Down prove too sharp for Kerry

FROM THE ARCHIVE 1968 ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL/Down 2-12 Kerry 1-13:Down boast the proud record of never having lost to Kerry in the Championship, with one of those victories clinching their third All-Ireland title win. Here is PADDY DOWNEY's match report on that game from September 23rd, 1968

THREE APPEARANCES in All-Ireland finals and a 100 per cent record of success – that now is the proud boast of the footballers from Down, who completed the unique hat-trick with a two-point victory over Kerry at Croke Park yesterday.

Four players – Joe Lennon, Sean O’Neill, Dan McCartan and Paddy Doherty – were members of the team that took the Sam Maguire Cup across the border for the first time in 1960, when Kerry also were beaten finalists.

Yesterday, this veteran quartet were joined by a dashing band of youngsters who proved too sharp and too fast for the Munster representatives in all the vital stages of the game.

For the winners, whose partisans in the 71,294 attendance outnumbered their rivals by two to one, this was the glorious culmination of a grinding campaign of preparation which began late last autumn and reached the halfway stage with victory in the National League last May.

For Kerry, who won the last of their 20 All-Ireland titles in 1962, it was a day of bitter disappoint-ment, the collapse of a dream. That dream had been nurtured since the former All-Irelander Jackie Lyne took over the training of the team five months ago and its fulfilment was regarded as essential not only to restore the county’s prestige, but to ensure the well-being of football at the grassroots in that old strong-hold of the game.

Though all the traditional atmosphere and excitement of this great sporting occasion were present, this was not an outstanding final. At times it was even pedestrian because of close, tough tackling and the tendency of both sides, in aerial tussles between both 50 yard lines, to break down the ball to the men waiting on the fringes of the battle.

Down, faster and more alert than their opponents, were the more frequently successful in picking up the breaks from this gambit and they set up many of their scoring movements after gaining possession when the ball flashed down from the hands of men straining for superiority in the air.

While their margin of victory was only two points, Down were worthy winners. They were vastly the superior team in the first half when their speed, combination and brilliant movements threw Kerry into chaos and might well have reaped a bigger lead than eight points (2-7 to 0-5) at the interval.

In this period we saw a team equal to the great Down sides who won the county’s two previous All-Irelands at the beginning of the decade. Kerry floundered as the northerners swept through the field in move after superb move and only the super optimists among the supporters of the Munster champions could have held out any hopes for their team at half-time.

It was strange, then, that Down lost so much of their sharpness and slackened almost fatally after the change of ends. Kerry improved, certainly, when they turned over with the fresh wind in their backs, but the change of fortunes which brought the losers a goal and eight points and Down only five points in the second half was probably a recurrence of a fault which caused grave difficulties for the Ulster champions in most of their major matches this year.

A factor in their decline may have been the retiral of the captain and left-half back, Joe Lennon, who pulled leg muscles early in the game and decided to withdraw from the battle at the interval. But it could have been only a minor cause of the general slackening, for Lennon had found the Kerry right-half forward, Brendan Lynch, a formidable opponent, even before his injury.

The Lynch threat to Down remained throughout the hour. Larry Powell, who replaced Lennon, was unable to cope with it and that highly accomplished footballer John Murphy, who had been one of the key figures in a wonderful attack in the first half, also failed to contain the Kerry youngster after he swapped positions with Powell at the start of the last quarter.

The game was won and lost in the first half, or, more precisely, in the first eight minutes, at the end of which Down led 2-3 to 0-1. That was a marvellous start in an All-Ireland final and virtual disaster for the side who suffered it.

The spree began when O’Neill pointed within 13 seconds of the throw-in. Jim Milligan made it a pair in two minutes and then Mick O’Connell pointed a free for Kerry. These were the preliminaries. The crucial blow came in the sixth minute and in retrospect now it can be said that it was the decisive incident of the game.

Peter Rooney punted high and accurately from 45 yards. O’Neill had sprinted inside the Kerry back line as the ball soared overhead and as it rebounded downwards off the left post and hit the ground a foot or two in front of the goal- line, the full forward got the sole of his foot to it and the goalkeeper,Johnny Culloty, was caught completely helpless as the ball flashed in for a goal.

Two minutes later, after Doherty had pointed a free, Down struck lethally again. Culloty saved a point-blank shot from O’Neill and the ball bounced out to a back, who cleared across the square.

For a moment, danger seemed to be averted, but the left-half forward, Murphy, appeared from nowhere to take the ball on his chest and his powerful drive from an acute angle on the left whistled across the square and crashed to the side of the net. Again, Culloty had no chance after his wonderful save seconds before. As it turned out, that was the end for Kerry.

Down rampaged through the field. At midfield Colm McAlarney was achieving something that didn’t seem possible before the game – the mastery of O’Connell. His height and reach were foiling the Valentia player’s endeavours to catch cleanly and when the ball broke down it was McAlarney, as often as not, who was whirling around to pick up the break.

On the other wing of the half-way line, Milligan was supplementing his partner’s invaluable work in his duel with Mick Fleming who, while he made a few spectacular catches, seemed too slow for an opponent whose forceful running and general alertness combined with McAlarney’s storming display to give Down complete control in this vital area.

This was a crippling setback for Kerry. With Doherty falling back frequently to make a third man in the middle, the winners’ attack was enabled to move through in full spate. For the spectators, it was a glorious sight to see them in action; for the hesitant Kerry defence, it was a hideous experience.

Kerry made a faint spurt midway through the half, scoring four points in the process. In this operation the centre forward, Pat Griffin, was the prime source of trouble to the Down defence but the Ulster champions’ mentors then made a switch which cut off the source of the trouble for a while.

They moved Tom O’Hare from left full to centre-half back and as Kerry’s pipeline was cut off, the Down midfield and attack got moving again. In the six minutes before half-time, they put over four vital points – two from Doherty and two from 50s by O’Hare, who took over this task from Lennon after the left-half back’s injury.

When half-time arrived it seemed to be all over. But we had reckoned without Down’s tendency to slacken and the simultaneous improvement in Kerry’s play. This was a Kerry revival, but it was only a shadow of the famous rallies that were associated with the Kingdom’s victories in the past. The appearance of Tim Sheehan for Sean Burrows had helped to steady the defence, and O’Connell and, to a lesser extent, Fleming were now turning back the tide at midfield.

But the promise which had appeared for southern supporters in the outfield was not carried through and translated into the scores which Kerry needed so badly early in this period.

They kicked eight wides to Down’s three in the period and enjoying a larger share of the attack, missed chances that Down in similar situations near goal would have turned to good account.

Yet Down always had the facility to hit back, even minimally, when serious danger threatened. For instance, when Kerry had cut their arrears to four points with 12 minutes to go (0-11 to 2-9) they broke away and Rooney streaked through for a point. After O’Dwyer had balanced this with a point from a free, Doherty and Rooney were again on the mark with points that stretched the lead to six.

In the event, those scores were almost as valuable as the first-half goals, for Kerry were then moving more purposefully than at any time in the game.

As they saw the chance of victory slipping away they launched a powerful late rally. This was near enough to the legendary comeback and after DJ Crowley, who had moved to midfield, sent over a point, Lynch rammed a 21-yard free just under the bar for a goal.

There were only seconds left then, but had that goal come five minutes earlier Down might not now be in possession of the Sam Maguire Cup. It may be said that the score, coming when it did, flattered the losers.

My opinion is that Kerry deserved it, because of the amount of possession that they commanded in the second half. Yet, when all the Kingdom’s hard luck stories of this period are told (and they were many), there is still no doubt at all that Down were worthy of their triumph.

The foundations of the victory were laid at midfield, and for that achievement McAlarney may fairly be rated the hero of the winning team.

He subdued O’Connell for most of 40 minutes, and thus smashed the mainstay of Kerry’s hopes. O’Neill was again splendid in the attack, both at full and centre forward, to which position he moved in a swap with Doherty late in the game.

Doherty, Rooney and Murphy rose to the inspiration that O’Neill provided in attack and John Purdy was always menacing, though well marked by Kerry’s Seamus Murphy while he played in the corner.

Strangely for him, Mickey Cole had a comparatively quiet hour and switched positions with Purdy in the second half. Milligan gave fine assistance to McAlarney at midfield while O’Hare, when at left full, was the outstanding figure in the winners’ defence.

Although he continued to battle valiantly, Kerry’s Griffin was too good for him in the second-half. George Glynn went on at midfield in the last nine minutes and in that spell, he, too, played a prominent part in the triumph.

Ray McConville and Willie Doyle also played solidly in the rear-guard, but, on the whole, there were serious weaknesses in this department which Kerry did not fully exploit when the chances came their way.

Danny Kelly did not have a very busy day in goal, but he dealt capably with anything that came his way. Seamus Murphy was head and shoulders above everyone else in the Kerry back lines. He covered acres of ground in his lion-hearted work and had the rest of his colleagues been in the same class, Down’s score would surely have been cut by half.

Next to him I would place the left half, Donie O’Sullivan, who played solidly and consistently all through. Tim Sheehan also per-formed soundly when he replaced Burrows. Paul O’Donoghue tried all he knew to handle the mercurial O’Neill, and performed a few meritorious feats, but over all, the task was too much for him because of a fatal weakness in the half-back line.

Culloty was wonderful in the losers’ goal. Three of his many saves were as brilliant as any in his career and with Murphy he shared the top honours on the Kerry team.Griffin, Lynch and Mick O’Dwyer were the most dangerous members of the Kerry attack, while Crowley was also a threat when in possession.

Generally, however, their movements were haphazard and slow and they paid the penalty of frittering away the chances that were presented in the second half.

In the end, it was Down’s day and no amount of discussion of the might-have-beens by Kerry now can alter that.

DOWN: D Kelly; B Sloan, D McCartan, T O’Hare (0-2, two 50s); R.McConville, W Doyle, J Lennon; C McAlarney, J Milligan (O-1); M Cole, P Doherty (0-5, 3f), J Murphy (1-O); P Rooney (0-2), S. O’Neill (1-2), J Purdy. Subs: L Powell for Lennon, G Glynn for Powell

KERRY: J Culloty; S Murphy, P O’Donoghue, S Burrows; Denis OSullivan, M Morris, Donal OSullivan; M O’Connell (O-2, 1f), M Fleming; B Lynch (1-2, 1-1f), P Griffin (0-3), E O’Donoghue; T Prendergast, DJ Crowley (O-1), M O’Dwyer (O-5, 5f). Subs: T Sheehan for Burrows, P Moynihan for Prendergast.

Referee: M Loftus (Mayo).