Crazy stuff from the Oak Leafers!
After 40 minutes of Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final between Kerry and Armagh, the Ulster side found themselves up by five points following a super score from Rian O’Neill.
Just over 16 minutes later they were trailing the Kingdom by 10 points.
While this was largely down to some outrageous pointing, and two-pointing, from Seán O’Shea and David Clifford, their work was made easier by the tactics employed by the opposition.
In the end, it helped O’Shea finish with 0-12, with three two-pointers, and Clifford with 0-07, with two two-pointers.
Defensively, Armagh opted for a zonal defence, and from the match highlights below, you can see defenders unwilling to pressure the attackers beyond the two-point arc, allowing the Kingdom’s main men some relatively easy scores.
After the game, Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney said: “It was probably a disappointing 15 minutes, that’s what turned the tide,” McGeeney told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
“They (Armagh players) never stopped fighting so you have to give them credit. It was just a 15 minute period where Kerry were devastating and we just couldn’t get our hands on the ball in the middle.
“I think it was 11 out of our 13 kickouts (in that spell) that we lost. If you do that in this game, you have to commit for it and then you leave holes in behind.
“Seán (O’Shea), no matter what he hit, was putting them over and everybody else was joining in.
“It’s a 15 minutes you’d like to forget. But it happens in sport. We’ve done it ourselves against other teams, so you just have to take it on the chin and move on.
“For the first 45 minutes we were very well on top, but the only time to be on top really is at the end.”
