I thought Darren did fairly well today. He was the best of the inside line, without being spectacular. Now, as mentioned, that was largely down to Kerry being very deep, it meant that the best way to get scores was to shoot from outside so we did a lot of that (Coughlan hit 0-4 from play, Quinlan got 0-3, which really shows that).
But he won some difficult ball, got a point from play, won 3 frees I think, set up another couple of scores; one he did brilliantly to lay on a potential goal chance for Murphy off the shoulder. Pat Simon looked rusty, and overplayed the ball a bit; Murphy was in the withdrawn role and worked hard but didnāt hurl a huge amount of ball.
Now he shipped a heavy knock and was taken off towards the end, so hopefully itās nothing too serious as the last thing he needs is another injury.
Iāve always been a massive fan of his, but he showed why today. Won a lot of dirty ball and just used the ball well. Both our midfielders played similar roles today, supported on breaks and linked the play, but they didnāt really venture too far forward but linked well with the wing-backs overlapping outside them.
Did pick up a yellow for an unnecessary flick but got through an amount of work. Just needs to firm down a position at senior county level if he wants to make the breakthrough.
I was fairly disappointed with Kerry to be honest. They were so so deep, Limerick were just able to pick off scores from out the field under no real pressure. And Kerry had no presence up the field, they were seriously bad in possession.
I presume Molumphy was probably worried about getting a serious hammering, but Limerick are still fairly rusty and it was a mostly second-string team out. They could have pushed on a little bit and given it a bit of a better go, I think. Youāre only killing yourself if you have no outball.
Heās well able to score from distance in fairness to him, and Quinlan picked up 3 on the other side, who wouldnāt exactly be known for scoring loads of points from distance.
Yes, not much opportunity to impress for full forward line in terms of scoring. Iād say only about three points from play came from there. Workrate was good though.
Would any of the young lads have a chance of seeing championship time? Quilty or Coughlan etc. obviously CON will, and probably English if Gillane isnāt around for the year
Obviously hard to be certain and will depend on injuries, etc. Like I donāt think anybody expected Hanley and Boylan to get starts last year, and obviously we were fairly stretched on the bench at some point.
Coughlan has obviously previously seen gametime but fell back the pecking order last year, so he needs a big league to push himself up again (although Fitzgibbon might stall those chances a bit).
English has the potential alright but if he doesnāt get himself right for plenty of league opportunities, he might struggle as there are a huge number of inside forwards there.
I think Fergal OāConnor has a good chance of getting a bench spot but youāre hardly going to bring a corner-back on as a sub in Championship outside of injury (and will presumably still be behind Richie).
Coughlan looks like a beast but youād wonder if he has the mobility needed to play half back. Could see Quilty getting in as the first sub for the midfield scrapping role ahead of Robbie.
Thought he was a tad disappointing for the 20s last year.
Whatever about this year, thereās gonna be a serious scrap for forward places next year when OāBrien and OāConnor have bedded in. The 7 in a row is on cc @Locke
If he doesnāt (and it looks like he doesnāt to me) do you try and reinvent him as something else, because he has a lot of great qualities. A half forward perhaps.