O’Donoghue walks away from Kerry panel
FORMER footballer of the year James O’Donoghue has quit the Kerry football panel. Just days after boss Peter Keane claimed that O’Donoghue was still battling for his place on the match day panel, county chairman Tim Murphy confirmed yesterday that the 31-yearold had left the panel. ‘To be fair to Peter Keane this probably happened post Friday’s media briefing during which the Kerry manager had indicated that James was battling for a place in the match day twenty six,’ admitted Murphy, who is also the board’s team liaison officer. ‘James indicated that he wanted to take some time out from the Kerry setup and play some club football to see if he could he get some form back and see where that would take him. ‘It probably means that he will not be involved if we beat Cork because we have a very short window with everything to be completed within 4/5 weeks if Kerry does go all the way.’ O’Donoghue’s departure will not come as a surprise given he has not featured for Kerry since last February’s league clash against Galway when he limped out of that game. Injuries have sabotaged the career of the two-time AllStar, which reached its zenith when he was the star turn in Kerry’s 2014 All-Ireland triumph, but fitness and form would prove elusive in the years that followed, Murphy also confirmed yesterday that Dara Moynihan, who missed the semi-final win over Tipperary, is unlikely to be available for Sunday’s final showdown against Cork.
CORK boss Ronan McCarthy has dismissed fears of a Kerry revenge mission this Sunday, insisting the Kingdom do not have a ‘monopoly on hurt’. Kerry’s blistering form, their 26-year unbeaten record in Killarney, allied to the pain of last year’s shock defeat to the Rebels, has seen Cork dismissed as 15/2 Munster final no-hopers. But McCarthy has hit back at those hyping Sunday’s game as a chance for Kerry to empty their hurt locker, insisting his team are still smarting from last year’s final loss to Tipperary. ‘They don’t have a monopoly on hurt,’ said McCarthy. ‘We were really disappointed not to win Munster last year and there’s a huge motivation within this team to be successful – obviously a provincial championship is part of that. ‘All teams have motivations, hurt and everything else, and that’s for them to look after from their side,’ he added. Including last year’s defeat to Tipperary, Cork’s losing run in Munster finals extends to their last seven appearances. Six of those defeats have come against Kerry. However, McCarthy is bullish that his side have reached a stage where they can compete with their arch rivals, pointing to Cork’s record of just defeats from 14 competitive games over the past two seasons — this year’s opening round League tie against Kildare as well as that Munster final defeat to Tipperary — as evidence. ‘I think our inconsistency is going — if it’s not gone, it’s nearly gone. ‘We’ve a highly motivated side and I go right back to when we were relegated in 2019 to Division 3 – we ended up playing Dublin, the All-Ireland champions, in Croke Park in the first round of the Super 8s. ‘What was very apparent then was the players absolutely relished the challenge of going up there and playing them. They’re the types of games that they want to be involved in, against the top teams in big matches, and it’s nothing different again on Sunday for the game against Kerry. ‘Obviously, Cork hadn’t beaten a top-eight team in seven or eight years until last year, but not only did we beat a top-eight team but we beat a top-two team with real quality and over 90 minutes as well. That was a real feather in our cap. The nature of it is that you have to go and do it again. ‘They’re a top side and they’ve played with real quality throughout the League. It’s a challenge but it’s one that we’re
looking forward to.’ McCarthy hailed opponents Kerry and believes the Munster decider will be a real test for his charges. ‘A massive occasion, a fantastic team we’re playing against – that’s what we’re all involved for, to test ourselves against the best teams, and I think that we do have the quality to challenge all the best teams,’ added McCarthy, who bristles at the perception that last year’s win, secured by Mark Keane’s last gasp goal, amounted to an ambush. ‘We were very clear as a management team that we felt we had the quality to beat them. Part of being a manager and management team is that you have to see it before the players do. Our message coming off the back of the previous two seasons in 2018 and 2019 — we had been trimmed in the 2018 Championship by both Kerry and Tyrone, and obviously relegated to Division 3 in 2019 — was to make sure that the players got the message that the quality was still there. ‘We had gone through a fairly difficult spell but we were coming out the far side of it. ‘The key thing last year was to get the message across to the players that we could do it. We did it. Can we do it again? We can. ‘Will it be more difficult than it was last year? It will. But that is why we are here.’