Kerry v Armagh player ratings as 'different level' leadership hailed
Jack O'Connor hailed Sean O'Shea's "different level" leadership after the Kenmare star kicked Kerry past Armagh and into an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Tyrone in a fortnight.
O'Shea hit 12 points at Croke Park in Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final as the Kingdom emphatically avenged last year's defeat in the final four by Kieran McGeeney's men.
A stunning 10 of those 12 points came from play, with O'Shea nailing three two pointers - all from play - and not having a single miss from nine shots.
Astonishing figures. Beyond a statistician's wildest dreams.
What the stats don't show is O'Shea's response after Rory Grugan crashed to the Kerry net on 28 minutes to put Armagh ahead for the first time, after Dylan Casey erred in backed off a Shane Ryan short kickout, which was dribbling out of the arc.
Ryan immediately put the ball down and seconds later, up at the other end, O'Shea kicked for one point. Soon afterwards, he launched over a two pointer, meaning he'd effectively wiped out the goal in less than three minutes.
Armagh gave O'Shea far too much space, probably preoccupied with closing off David Clifford's goal threat, and he took full advantage, shooting the lights out, while goalkeeper Ryan was superb, making an incredible fingertip save from Tiernan Kelly in the first half.
"He's (O'Shea) just such a genuine young fella,' said O'Connor. 'Just the way he speaks and the way he commands the dressing room. David (Clifford) 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 (Kerry captain) or anything, Gavin was fantastic today, but Seánie is on a different level as regards leadership. He's the spiritual leader of that group.
"The game Seán O'Shea had there, when that was a game in the first half and halfway through the second half, that man put in some display.'
Paudie Clifford didn't start, but his introduction at half-time was a game changer as he shot two points and handled an amount of ball.
Joe O'Connor was immense after moving to midfield after Mark O'Shea went off, and the man who replaced O'Shea, Micheal Burns, was also instrumental in the win.
O'Connor and Burns kicked two points from play apiece in the second half, with O'Connor also fielding ball and making big turnovers.
At one stage Kerry didn't miss with 11 shots on the bounce. It looked like they might levitate, they were in such a state of flow.
And David Clifford, who had been held to one point from play in the first half by Barry McCambridge suddenly came alive after missing a two point effort, to launch over six points - including two two pointers from play - to finish with seven points.
It's probably no coincidence that David Clifford started to tick with his older brother on the field.
Gavin White was immense too, showing for short kickouts, an area Kerry were far better in than Armagh when it came to the pressure points in the second half. White hit two points from play and his half back colleague, Brian Ó Beaglaoich hit two more
Jack O'Connor could hardly have anticipated they would win nine of 10 Armagh kickouts at one point, to set the platform for their flowing attacking play as Ethan Rafferty and his regular targets struggled to gain a foothold in the game.
'David was really good again,' said O'Connor. 'Paudie coming in at half-time. He's a high-calibre player and it just gave everybody a lift.
'Once he got the ball in his hands, you knew he was going to do something with it. It's funny the way things happen.
"But we were fairly sure leaving the hotel this morning that we were going to give this a real rattle.
'We just need to steady up now and get our feet back on the ground. It's a big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week.
"But obviously the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. They've seen it happen before.
'They saw it happen in 2006. They saw it happen in 2009. Kerry is a proud county and we weren't going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight. We saw that fight out there today.
"We were fairly sure that the performance above in Tullamore (loss to Meath) was not us. We were missing some key players that day and things just went awry on us and the game slipped away.
"Plus, Meath are a good team. They showed that out there (against Galway). I think it was a combination of us not being up to scratch and Meath playing very well and showing the calibre of a team they are.
"But we were fairly sure that wasn't the real Kerry. Maybe we were trying to lull ye all into a false sense of whatever. It worked anyway."
"I don't think too many people outside the camp saw that performance there. But we were very, very determined.
'There was ferocious determination in the camp that we weren't going to let the season fizzle out after the Meath game.
"It may have been difficult for Armagh not to listen to the outside noise where we were being written off and they were being written up."
And Kerry did it without Diarmuid O'Connor, Paul Geaney, Mike Breen, Tadhg Morley and Tony Brosnan, while they also lost Tom O'Sullivan after 24 minutes.
Armagh never fired, bar the superb Oisin Conaty, who carried the fight with six points from play and might well land an All Star for his heroics this summer.
Jarlath Óg Burns was next best and his 10 minutes on the sideline with a blood injury coincided with Kerry's spell of utter dominance.
We wondered what Kerry would be like in the open spaces of Croke Park with the new rules in a knockout championship game where they were written off.
The answer was emphatic. They already have the League title and the Munster Championship. They'll fancy themselves to add the big one to their already impressive 2025 haul.
Ethan RAFFERTY 0-2 (2pf) 6
Paddy BURNS 6
Barry MCCAMBRIDGE 6
Peter MCGRANE 6
Ross MCQUILLAN 5
Tiernan KELLY 0-1 6
Jarlath Og BURNS 0-2 (tp) 7
Niall GRIMLEY 5
Ben CREALEY 5
Darragh MCMULLAN 0-1 6
Rory GRUGAN 1-0 5
Joe MCELROY 0-2 7
Oisin CONATY 0-6 (1tp) 8
Andrew MURNIN 6
Rian O'NEILL 0-6 (1tpf, 1 45) 7
SUBS: Jason Duffy 6 for Grimley 50mins, Conor Turbitt 6 for McQuillan 50mins, Aidan Forker 6 for Kelly 53mins, Cian McConville 6 for Crealey 56mins, Shane McPartlan for Grugan 66mins.
Shane RYAN 8
Paul MURPHY 7
Jason FOLEY 7
Dylan CASEY 5
Brian Ó BEAGLAOICH 0-2 8
Gavin WHITE 0-2 8
Tom O'SULLIVAN 6
Seán O'BRIEN 6
Mark O'SHEA 6
Joe O'CONNOR 0-2 8
Seán O'SHEA 0-12 (3tp, 2fs) 9
Graham O'SULLIVAN 0-2 7
David CLIFFORD 0-7 (2tp) 8
Conor GEANEY 5
Dylan GEANEY 0-1 7
SUBS: Evan Looney 6 for T O'Sullivan (inj) 24mins, Paudie Clifford (0-2) 8 for C Geaney ht, Micheál Burns (0-2) 8 for O'Shea 50mins, Killian Spillane for D Geaney 62mins, Tomás Kennedy for G O'Sullivan 69mins.
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