Kingdom’s Keane top of class at spring break
Keane has put spring in Kerry’s step
IT is not quite midterm, but this spring break in the Allianz Football League will allow for some time to reflect.
That may be welcomed in particular by the 12 managers who were fitted with new bainisteoir bibs at the start of the year and who will finally get their chance, in a frantic fixture schedule, to review their body of work to date.
With GAA management an open book, Sportsmail writes up its spring break report on Gaelic football’s new managers.
After taking heat for not informing former class mates that they were out of the playgroup, he has emerged as the brightest kid in the class.
With five wins out of five, putting manners on Dublin served as the high point of his perfect start.
He has provided the team with defensive structure but without compromising their attacking potency, which makes Kerry easy on the eye but hard on the opposition. Biggest strength: For all talk of bringing in kids, it was his foresight in recalling Tommy Walsh and Jack Sherwood that has had the biggest impact.
Biggest concern: He is studying so hard he might just have nothing left to give when he sits his biggest exam.
JAMES HORAN (Mayo)
The return of the most popular boy in the class ensured giddiness in the playground.
A bright start has been followed by a distracted period, but that will not be a cause for alarm given that he tended to work hardest for the exam that mattered the most during his first stint.
Biggest strength: He is the class leader Mayo could never replace and now he is back, they will all be singing off the same hymn sheet.
Biggest concern: He is still in the main hanging out with his old friends who ultimately did not get him across the line previously, although he appears to be trying to make new ones.
ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM (Roscommon)
A late starter but he has made up the ground impressively.
Has prioritised hard-nosed pragmatism ahead of freedom of expression and it has worked to the point that Roscommon have been competitive and are in with a fighting chance of staying in the same class as the whizz kids.
Greatest strength: Roscommon’s inability to defend against the top teams has been addressed and it has given the team a competitive foothold.
Biggest concern: He may lack the quality to go with his good intentions.
MICKEY GRAHAM (CAVAN)
In such demand that he flipped between schools at the start of the year, but he has found the step-up to the inter-county scene more demanding.
That said, while the results have been modest the fact that they still have a shot at staying up — and if they beat Monaghan that becomes more of a probability than a possibility — qualifies as being acceptable.
Biggest strength: They are playing with more ambition and it has made them competitive.
Biggest concern: They lack a cutting edge to deliver on that ambition having failed to find the net in four games.
Tradition dictates he should be in a higher class, but Down are where they are for a reason.
Still, all he can do is beat the opposition put in front of him and in winning four games on the bounce, the Mourne men are primed for a quick return to Division 2.
Biggest strength: It will come as no surprise that he has gifted the team a solid defence — they have not conceded a goal in their last three games.
Biggest concern: When he heads into summer action, he is likely to find it a lot more demanding.
JACK COONEY (Westmeath)
He has already won the O’Byrne Cup and after just one loss in five League games, his team are in line for promotion and a shot at more silverware.
Slim pickings, perhaps, but when you are housed in Leinster, it’s all that is on offer.
Biggest strength: The quality he possesses in the likes of John Heslin, Ger Egan and Kieran Martin is a step above the ordinary.
Biggest concern: When the spring finishes, what is their left for him to realistically shoot at?
WAYNE KIERANS (Louth)
Given that he took over a team who won just a solitary match last year, he is performing miracles.
They lie third in Division 3, with their two remaining games against the teams above them, Westmeath and Down. All in his own hands, then.
Biggest strength: They have gone goal crazy, averaging two per game.
Biggest concern: While it is in his own hands, should they fail to get the results they need, it could represent the ultimate momentum killer.
On the basis that he was without 10 out of his first-choice players, back-to-back defeats should not take the shine off his good start.
And the chances are that he will go into the final game against Westmeath still clinging to an outside chance of promotion.
Biggest strength: He has so many players to come back that they can only get stronger from here.
Biggest concern: Their scoring returns are so bad — they have averaged under 11 points per game — they will not travel far if they don’t improve.
JOHN MAUGHAN (Offaly)
The return of a mature student invited interest, but there is no evidence that the well-schooled manager can arrest the Faithful County’s decline.
Indeed, the smart money is on them heading back to football’s basement.
Biggest strength: He has the experience and gravitas to hold respect.
Biggest concern: There is no evidence of that happening, particularly after Nigel Dunne’s decision to quit the panel.
It has been a desperate struggle for the former county star who is managing the only side in the League to have lost every game.
Biggest strength: Given how bad things have been, they can only get better.
Biggest concern: Given how poor they have been, they might get even worse.
It may be early days, but he has excelled to the point that he is an early candidate for the school’s student of the year award.
To have defied Leitrim’s lack of resources, natural or otherwise, by securing promotion and a visit to Croke Park inside five games is a staggering achievement for the former Cavan manager.
Biggest strength: Showed with Breffni men that he can take down-in-the-doldrums counties and get them believing in themselves.
Biggest concern: By the end of this month, he will have nothing left to play for.
Low expectations, but back-toback wins over Wexford and Antrim means that they have accumulated more points with two rounds to go than they did in the entire campaign 12 month ago.
Biggest strength: He operates in a pressure-free zone because no one expects.
Biggest concern: He operates in a pressure-free zone because no one cares.