JACK O’CONNOR expects next weekend’s return to Croke Park to ease the pressure on his Kerry side after they held off a second-half resurgence from Cavan to take their place in the last eight of the Sam Maguire race.
David Clifford bagged a hat-trick in Killarney as the hosts put themselves on a quarter-final collision course with All-Ireland champions Armagh.
If Donegal and Galway advance from today’s meetings with Louth and Down respectively, Kerry will face the Orchard in a repeat of last year’s semi-final.
Although the Kingdom kept Cavan at arm’s length, their wastefulness in attack kept the door ajar for the visitors to reduce the gap to four points with 12 minutes remaining.
In the context of their shock defeat to Meath seven days earlier, O’Connor cited intensity and tackling as areas where his team showed improvement.
However, he also felt they ‘got a bit frantic at times and made poor decisions with the ball’ as they allowed Cavan to chip away at the ten-point half-time buffer.
O’Connor admitted: “There’s a lot of pressure on Kerry players from the supporters. That was a difficult environment for the lads to play football in today. After their performance last week, there was huge pressure on them to perform and that can be a difficult environment.
“Often it’s easier to go to Croke Park, away from home, and actually express yourself and play without fear and play with a bit of abandon. That’s what we’re planning on next weekend.”
Having played with the breeze, Kerry looked comfortable as they led by 2-12 to 0-8 at the interval. Clifford netted twice inside the opening 19 minutes and Cavan were also handicapped by a black card to Niall Carolan. But the Munster champions were repeatedly guilty of butchering goal chances.
Gavin White struck the post in the first half when he sought to raise a green flag. Dylan Geaney also gathered a rebound to tap over a point after Clifford’s first attempt to claim his hat-trick was kept out by Liam Brady, who made a string of fine saves.
Clifford left two more goal chances go to waste in the third quarter. Conor Geaney also had a couple thwarted and Graham O’Sullivan squandered one too.
At the other end, the Cavan charge was spearheaded by Paddy Lynch, whose final tally of 0-12 included four two-pointers.
When he landed a huge effort from nearly 50 metres out, the natives briefly grew restless at the sight of the 2-16 to 1-15 scoreline.
Evan Crowe had punched home a 51st-minute goal for Cavan which kickstarted a spell that saw them outscore the opposition by 1-6 to 0-1.
Clifford then gave Kerry more breathing room by finally claiming his third goal, having been teed up by Killian Spillane after Joe O’Connor saw another opportunity for his side foiled by Brady.
Cavan responded with a Lynch two-pointer but Kerry saw out the game by firing 0-5 without reply. That included a point for Leaving Cert student Tomás Kennedy, who came off the bench for his senior debut.
Injury-hit Kerry can now look forward to a first Croker date since their National League final win over Mayo.
O’Connor said: “It’s a great footballer’s pitch. It’s a huge pitch and there’s space there and that’s why you want to play football.
“This is a good pitch here in Fitzgerald Stadium as well. I just thought there were times today when it looked like the pressure got to the lads a bit and they didn’t express themselves the way they could have.”
The Kerry boss lamented the latest injury setback to namesake Diarmuid O’Connor, who was forced off after injuring his shoulder in the throw-in. He joins Mike Breen, Tony Brosnan, Paul Geaney and Barry Dan O’Sullivan on the sidelines.
Kingdom chief O’Connor also responded to comments from Darragh Ó Sé, who claimed ‘the mood isn’t great’ in Kerry and that Armagh will bring their season to an end next time out.
O’Connor said: “Darragh would be as well off now to go away and do a bit of coaching himself.”
KERRY: S Ryan 0-3, 1tpf, 1 ‘45; P Murphy, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; B Ó Beaglaioch, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, S O’Brien; J O’Connor, G O’Sullivan 0-1, S O’Shea 0-4, 1tp, 1f; C Geaney 0-1, D Clifford 3-7, 2tp, 1f, D Geaney 0-2.
Subs: M O’Shea for D O’Connor 3 mins, D Casey for Morley 43, P Clifford for C Geaney 56, K Spillane 0-1 for D Geaney 56, E Looney for G O’Sullivan (temp) 61-ft, T Kennedy 0-1 for Ó Beaglaioch
CAVAN: L Brady; C Reilly, N Carolan, B O’Connell; J McLoughlin 0-1, C Brady, P Faulkner 0-1; E Crowe 1-0, O Kiernan 0-2, 1tp; D McVeety, G Smith, O Brady; S McEvoy, P Lynch 0-12, 2tp, 2tpf, 4f, C O’Reilly.
Subs: L Fortune for Reilly 8 mins, C Madden for McEvoy 43, R O’Neill 0-1 for O Brady 56, R Donohoe for McLoughlin 60, K Brady for O’Connell (temp) 64-66.REFEREE: J Henry (Mayo)
