Kerry - end of an era?

The defeat to Down last year was dismissed by many as an anomaly, but the sight of Kerrymen out on their feet in the last 10 minutes of this year's all-ireland final must surely indicate that this great Kerry side is in need of major rebuilding.

I always hear that Kerry will always be challenging given their traditions, but this wasn't the case in the decade following the break up of the last great side from the Kingdom, and I wonder will it be different on this occasion.

My own opinion is that Kerry will struggle in the short term, although this could be off-set to a degree by the lack of quality in general. Still, I feel certain that Kerry's constant presence in all-ireland finals will not be maintained over the next 4-5 years.

I would tend to agree. People have written Cork off far too easily this season conveniently forgetting that they had an injury list that would have troubled Kerry, Dublin or anyone else. I expect them to come back very strongly next year so Kerry will find it hard to even win Munster.

But there are creaks and cracks in the Kingdom. In fairness some of their maligned defenders stepped up to the mark in the Final but will they be able to find that level and consistency of performance in games in Munster or even the backdoor next season? I doubt it.

In addition there is a lot of disquiet in Kerry following the Final and this will bubble under for quite some time. And there will be more. Some of the players are bound to give opinions that will be blown up, rightly or wrongly, by the media. To me Kerry are a bit like Meath. Defence is poor, midfield ordinary but have great forwards.

It is also hard to see players coming through, eg Barry John Keane wouldn't make me tremble, but then you never know with Kerry. But I think they will struggle over the next four or five seasons too. Can't see them disappearing like Cavan though.

No I dont think so. Yes I agree that Cork will be therabouts next year as in general they are a young team. Kerry have Shane Enright,David Moran,Daniel Bohane plus a few more lads who may prove their worth. Would hopefully try and find a full back and release Marc O'Se to half back line as he is too good of a player to be playing in a confined role.Next year I expect the main contenders to be Cork,Kerry,Dublin and Donegal with Kildare and Tyrone having an outside chance. Nothing much more there.

It is not a given that these lads will make the grade or reach the standard required of playing for the Kingdom. Seems to me that Jack trusted the old guard more which doesn't bode well. If these guys were better than some of the lads who were 'creaking' why weren't they started? Remember it took Darran O'Sullivan quite a few years to develop into a starting player.

Galvin too seems to be the other side of his best.

With regard to next year's challengers I am not sure Tyrone will be strong enough and Donegal's style is no surprise any more and its very hard to retain the Anglo Celt. I expect if Mayo continue their progress under Horan and they may be at least a QF team.

I think that Kerry are about to enter a similar boat to the one that Tyrone are in, in that they have some young lads who look promising, but whether or not they are good enough to carry a team is another matter.

For example, RKF mentions Enright and Bohane, both of whom have shown promise. However, it is easy for a young lad to look good alongside Tomas O'Se or Tom O'Sullivan, but a lot tougher when he has to be the leader himself. Kerry's defence have 5 players who will be over 30 by next year, 4 of which (Tomas, O'Sullivan, Brosnan & O'Mahony) must all be thinking seriously about retirement. You can't replace players like that overnight.

Up front, I would worry a bit about Donaghy, and a lot about Galvin. I've always been a big Donaghy fan, but although he was brilliant in the AIF, his form in general has been patchy over the last couple of years. He needs to be more consistent. Galvin looks a shadow of the player he was 2 years ago and, at almost 32, his best days look to be behind him. Donnacha Walsh is no better or worse than what most other counties have in a wing forward role.

As for what might come in, David Moran has a lot of ability, but I've never seen him as a future star. He looks like he is playing the a game with the time and space that his father enjoyed. Beyond that, O'Leary has shown flashes this year, and Keane is game, but limited.

The big difference between Micko's Kerry team and this one is that the latter will have the backdoor to fall back on.

Even after 1986, when Cork began to dominate the province of Munster, Kerry were still the second best team down there (apart from Clare's aberration in 1992). But Cork won seven Munsters in nine years, contesting five finals in that time and winning two of them, meaning Kerry had it barren for around 10 years.

So even if this Kerry team do regress, it's unlikely any of Clare, Limerick, Tipperary or Waterford will overtake them. Provided the draw is kind, Kerry can keep on losing to Cork in Munster Finals and still comfortably qualify for All-Ireland Quarter-Finals with one win.

I don't think they will keep on appearing in All-Ireland semi-finals and All-Ireland finals at their current rate but they'd want to slip back an awful lot, not to get at least one game in Croke Park every year.

TC I must admit that after the Down defeat last year I felt we would be in the wilderness for a couple of years.Well this year the team came so close to an All Ireland title that I am having a rethink. I know Tomas,Tom and Aiden will proably go but they were not the the most prominent players during the year.Anthony Maher and Brian Sheehan surprised me with improvement at mid field, Darren's blistering form was also a plus. Well I still think they will give it a rattle but I fancy Cork for 2012 title.

Rumours of Kerry's demise are being greatly exagerated

I know what you are saying RKF, but I'd be hesitant about reading too much into the AIF. Last year Tyrone dominated Dublin for 60 minutes before we ran out of steam. We kicked 19 wides that day and dropped another 8 short. But Tyrone were a side on the way down at that time, and Dublin were on the way up. This year, they were miles better than us, to the shock of a lot of Tyrone fans who had expected something similar to 2010.

While Kerry were within 5 minutes of an All Ireland this year, that could well be the closest they get for a while. I agree that Kerry won't fade away, and accept Loyal's point about the back door, but they still need to find and blood new players. Maybe they are there, maybe they aren't. But Kerry won't really know what they have until next summer, and that is the first time in over a decade that they've been in that position.

Re: Kerry - end of an era?
Thomas Clarke Today at 3:08 pm

.I know what you are saying RKF, but I'd be hesitant about reading too much into the AIF. Last year Tyrone dominated Dublin for 60 minutes before we ran out of steam. We kicked 19 wides that day and dropped another 8 short. But Tyrone were a side on the way down at that time, and Dublin were on the way up. This year, they were miles better than us, to the shock of a lot of Tyrone fans who had expected something similar to 2010.


QOTW great stuff tyrone dominated Dublin 2010 hard to disagree with that

Good to see 'Ollie' has his little friend back

Kerry are like Dracula – extremely hard to kill off and, even then, they won’t stay dead! What I think people are overlooking in Munster is Tipperary. Tipperary have always had a strong football tradition and their All-Ireland winning minors of this year were an extremely hard-working bunch with some talent. And they are ambitious, too, already targeting the all-Ireland senior title of 2015!

I think Loyal raises a very valid point here regarding the backdoor. Without a second chance i would say this Kerry team would be finished, much like Tyrone. However such is the lack of quality in the country the only two teams you could say are ahead of Kerry are Cork and Dublin. And so if both those teams were out of the picture come the business end of the season you would fancy Kerry to take any of the other teams in the country (except of course their nemesis Tyrone!!!!)

I agree they are on the way down but they have had an uncanny nack of being there or thereabouts even though their success at underage hasnt been much to write home about. With a forward like Cooper i wouldn't write them of just yet, though if he were to suffer any form of injury or suspension if would be game over for them.

Might be the end of some players but Kerry will be back again next year.

As long as the provincials exist, and as long as Kerry get their passport to the latter stages of the tournament via a generally poor Munster Championship, they will always be contenders. They will win countless more Munster titles, thus perpetually being able to size themselves up against the best in the country ....thus giving them the long season experience that is necessary to be consistent contenders.

bluearmy1 wrote:As long as the provincials exist, and as long as Kerry get their passport to the latter stages of the tournament via a generally poor Munster Championship, they will always be contenders. They will win countless more Munster titles, thus perpetually being able to size themselves up against the best in the country ....thus giving them the long season experience that is necessary to be consistent contenders.

Well in Munster over recent years we had two of the best of three teams in the country. Leinster at at most two good counties,Connacht nil,leaving Ulster as the only competitive provence for their title.So that argument does not stand up