Kerry V Kildare 2015 All Ireland QF

For those new to the blog, or who haven’t been here for a while, please find a refresher on the definitions and how the numbers are compiled here

Overall

Team	Possessions	Attacks	Attack %	Shots	Shot %	Scores	Success %	Weighting
Kerry	60	43	72%	33	77%	23	70%	+8.861
Kildare	49	38	78%	28	74%	10	36%	-2.600
Avg		37.0		28.7	77.7%	14.7	51.2%

Sometimes one stat is enough to sum up a game. Kerry had 8 attempts on goal scoring 7-00.

Earlier in the year Dublin had 8 shots on goal against Kildare, including a penalty, and scored 5-01. The data doesn’t include 2015 games but from 2012 to 2014 one third of goal attempts are converted … you allow 8 goal shots a game, with the opposition converting 75% and you’re sunk.

All 8 of Kerry’s goal attempts came in the second half but the foundation for those goals was laid in a dominant first half.

1st Half stats

Team	Possessions	Attacks	Attack %	Shots	Shot %	Scores	Success %	Weighting
Kerry	30	21	70%	16	76%	10	63%	+3.349
Kildare	24	17	71%	11	65%	3	27%	-2.161

Kerry had 5 more shots and 6 more possessions than Kildare but even more impressively they started out by converting 9 of their first 11 attempts. That 82% Conversion Rate is comparable to Dublin’s early blitz of Fermanagh.

The three games that Kerry have played (on TV) to date have been completely different

The first Cork – Kerry game was a tight, high quality affair. The replay was poorer fair as both teams wasted quite a lot of possession – accepting that the weather had an impact. The third was never a game as Kerry powered ahead whilst Kildare struggled to turn their possession in to scores.

Shots from Play

Team	Shots	Scores	Success %	Weighting
Kerry	30	21	70%	+8.354
Kildare	25	9	36%	-1.686
Avgs	21.4	9.7	45.3%

I haven’t updated the “charts” for 2015 but that Stephen O’Brien performance tops anything from 2012 -2014 in terms of accuracy. 1-04 from 5 shots with only one of the four point attempts coming from a central zone.

It was a very intelligent performance from O’Brien (and selection from Kerry who dropped Buckley). Nominally Kevin Murnaghan was his marker but Murnaghan was playing a sweeping role. By keeping O’Brien in the attacking half he was able to find pockets of space as the Kildare players “lost” him when tracking back. In an attempt to push on in the second half Kildare appeared to go man on man; once identified Kerry brought on O’Sullivan and Kerry ran through Kildare.

O’Donoghue and his replacement BJ Keane hit 6 from 6; the aforementioned O’Sullivan hit 3 from 4 (his only miss being the skied shot that he ran in after and ended up scoring his hat trick goal with – talk about hungry!) whilst Cooper converted 4 out of 5. Not a lot of waste there!

Shots from deadballs

Player	Shots	Scores	Success %	Weighting
C Cooper (Kerry)	1	1	100%	+0.397
J O’Donoghue (Kerry)	1	1	100%	+0.397
B Sheehan (Kerry)	1	0	0%	-0.269
E O’Flaherty (Kildare)	2	1	50%	-0.440
M Donnellan (Kildare)	1	0	0%	-0.474
team avgs	7.2	4.9	68.7%

A very quiet day on the deadball front – more indicative of Kerry’s dominance than anything else. When the game was a “game” in the first half Kerry only gave away one free within their 45 which I guess is something they can point to

Kickouts

Kerry’s kickouts	Won	%	Turned into an attack	%	Shot	%
Kerry	19	86%	12	63%	9	47%
Kildare	3	14%	3	100%	2	67%
Kildare’s kickouts	Won	%	Turned into an attack	%	Shot	%
Kerry	10	34%	7	70%	5	50%
Kildare	19	66%	15	79%	13	68%

Kerry dominated their own kickouts losing just the three. Four of their 19 wins came on short kickouts meaning that they won the battle on their own “contestable” kickouts 15-3. Not only was it a solid platform but it must have sucked the life out of Kildare seeing the engine room, that functioned so well against Cork, getting dominated in this manner.

Kildare appear to have managed their own kickouts well but seven of their wins came on short kickouts in the 2nd half when the game was over. In the first half they won 9 of their 16 kickouts however the seven they lost were all grouped around a pivotal stage when Kerry were building their lead. The sequence for Kildare’s kickouts, after they won the first two, was Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kildare, Kerry, Kildare, Kerry.

It was thereafter that Kildare moved to short kickouts but the damage had been done

Turnovers

Team giving up the ball	Pass	In the Tackle	Shot	Other
Kerry	19	6	1	2
Fermanagh	12	6	8	2

Kind of remarkable that the turnover stats were so even but 6 of the last 8 turnovers were Kerry’s when the game was played at a pedestrian pace. Their pedigree in holding on to the ball is well established at this stage

Players with >= 3 shots from play

	Shots	Scores	Success %	Weighting
S O’Brien (Kerry)	5	5	100%	+3.048
C Cooper (Kerry)	5	4	80%	+1.819
A Smith (Kildare)	5	2	40%	-0.126
P Cribbin (Kildare)	5	0	0%	-2.052
BJ Keane (Kerry)	4	4	100%	+1.989
D O’Sullivan (Kerry)	4	3	75%	+1.240
P O’Neill (Kildare)	4	2	50%	+0.107
N Kelly (Kildare)	3	2	67%	+0.692

Tags: 2015, championship, Kerry, Kildare