn't allowed during the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship semi-final against Cork
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
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Captain Graham Geraghty of the 1999 All-Ireland winning Meath football jubilee team at the All-Ireland Senior Championship Final
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
And they reaped the rewards by racking up 0-11 after just 23 minutes of last weekend's Munster semi-final against Cork.
But Jack O'Connor's side have yet to fully embrace the possibilities on offer outside the 40-metre arc.
Until Clifford kicked their only one of the night in the sixth minute of extra-time at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Kerry were on course to go without scoring a single two-pointer for the fourth game in succession.
By contrast, Cork stayed in the game because of their willingness to shoot from long range. Six two-pointers helped the Rebels get so close to pulling off a major upset.
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We have already seen countless examples of teams looking dead and buried, only to mount big comebacks with the aid of the extra points on offer by shooting from what would previously have been regarded as low-percentage zones.
In the long run, getting such an almighty scare at this early stage in the season might be the best thing that could have happened to Kerry, on the back of their National League success.
Having tipped them as my All-Ireland winners before the Championship began, events on Leeside did not quite cause me to regret that prediction.
But it certainly exposed a few chinks in their armour.
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One of the positives for Kerry was that they scored all but 0-1 of their 3-21 tally from play.
They are being rewarded for supplying their inside forwards and having the ambition to take the opposition on, which is something that you can only applaud.
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