O’connor’s not happy at fixtures
STARTING tonight against All-ireland champions Limerick in Tralee, Kerry will enjoy some rare exposure to hurling’s elite in the coming weeks.
But once the Munster SHL is over, they’ll revert to Division 2A of the Allianz League and then the Joe Mcdonagh Cup come summer. Well off Broadway.
Their manager, Fintan O’connor, has lamented the lack of profile afforded to teams at their level and cites the Joe Mcdonagh All Star awards as a case in point.
“I am not saying the lads are vain enough to be affected by coverage or no coverage but still it helps you train in the winter if you know there is people going to be going to games, coverage of games,” said O’connor. “Even the All-stars this year, and it’s not sour grapes at all, the Joe Mcdonagh All-stars had to be selected by the managers, which shows a lack of coverage of the whole thing.
“It kind of belittles the players that were playing. I think they got a letter the week of the All-stars saying you’ve been selected for a Joe Mcdonagh All Star by your manager, so it kind of took the good out of it a little bit.
“I know from one of our hurlers, Shane Conway, got Hurler of the Year under-21, second year in-a-row.
“I think one of the questions he was asked in the interview was, what’s it like to be a hurler in Kerry?
“Do you know, I’m not giving out, do you know what I mean? Like, he was probably one of the best hurlers in the Cork Championship for UCC.
“A bit of research maybe, do you know what I mean?”