ON A day when pundits who labelled Kerry a one-man band were given cause to change their tune, Armagh were the ones left to face the music.
The Kingdom hit all the right notes during a blistering second half that saw them rack up 0-19 to end the Orchard’s reign as All-Ireland champions.
With their team in the ascendancy at the interval, Armagh fans may have hoped that their 1-11 to 0-13 interval advantage was a good omen.
That was the final score last July when Kieran McGeeney led his county to the Sam Maguire for just the second time in their history.
Rían O’Neill and Oisín Conaty led the way as the holders pushed their advantage out to five points after the change of ends.
However, they failed to score again for more than 15 minutes. All the while, Kerry turned the screw and devoured Armagh’s kickout during the most phenomenal of purple patches.
With David Clifford and man of the match Seán O’Shea — who shared 0-17 from play — to the fore, Kerry hit an unanswered 0-14 and Armagh never recovered.
‘Geezer’ groaned: “It was just the 15-minute period where Kerry were devastating and we couldn’t get our hands on the ball.
“We probably made life difficult for ourselves on top of that, but that’s sport. You have to take your hat off when somebody is scoring like that.
“It was just one of those days. You make mistakes and you get punished for them. It’s 15 minutes you’d like to forget. We’ve done it ourselves to other teams. You have to take it on the chin and move on.”
It was sweet revenge for Kerry following last year’s semi-final defeat.
But more importantly for boss Jack O’Connor, it was a display that laughed in the face of the criticism his men have faced since the defeat by Meath a fortnight earlier.
O’Connor said: “A Kerry team written off in Croke Park are dangerous because it just takes a bit of the heat off.
“It allows them to play with a kind of freedom and abandon. That’s what you saw there.
“Our mantra this morning was we have to flip the script. The script has been written that Armagh have this game won and we have to flip that script.
“Every breaking ball you win, every turnover you win, every score is a chip off the block and it’s a way of flipping that script. We did it block by block.”
Despite dealing with an extensive injury list, Kerry stormed into an All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone on the weekend of July 12-13.
INJURY ‘CRISIS’
No part was played at Croker by Paul Geaney, Mike Breen, Tadhg Morley, Diarmuid O’Connor, Tony Brosnan or Barry Dan O’Sullivan.
Tom O’Sullivan limped off in the first half and Paudie Clifford was only fit enough to be subbed on at the break.
Still, O’Connor acknowledged that his introduction ‘gave everybody a lift’ and the Fossa man had a big impact as the Munster champions seized control.
SILENCING CRITICS
In his post-match press briefing, the Kerry gaffer also referenced a mention of Clifford’s younger brother David in an article penned by Joe Brolly.
He said: “One of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong. We were being portrayed as a one-man team.
“I saw somebody writing this morning that said the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. Now, David is a great player but David will tell you that there was a fair supporting cast there today.”
While it was Joe McElroy’s point after the hooter that sent Armagh into the break with the most slender of advantages, Kerry were the architects of their own undoing when the pivotal moment of the first half occurred in the 29th minute.
THE KINGDOM’S KEEPER
Throughout an otherwise excellent performance, Shane Ryan showed his class as he foiled Armagh goal attempts from Tiernan Kelly, Cian McConville and Barry McCambridge.
However, the Kerry keeper was punished for a weak kickout by seeing his net rattled by Rory Grugan.
As Dylan Casey waited for Ryan’s restart to clear the arc, Kelly stole in and fed Grugan to finish emphatically.
The score that put Armagh into the lead for the first time in the game was a shot in the arm for a team whose efficiency let them down early on.
Among the tally of five wides they hit in the first quarter were a botched goal chance for Darragh McMullan and two-point efforts by O’Neill and Ethan Rafferty.
UNEXPECTED HERO
Much of the pre-match analysis hinted that Kerry’s hopes of dethroning Armagh rested on the shoulders of David Clifford. Yet no man inflicted more damage than O’Shea.
The Kenmare man had eight points by the change of ends. The only placed ball in that tally left Kerry leading by 0-7 to 0-3 by the 15th minute.
He carried the fight again after the game’s only goal, hitting a single and a two-pointer that ensured Armagh’s 1-8 to 0-9 lead expired after little over a minute.
Thanks to McElroy and a Rafferty two-point free, Armagh were back in front at half-time. And things briefly looked ominous for Kerry as the Ulster men made a promising start to the second half.
But as Kerry pressed up, a tidal wave of attacks saw them dismantle an Armagh side who were suddenly in disarray.
THE TURNAROUND
From 0-14 to 1-16 behind in the 41st minute, Kerry were 0-28 to 1-16 in front by the 56th. Game over.
O’Connor explained: “We just got to grips with the Armagh kickout. That’s where we got the stranglehold and we drove on from there.
Whatever the boys said to themselves at half-time, they were fierce determined.
“We felt we played well in the first half but gave away a very bad goal that brought Armagh back into it. But we were getting pockets of space to kick scores.”
NOT A ONE MAN TEAM
On the performance of O’Shea, O’Connor added: “When that was a game in the first half and halfway through the second half, that man put in some display.
“He’s just such a genuine young fella and it’s just the way he speaks and the way he commands the dressing room. David is a one-off and he’s just a massive talent. But Seánie is just a very mature young fella who commands the room and commands the group.
“We missed him more than anyone in the Meath game when he wasn’t there. Not alone does he play well himself, he just commands the boys around him. He’s the leader on the field.
“Taking nothing away from any of the rest of them, Gavin White or anything, Gavin was fantastic today, but Seánie is on a different level as regards leadership. He’s the spiritual leader of that group.”
KERRY: S Ryan; D Casey, J Foley, P Murphy; B Ó Beaglaoich 0-2, G White 0-2, T O’Sullivan; S O’Brien, M O’Shea; J O’Connor 0-2, S O’Shea 0-12, 3tp, 2f, G O’Sullivan 0-2, D Clifford 0-7, 2tp, C Geaney, D Geaney 0-1.
Subs: E Looney for T O’Sullivan 24 mins, P Clifford 0-2 for C Geaney h-t, M Burns 0-2 for M O’Shea 49, D Moynihan for Burns b-s 55-57, K Spillane for D Geaney 63, T Kennedy for G O’Sullivan 69, TL O’Sullivan for Casey b-s 69-70.
ARMAGH: E Rafferty 0-2, 1tpf; P Burns, P McGrane, B McCambridge; R McQuillan, T Kelly 0-1, J Óg Burns 0-2, 1tp; N Grimley, B Crealey; R Grugan 1-0, J McElroy 0-2, O Conaty 0-6, 1tp; D McMullan 0-1, A Murnin, R O’Neill 0-6, 1tpf, 1’45.
Subs: J Duffy for J Óg Burns b-s 37-47 mins, Duffy for Grimley 50, C Turbitt for McQuillan 50, A Forker for Kelly 53, C McConville 0-1 for Crealey 56, S McPartlan for Grugan 66, C O’Neill for Murnin b-s 66-70.
REFEREE: B Cawley (Kildare).
