Fitzmaurice: Dublin could benefit from kickout 'quick fix'

Ex-Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice believes that Dublin could become much harder to beat again if they sort out their present kick-out woes.

Dessie Farrell's side head for Omagh this weekend, having lost four from four, Kildare recently condemning them to their first loss - excluding pre-season - against Leinster opposition since Meath's five-goal blitz in 2010. Relegation to Division 2, once considered a fanciful notion, now appears a distinct likelihood.

Fitzmaurice, who managed Kerry from 2012 to 2018, presiding over the 2014 All-Ireland success and tangling with the Dubs on several occasions, asserted that one of the most difficult elements of playing Dublin during their Gavin-era pomp was the problem of building momentum against them.

According to Fitzmaurice, almost invariably when one hit the Dubs for a score, they succeeded in killing momentum by successfully maintaining possession on their next kickout - Kerry's quick two-goal salvo before half-time in the 2016 All-Ireland semi-final notable as an exception.

Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, Fitzmaurice said this knack has recently disappeared from their game, while still contending that Stephen Cluxton's heir as Dublin keeper, Evan Comerford, was well capable of mastering the kick-out component of the game.

"It's about getting back to basics," Fitzmaurice said.

"Go back to the Kildare game. In that game - and it was a great win for Kildare in Newbridge and everything else - Dublin had three, if not four, very good goal chances. If they'd taken two of them, it's probably a different conversation we're having about them today. Are they back? Are they going to be able to back it up with another win?

"I think they got their defensive structure a bit more right against