Oisin McConville has praised Kerry’s ‘workmanlike’ victory over Dublin in yesterday's Allianz Football League Division 1, but thinks there could be consequences come September.
The Kingdom ended the Dubs’ 36-game unbeaten run by the slimmest of margins with a 0-20 to 1-16 victory in front of a 54,000 attendance at Croke Park.
And while McConville did anticipate the fight Kerry produced to claim the League title, the former Armagh All-Ireland winner can also envision a similar response from Dublin in this summer’s Championship.
McConville told RTÉ Sport: “I don’t think Dublin went into this game in any great form or anything like that.
“I think Kerry held all the aces in that they’d a huge hunger, they brought the fight to Dublin.
“I think you could see the fight off the pitch from Kerry during the week and then they brought that on the pitch yesterday"
“The benchmark with Dublin I suppose has been the middle of the field and Brian Fenton has been exceptional.
“Eamonn Fitzmaurice said about keeping him quiet and that was one of the things that they did.
“It was a bit more workmanlike I suppose from Kerry than we have seen. They don’t have the huge amount of flair that we’re used to with Kerry teams, Paul Geaney apart.
“They are all very, very workmanlike. They were first to the pitch of the ball yesterday and it was 60 minutes probably before Dublin really woke from their slumber.
“They didn’t really have that much energy and they were like a team that had won all those games and sometimes winning can make you a little bit soft.”
Kerry were clearly up for a battle yesterday, and the motivation amongst the squad was there for all to see. Tomás Ó Se spoke of an “edge” between the teams, while Fitzmaurice immediately turned his attentions to the challenge facing his side following their victory over Tyrone last week.
And McConville wasn't in the least bit surprised by their performance, saying: “It was obvious off the field that Kerry were going to bring a fight, they were going to bring something different – Tomás Ó Se backed that up with one of his articles yesterday.
“They probably do need to freshen it up a little bit with maybe a few new faces in there"
“I think you could see the fight off the pitch from Kerry during the week and then they brought that on the pitch yesterday.
“There was a huge challenge to those young lads and to be fair to them, they did really stand up. The likes of (Tadhg) Morley and David Moran and Geaney inside...
“They didn’t really have somebody like the Gooch that was going to unlock the defence, but they used their pace and they used their power and Dublin were found wanting in a lot of areas.”
However, McConville finished off with a word of warning for any counties out there with designs on the All-Ireland title this year.
“But it’s still in my mind that the bear may have been poked a little bit too much yesterday and we may be talking in September that this was the game that turned around Dublin’s season,” he said.
“They probably do need to freshen it up a little bit with maybe a few new faces in there. You see the impact of the likes of Paul Mannion and that had, so, they have plenty of aces like.
“Dublin losing didn’t keep me awake last night, I’m sure it didn’t keep them awake because they’ve a lot of players to come back in, they’ve a lot of options and Dublin are still the team to beat.”
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