by Adam Moynihan

Stephen O’Brien’s disallowed goal. Seán O’Shea’s pass to David Clifford. Peter Harte’s block on Killian Spillane. Paudie Clifford’s fisted effort. The rebound from Darragh Canavan’s shot. Jack Barry’s attempted clearance. Tommy Walsh’s final kick.

If any one of those individual moments had gone Kerry’s way, we could well be looking forward to an All-Ireland final next weekend.

But as fine as the margins were, the bottom line is that the performance itself was not good enough to get the job done, and no one will be feeling that sting as keenly as the players themselves, and the management. Where they are this week is a rough spot to be in. I suppose having people like me sifting through the wreckage of their broken dreams will do little to help in that regard.

This is Kerry, though. Standards are high (often unrealistically so), and that’s why we’re still on top of the honours list.

So, let us sift.

WANTING IT

During RTÉ’s coverage of the match, Pat Spillane said that Tyrone “wanted it more”. He even insisted that Cathal McShane scored his goal because he wanted to get to the rebound more than his marker, Jason Foley, did. With all due respect to Pat, who is one of the greatest Kerry players of all time, that, to my mind, is a truly abysmal piece of analysis.

First of all, to say that Jason Foley didn’t want to get to that loose ball as much as McShane did is ridiculous. The ball popped up directly to the Tyrone man and there was nothing Foley or anyone else could have done about it. “Wanting it” didn’t enter into the equation.

Spillane’s wider point about Tyrone wanting it more is nonsense too. Kerry put in a huge shift and they showed great heart to fight back from five down in ET to almost force penalties. Saying that a team didn’t want it as much as the opposition is effectively saying that they didn’t try hard enough.

I would like to see the look on the Kerry players’ faces if Spillane made his way down to the sideline during extra time and shouted, “Come on, lads! Try harder!”

CULTURE

What I will say is that the Tyrone team’s culture, particularly their defensive culture, allowed them to go to a place that Kerry simply could not. I firmly believe that Kerry gave their version of 100% effort without the ball, but their version of 100% is different to Tyrone’s. The Ulster champions were absolutely ravenous on Saturday, smothering Kerry’s ball-carriers and tackling with ferocious intensity.

(I must say, I thought the referee’s fairly lax enforcement of the laws of the game favoured the Red Hand in this regard. That sounds like sour grapes, and I suppose it is, but it was a factor on the day.)

This ferocity was the winning of the game for Tyrone. They all but nullified the threat of Kerry’s playmaker, Paudie Clifford (although Paudie kept battling and was influential during extra time), they forced turnover after turnover, and, ultimately, they kept a clean sheet. Seeing Tyrone aggressively repel Kerry at one end while cheap goals were shipped at the other probably prompted a lot of Kerry fans to think, “why can’t we do that?” And it could well be where Spillane was coming from with his comments.

It was not due to a lack of effort, though, or not caring. To my mind Kerry’s defensive problems boil down to not having (A) a defensive structure that’s fit for purpose and (B) the right defensive culture.

The former is a coaching issue and whoever is in charge of Kerry in 2022 needs to nail that down as quickly as possible.

The latter is more nebulous but, in short, it appears to me as though some of the players don’t revel in defending like players from the other top teams do. Runs from deep go unchecked or untracked. Holes are not plugged. Marks are not left on opposition dangermen. And there is a distinct absence of what can loosely be termed as the Dark Arts. This mindset of absolute ruthlessness has to come from the top down. I just don’t see enough evidence of it in this current Kerry team.

SPOILERS

The panel is overflowing with ballers, but there is a shortage of spoilers. Players who are willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to prevent the opposition from scoring. Tyrone seemed to have a panel full of those guys last weekend. They stopped runs at the source. They interrupted Kerry’s gameplan using any means necessary. They were cynical, and they rejoiced in that cynicism. They took joy from the notion that they might destroy their opposite number’s day and Kerry’s year.

Mayo have players like this who will step over the line if needs be. Dublin have them. Cork had them last November. Kerry don’t, and they don’t appear to have the culture in place that will promote or encourage these types of individuals either.

Until Kerry unearth a spoiler or two, or at least cultivate a culture that will motivate some of their players to spoil, they will always be susceptible to ambushes by teams who are, in pure footballing terms, inferior to them.

Engaging in the Dark Arts might not get you into Heaven but I would have thought that for a Kerry footballer, Heaven is sitting in a rural pub the Tuesday morning after an All-Ireland with Sam Maguire on the table staring up at you.