So far, watching the championship play out, one of the most used words in commentary and punditry is “energy”. It is being mentioned constantly. Jack O’Connor used it after Kerry won Munster on Sunday and he said that peaking was now “more psychological than physical”.
It made me think about energy. Used in a general sense, this word can be hard to define but teams and spectators can tell when it’s there and often more importantly, when it’s not.
We are in year three of the championship restructure and at the moment there are players who have been more or less at it, full tilt for the past 24 months – on the treadmill of county, followed by club and college.
Then at the end of one cycle, the national league restarts and that’s now so important for championship that they are being hurried back to begin again.
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No wonder then that when you look at Galway and Mayo and Kerry in their last two matches and Dublin against Meath, Armagh versus Down, and Derry – big teams that we expect to be up at eight or nine on an energy scale of 10 – they’re only registering six or seven.
We saw small glimpses of Galway up around nine in the last 10 minutes on Sunday but that was after 60 minutes of being no better than a six.
Are they trying to peak for latter stages, knowing that coming out all engines running at the start of the year isn’t a realistic option? Are management being more pragmatic because they can’t keep this up throughout the season and need to taper a small bit?
Is there even a full understanding or consensus on how to handle these new seasons and their intense scheduling? Are teams still finding their way through all of the revised demands to get to full throttle for the Super 16?
I have sympathy because I know that to throw out what is required for a 70-minute game is physically and mentally draining and requires every gramme of your focus. Players are extremely fit and well-conditioned but they are also amateurs, expected not just to do this but do it again, a week later.
It’s why I had such reservations about Donegal against Tyrone. Think of everything they had to do to bring the surprise against Derry in Celtic Park and how exhausting it must have been to go to, say, level nine. I couldn’t see how they would get back to it in a week and would level seven be enough?
Toss of a coin: it was a one-point game in the end.
It will be interesting to see Derry, Galway and Kerry in the round-robin stages – three teams in a similar position although having got there in different ways. Galway have players coming back. Look at Seán Kelly on Sunday. We’re used to him as a ball of energy but he was largely anonymous.
Again, I’m fully sympathetic. He’s had a terrible year, ravaged with injuries and a lot of activity, coming in and coming out and then trying to get to the pitch of a championship game. It’s difficult. I remember trying to do it in 2012 and missing the opening round of Ulster before being thrown in against Derry.
You’re there mentally but physically, a small bit off it. Sunday will bring on Seán Kelly significantly.
Going back to those three teams, it will be interesting to see their next games. I think we can take it that Derry aren’t here by design but now have a six-week mini-league for themselves, three group matches with three or four knockouts possibly to follow.
Can Mickey Harte restore the sense of dynamism and purpose that made them the best team in the league? They play Galway next and energy levels cannot be dipping for that.
Galway’s players have been held back by injury but are starting to return and will be absolutely mad for road having won a Connacht title and fully ready to wrestle for the jersey. They too need to go up through the gears.
One of the reasons it was interesting to hear Jack O’Connor talking about peaking is that I think Kerry have been minding themselves this year with a view to bigger challenges down the line. Even in the league you got a sense of “let’s hold the rope on these fellas” to try to generate a bigger bang when they’re let slip.
It strikes me that teams are rolling the dice a small bit to try to get to the serious stuff in optimum condition. Derry may well have taken that chance but it didn’t fall in their favour. Kerry rolled it but it wasn’t an issue, as they got through Munster without undue fuss.
The draw has left them still short of top-quality opposition, as their group doesn’t look like it will contain a Division One county. I don’t think that will hinder them because they’re experienced enough to know that even though they’re not playing top sides, they still absolutely have to start bringing it from now on.
They got lucky last year when Mayo didn’t push through on the advantage they gained when winning the group match in Killarney and ended up with an awful schedule of Galway and Dublin while Kerry went straight to the last eight and were paired with a completely misfiring Tyrone.
Because of injury, Galway didn’t really have dice to roll but they have picked up momentum and will want to prioritise getting minutes into their returning players as they attempt to hit higher levels in the weeks to come.
If energy has become a key concept in general, the key concept for Armagh appears to be that their time has come. Everything points towards it, such as the way they’ve navigated Division Two promotion, even if they lost the league final to Sunday’s opponents. They have improved the defence, making it even stronger and have managed to win games in different ways.
It’s now 10 years into Kieran McGeeney’s management and he has all of his players back on the field now, including Ethan Rafferty. Blaine Hughes has done incredibly well in his absence but for me, Rafferty was Armagh’s best player last year. If your best player from 10 months ago is fit and available, he starts – especially in the biggest match of McGeeney’s tenure.
They’re in an Ulster final as lively contenders. I keep going back to that front eight: Ben Crealey, Rian O’Neill, Soupy Campbell, Rory Grugan, Conor Turbitt, Oisín Conaty, Andrew Murnin and Jarly Óg Burns. That’s a strong octet that they’ve been waiting to get back together and they have now had them for the last couple of games.
Clones and the claustrophobic nature of an Ulster final in conjunction with the defensive style that Armagh are comfortable executing will all contribute to what may well become a slugfest of a game.
I think it will come down to whoever is more efficient in attack. Both teams will defend with 15 behind the ball, so it will likely become a matter of who has the willingness to take men on and get by them or pulled down for a free, which sounds a bit disastrous for an Ulster final, but I think that will be the reality.
Donegal have the flexibility in their middle eight and even their inside line to play in different positions, which might cause Armagh problems in terms of dragging them around the field but it feels as if there’s a lot more riding on it for Armagh, which sometimes in these big, evenly matched games can make the difference.
It’s fair to say from Donegal’s perspective that they’ve already got where they need to be: they’ve beaten a Derry side who won the league and have been Ulster champions for the past two years, and a week later Tyrone, an established Division One side with some excellent players.
For the maturity of this group, reaching the Ulster final has been a brilliant immersion in tough matches against quality opposition. There’s no doubt that they will be gung-ho to win it and after beating Armagh in the Division Two final, will have confidence in their ability to do it.
But this is where Armagh have already been – a year ago they nearly won Ulster, challenging Derry to the point where they needed a penalty shoot-out to retain their title. That’s a lot of conditioning at this level.
Jim McGuinness is 10 months into his project; Kieran McGeeney is 10 years into his. Timing is important and for me, it is clicking into place for Armagh.
