SUPERSUB Tommy Walsh made his point and then some as Kerry made light work of the Meath resistance in a dire All-Ireland semifinal at Croke Park on Sunday. The final score was Kerry 2-8, Meath 1-7.

Controversially dropped by manager Jack O’Connor for the game, Walsh was introduced as a sub just before the break and subsequently turned the game in the Kingdom’s favor.

Walsh took just nine minutes to score a goal and two points at the start of the second half as Kerry booked a remarkable sixth straight All-Ireland final appearance.

The Young Footballer of the Year is now a sure thing to start the Sam Maguire decider against Cork in three weeks, and O’Connor was first to praise him after Sunday’s win.

“We had to change tack halfway through the first half and put in Tommy Walsh because we needed an aerial route,” O’Connor said.

‘That’s the way you want a fella to react when you leave him off. He made a good impact. We didn’t do it until we spoke about it properly at half-time and it changed the game basically.”

O’Connor was also quick to defend his players and their togetherness and continued, “There’s good spirit in our camp despite all the rumors of disunity!

“Fellas realize that if they have a bad day, they might be let off the next day, but he surely put down a marker for the next day.

“This team has been written off so many times, our last war-cry before leaving the dressing-room was that we’d been written off as far back as 2001.”

Munster rivals Cork now await Kerry in the All-Ireland final, and O’Connor acknowledges that his team will need to up the ante dramatically on this performance.

He added, “We’ll need to improve a lot, we know that. I don’t think the way we played today would frighten the daylights out of Cork or anything. But that’s fine. We are happy enough to get over this.

“This was always going to be an extremely difficult game. Those Meath fellas were never going to lie down. They have some good footballers, they really tested us. They went the direct route, but we possibly missed one or two goal chances.

“The objective of playing in a semi-final is to try and get over the line and get to a final. We had to battle for it and we knew we would get it. People were writing Meath off all the week; it was the perfect scenario for them.”

Meath tried valiantly to keep pace with the Kingdom but weren’t helped by an early penalty goal and the loss of captain Stephen Bray to a shoulder injury in the opening quarter.

Their manager Eamonn O’Brien had no complaints with the result after his side failed to vary their play enough against a Kerry team that barely needed to get out of second gear.

“Right through the game I thought we were too predictable,” said O’Brien. “We wanted direct ball but we said at halftime that Kerry were dropping their half-backs back so we needed to play it through hands a little bit more.

“After the second goal we knew that we needed a goal ourselves to get back into the game and maybe that goal that we got with two minutes to go, if that had come with ten minutes to go we might have had a different finish.”

Asked if his team could have done with several tactical changes early on as Anthony Moyles and Cormac McGuinness struggled against Colm Cooper and Tadhg Kennelly, O’Brien was quite defensive.

He said, “We make decisions on the line. We were whatever we were behind, six or seven points, and we needed to get fresh legs on the pitch. We used our five subs for that purpose.

“It wasn’t because we were worried about how people were playing or not playing. It was to try and revitalize the team and get fresh legs, get at Kerry in that middle third of the team so we could get more ball in towards our forwards.

“Kerry were the better team on the day. They might not have played some of the fluid football that they can there today, but I would hope that some of that was down to us rather than Kerry just having an off day. They showed their battling qualities today.”

The one criticism from winning Kerry boss O’Connor was aimed at the new Croke Park pitch which failed to deal with the misty rain in Dublin before and during the big game.

“It’s a hard surface and when you get rain on top of it, you’re looking at an ice rink. That’s a nightmare scenario,” O’Connor said. “It’d be as well off with a lot of rain, but a drop of rain on a hard sod means there’s no give in it.”

Kerry Ego has landed

The great Pat Spillane is stirring it once more as his native Kerry prepare for a sixth successive All-Ireland final following their emphatic win over a poor Meath team at Croke Park on Sunday.

A week earlier Spillane had celebrated the demise of Sam Maguire Cup holders Tyrone against Cork by declaring on national television that this Kerry side are the team of the decade as the decade draws to a close.

Naturally enough that didn’t go down too well with the Tyrone supporters, who regard manager Mickey Harte as something of a God and their team as the Untouchables, even in defeat.

Nobody articulated the anger against RTE pundit Spillane more than the former Tyrone full-forward and modern day GAA legend Frank McGuigan.

Father to current Tyrone heroes Tommy and Brian, McGuigan had no problem putting Spillane back in his box with his very public comments before Sunday’s semifinal.

“I personally hope Kerry get beaten,” said McGuigan. “If Meath get to the final, I don’t care who wins it. If Kerry win it then I hope Cork hammer them for obvious reasons, Spillane being one of them. Nothing against Kerry players.”

McGuigan believes some Kerry experts, like Spillane, are suffering from an inferiority complex next to Tyrone.

He added, “I remember one time Pat said when Tyrone weren’t winning All-Irelands that we should send a busload of women down to Kerry and it would sort them out. I can tell Pat, this decade they should have been sending their women up to Tyrone. And there’s a few guys on the loose.

“I couldn’t believe his latest comments. Anyone can read into that that Kerry people are hurting, that Kerry couldn’t beat Tyrone.

“They knew that whenever Cork beat Tyrone they had no chance to avenge those defeats. I think that’s the bottom line -- they can’t take Tyrone beating them every time they’ve played this decade.

“I’m never one for teams of the decade or teams of this and that. Why make it a decade? Why not call it teams of a lifetime? I don’t believe in it at all, but Pat’s obviously making an issue of it.”

Spillane decided to make an issue of it again on Sunday when he had a pop at those critics of his “team of the decade” theory, and was then reminded by fellow analyst Joe Brolly that it was Spillane himself who started this debate in the first place.

Naturally enough Spillane then chose to again claim that Kerry are worthy of the honor after making it to their sixth consecutive final on Sunday, quite a feat it has to be said.

But you will get no marks for predicting that Frank McGuigan will be shouting for Cork three Sundays from now. And he won’t be alone. Not for the first time Pat Spillane has turned people against Kerry.

Carey defends Walsh

Kilkenny legend  D.J. Carey has come out strongly in defense of tough wing-back Tommy Walsh ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland final showdown with Tipperary.

Carey has spoken out after repeated criticism in some quarters of the physical approach from Kilkenny in general and Walsh in particular as they look to win a fourth straight McCarthy Cup.

“Maybe it is because Kilkenny are so successful and Ger Loughnane came out with that statement about Kilkenny guys living on the edge a number of years ago and now the cameras are honing in on that,” claimed Carey.

“As for Tommy, if I was trying to take on a member of the Kilkenny team presently, I would not be trying to rile him, I would not be trying to rattle him.

“To be honest with you, every first ball that has come down between Tommy Walsh and his man, I think Tommy has won 90% of them. I would be inclined to stay as quiet as I can and hurl my own game.

“Tommy is a fantastic hurler. He is 5”7’ or 8’ and can catch a ball over anyone’s head. He has beautiful skill; he is tough as nails and I would not expect any Kilkenny hurler to be any different -- tough as nails.”

Aussie Bound?

KERRY star Tadhg Kennelly has refused to dampen speculation that he could return to Aussie Rules football and the Sydney Swans next season despite helping his team to an All-Ireland final showdown with Cork later this month.

“I would never say never,” said Kennelly. “I emailed someone at the Swans the other day, saying I spent nine years in Sydney, and the whole time I was being asked whether or not I was going back to Ireland.

“So I finally go back, I’m back less than a year, and the same people start asking when I’m leaving again for Sydney. All I know is I haven’t thought about it. At the moment, all I’m about is Kerry football.”

Kennelly finally has an All-Ireland final to look forward to after beating Meath on Sunday and can’t wait for the clash with Cork.

“It’s fantastic to be in the final,” he said.

“It probably hasn’t set in yet, I’m very tired after that. But it’s great, I put so much into coming home and it’s been a success either way already, whether we win or lose.”

Harte's Desire

MICKEY Harte wants to stay on as Tyrone manager and mastermind a new All-Ireland effort next season after the Sam Ulster side surrendered their crown to Cork in their recent semifinal.

“It is a privilege to be working with the best footballers in Tyrone at this time in our history when they are among the best in the country. That’s some privilege,” Harte told the Irish Examiner.

“If I didn’t enjoy that and get a feel good factor of being around people of that quality then I should not be there. I still get that feeling, I still feel it is a privilege and I still feel there is more to do with this Tyrone team.

“As long as I believe that, I am going to stick around for another wee while.”

GAA Shorts

CORK’S John Miskella has been cleared to play in the All-Ireland final against Kerry after referee John Bannon decided not to take any further action following his yellow card for striking Tyrone’s Brian McGuigan off the ball in the recent semifinal . . .

OUSTED Down boss Ross Carr has made a surprise bid to get his job back just a month after the County Board removed him from office. Team trainer Paddy Tally, former manager Pete McGrath and James McCartan are already in the frame . . .

DUBLIN forward Mark Davoren will wait until next summer’s Leinster championship to resume his inter-county career after surgery on a cruciate knee ligament injury picked up in this season’s clash with Meath back in June . . .

MIDFIELDER Thomas Walsh has been told that he must play for his native Carlow and can no longer play for his adopted county Wicklow following his transfer back to his hometown Fenagh club in Carlow . . .

THE Galway County Board want to approach former Armagh manager Joe Kernan as they seek a new boss for their senior football squad after Liam Sammon’s resignation last month . . .

PAUL Grimley has quit as assistant manager to Kildare boss Kieran McGeeney, prompting speculation that he is in line to take over as Armagh boss . . .

YOUNGSTER Brendan Murphy has quit Aussie Rules football after two years with the Sydney Swans and will return home to his native Carlow . . .

CORK remain on target for a fifth successive All-Ireland Ladies SFC crown after beating Mayo in Saturday’s semifinal at Nenagh.