Former Kerry manager Eamon Fitzmaurice believes Donegal showed their hand too early in the Division One final when they dominated the Kingdom, leading to concerns for this weekend's All-Ireland series opener against Kerry.
The former Kerry boss believes Jim McGuinness' men may have shown what they're all about far too early. Kerry 's Keith Evans reacts after Donegal 's Conor O'Donnell shoots to score his side's first goal of the match in the League final.
Former Kerry manager Eamon Fitzmaurice believes Donegal may have shown their hand too early when they dominated the Kingdom in the Division One final back in March.marked the first match between the 2025 All-Ireland finalists at GAA HQ since that final, a final which saw Donegal widely criticised for not pushing out and putting pressure on Kerry outside the two-point arc.to run the show from centre-forward, and also allowed for Kerry to pick off two pointers seemingly at will, landing five in the final to Donegal's zero. When they faced off in March, Donegal came with a completely different plan.
They pushed out on Kerry, smothered them and obliterated them on the counter-attack. , and Fitzmaurice now fears the Ulster giants may have revealed their hand in that league final against Kerry, with the two counties set to meet this weekend in an All-Ireland series opener.
"In the league final, Donegal clearly corrected some of their issues that they had in the previous year’s All-Ireland final,""Two-pointers in the All-Ireland final, Kerry had five, Donegal had none. In the league final, Kerry got one, Donegal got four.
"In terms of the way they defended, they pressed out, they didn’t allow the Paudie Clifford situation to develop like it developed in the All-Ireland final, even though Paudie wasn’t playing in that league final obviously. " Continuing, the All-Ireland winning boss of 2014 said "Last year they would be willing to give up one of the corners when they were defending set attacks; for the league final they used Gavin Mulreany as an extra body in front of the square.
"They got turnovers that led to goals, which didn’t happen in the All-Ireland final, and then obviously the huge one was the kick-outs. In the first half when the game was a game, they won seven out of Kerry’s 15 kick-outs and got six or seven points off that.
" "They got a huge amount right in that league final, I did think they showed a lot," Fitzmaurice added. "So, the next thing is, will they bring the same again? I imagine they will do a lot of the same again because it worked so well and there’s no reason not to.
"The thing that’s going to be fascinating for me is what is Kerry’s answer to that?... I think Kerry are going to be aggressive in how they attack the game because of the nature of that league final defeat.
" Kerry and Donegal face off this weekend in one of the biggest games of the season so far as the All-Ireland football championship gets underway in earnest.
Gaelic Football All-Ireland Kerry Donegal League Final Dominance Two-Pointers Pressing Out Defending Set Attacks Paudie Clifford Situation Gavin Mulreany Turnovers Kick-Outs
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