How to dismantle the zone defence: reflections on Kerry’s Croke Park clinic
THE SILVER SYMBOL: Star man David Clifford with Kerry GAA head of athletic development Jason McGahan and Chairman Patrick O'Sullivan, mind the booty on the team's departure from Sallins and Naas on Monday. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
THE architecture for Sunday’s devastating All-Ireland final performance was a collaboration of minds and ideas in Camp Kerry. Both selector James Costello and coach Cian O’Neill have mentioned Jack O’Connor the delegator in terms of sharing the load and the lead on strategy. “He’s old school with a twist,” is how selector Aodán MacGearailt described it.
It helps when you have a freak like David Clifford as your offensive plus-one, but what of Donegal’s zone plus-one defence, and the questions its ‘malfunction’ left hanging in the ether on Monday? Most of the pre-final analysis indicated that, tactically, Donegal and McGuinness had Kerry down cold. In its wake, we are all a bit nonplussed.
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