Kerry's subs were negative - Donaghy

November 09, 2020

Former Kerry footballer Kieran Donaghy. ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

Kieran Donaghy says Kerry took too much of a defensive approach in yesterday’s Munster SFC semi-final loss to Cork.

The Kingdom crashed out of the race for the Sam Maguire Cup after Mark Keane’s goal in extra time injury-time gave the Rebels a 1-12 to 0-13 victory at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Speaking on Off The Ball on Monday morning, four-time All-Ireland winner examined where it went wrong for Peter Keane’s charges.

"I look at the shape. Was it so much different to what we did versus Monaghan and Donegal? I don't think so. It was a solid enough 12 or 13 behind the ball trying to leave David Clifford or Tony Brosnan close to goal, trying to push people down the sidelines, like most people are playing really.

"I don't think it's necessarily a huge change of style. Kerry are following their men, and that's the way the game is played. Half backs and fullbacks are expected to bomb forward. I think when you look at the shape versus Donegal and Monaghan, I don't think it was overly different yesterday.

"I think where Kerry management got it wrong was the personnel, possibly showing them too much respect. And that's beat into us because we're going against Cork for 100 years, and it's not easy.

"The personnel change of Brian Ó Beaglaoich for Stephen O'Brien was a backstep, Ronan Buckley starting was a backstep in my eyes because he's seen as a third midfielder or workhorse. And that's fine for teams that don't have quality forwards, but we have quality forwards.

"Kerry's subs yesterday were negative. Maybe they were forced by the situation with the black cards on management. The only positive sub we made was Kilian Spillane, everything else was defensive.”


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