Where will the game be won and lost?
With a place in the All-Ireland Football Final up for grabs, two titans of the game face off on Sunday with Mayo bidding to reach their third consecutive final, while Kerry will be hoping to reach their first decider since 2011.
The clash is mouth-watering for GAA fans and the prospect of the amazingly consistent (apart from the finals) Mayo side facing off against their bogey team, Kerry, is one that is sure to get the pulse racing a little quicker. Here are three of the key battles we’re really looking forward to.
Keith Higgins vs James O’Donoghue
There is probably no point beating around the bush here, this is the most important duel of the game. Since Colm Cooper has been injured Kerry seem to be relying more and more on the brilliance of young James O’Donoghue to provide that ‘spark’ in the forward line.
Mayo, on the other hand, often use the dogged Keith Higgins to stifle out the opposition’s main scoring threats, and over the years he has come up against many marquee forwards and come out on top. But this Sunday will arguably be his biggest test to date.
Will Mayo be able to limit the influence of James O’Donoghue?
O’Donoghue is the best forward in the country at the minute and claims that he will develop to be as good as or better than the Gooch are realistic claims. The Legion clubman destroyed an experienced Cork full back line in the Munster Final and caused havoc in a naïve Galway defence last time out.
Mayo will have to learn from the two approaches trialled by the sides so far. Mayo have a lot more presence of mind than Galway and will know that you simply can’t leave this man one-on-one with defenders in front of goal. They will need some kind of sweeper system in place if they want to stifle his influence on the game.
Higgins is undeniably a clever operator and a great man marker, but if he is abandoned by his teammates on Sunday, he will endure a torrid afternoon against the strength and pace of the Kerry man.
Rob Hennelly vs Brian Kelly
It may seem strange that you would include the goalkeepers as a potential key battle but they will be extremely important in the match on Sunday. In a game that has little separating the two sides, their kick outs and also their shot stopping could decide the game.
Rob Hennelly is a very good keeper and despite making an error in last year’s All-Ireland Final against Dublin, he more than made up for his blunder with a series of stunning saves. His kick outs are a big asset to the Mayo side due to their great length and reasonable accuracy. He will need to be razor sharp with his kick outs on Sunday if Mayo are to gain the advantage around the middle third of the field.
Rob Hennelly has been in great form for Mayo so far this season.
Brian Kelly is in his first season starting for the senior panel after a number of years playing second fiddle. The Legion clubman comes from a soccer background which makes him a brilliant shot-stopper but he has really struggled with his kick outs so far this season, most notably against Galway.
It is possible that Mayo may push up on the Kerry kick outs to increase the pressure on Kelly but to do this, the Connacht side must risk leaving themselves more open at the back, something they will loath to do with the aforementioned O’Donoghue lurking in attack.
Midfield/Centre Forward axis
Mayo threw a curveball at the Cork team in the quarter final when they named Donal Vaughan in midfield. The experiment worked exceedingly well and Vaughan is chalked down to start there again on Sunday alongside Seamus O’Shea.
With the two O’Shea’s in midfield last season, Dublin exposed Mayo’s lack of mobility in the middle third and Vaughan could be key this season to ensuring that it never happens again. Against Cork, Vaughan took on Aidan Walsh and totally outplayed the former All-Star, beating him at his own all-action and full of running game. If he can put in a repeat performance on Sunday and allow Aidan O’Shea to concentrate on attack, it should give Mayo a strong platform to launch for victory.
How big of a loss will Bryan Sheehan be for the Kingdom on Sunday?
Kerry are also strong in that area with Anthony Maher having a strong game against Cork and heavily influencing the Galway game. Bryan Sheehan is undoubtedly a huge loss to the side, he offers an attacking option and some balance to the team because Maher prefers to sit back and shield the half-back line to some extent. This could limit Kerry’s attacking options.
David Moran is named to start in midfield for the Kingdom but don’t be surprised to see Johnny Buckley having to drop back and do an extra shift around midfield to ensure that Mayo don’t dominate that area with the O’Shea brothers and Vaughan.
On paper it seems like Mayo have the edge in that area with Seamus O’Shea an All-Star candidate so far this year, but it should be a colossal struggle between two of the best sides in the country and it could go either way.
All roads lead to Croke Park on Sunday, we predict a close game and whoever edges it on the three areas we’ve highlighted above should win the game. Here’s hoping for a cracker.
