‘Balancing act’ of new breed can help Kerry scale heights, insists Moran
HAVING won the last four All-Ireland minor titles, the temptation is for Kerry senior football boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice to give youth its fling but David Moran insists “a balancing act” is needed.
Former All-Star midfielder Moran has watched the likes of David Clifford, Seán O’Shea and Gavin Crowley break through after unprecedented underage success but he knows there’s no guarantee of replication in their chase for Sam Maguire.
Moran also feels that it would be foolish to cast aside players which helped the Kingdom to league and Munster success last year based on the absence of an All-Ireland SFC title.
“The transition is always difficult, I don’t think we’re going to put in these fellas because they’re 21, guys are going to have to be playing better than 27- and 28-year-olds to be in,” the Benetti Menswear GAA Ambassador said.
“You can’t just discard the whole team, it isn’t like a team that lost the first round of Munster by ten points, we weren’t that far away last year so it would be wrong to discard everyone.
CONVERSATION
“People just need to be patient, it’s grand saying, ‘Bring in a minor’, but you’re talking about five or six 20-year-olds trying to win an All-Ireland, it’s not as easy as that. Some of the guys are exceptionally talented, we just need to be patient.”
The Kerins O’Rahillys powerhouse understands the pressure inside his own county for All-Ireland success – their last was four years ago – but outlines how many of the new breed don’t entertain such conversation.
“We were up at training camp and I was rooming with Jason Foley and Kieran Donaghy and a thing about Princess Diana came on. He’d (Jason) never even heard of her like,” Moran explained.
“It’s not a case of, ‘Oh, we haven’t won it in x amount of years,’ or ‘We’ve only won it once.’ These guys are coming in with just a completely different attitude and a completely different psyche.”
Clare await for Kerry in the Munster SFC semi-final on June 3 but much has been made of Tipperary playing back-to-back weeks ahead of their Cork clash, something Moran feels may work to the Premier’s advantage.
“It’s very difficult, it’s tough on them but I suppose if they beat Cork they’re saying they had momentum coming in, they were match-sharp, sometimes you cut your cloth the way it is. There’s pros and cons,” Moran said.
“If they didn’t pick up any injuries and they get the bodies back, it might be an advantage that they’re sharp. Everything is ramped into momentum going into next weekend against a team that’s very cold.”