As January ends

It’s January, Barry is young, and consistency of performance isn’t always allied to this time of year. He was also playing alongside David Moran, an altogether more experienced midfielder than Morley, who partnered Barry in Mallow. Sometimes you just have to be the understudy.

This McGrath Cup campaign there has been no sign of Anthony Maher (confirmed as having a slight injury) or Bryan Sheehan, two men who can carry an no.8 or no.9 jersey lightly on their broad shoulders. There’s no Kieran Donaghy or Johnny Buckley either, and it’s possible (even likely) than both won’t be available for any National League action at all. Does that mean that Moran is going to have to carry an understudy through the entire League campaign, and who will that (those) be?

Thus far in January Tadhg Morley and Jack Barry have been the choice midfielders, in addition to Barry O’Sullivan and Brian Ó Seanacháin who played there on the U-21 selection that played Tipperary. Other options are Brendan O’Sullivan and Adrian Spillane but the management have yet to show absolute faith in either to fulfil a role in the team’s engine room.

Further up and Jack Savage suffered that same ‘second day out’ syndrome that befell Jack Barry. The headline grabber in Mallow the previous week, Savage was a peripheral figure on the ‘forty’ against Limerick, but an off day against slightly better opposition shouldn’t discourage the Kerins O’Rahillys man. With Colm Cooper, Tony Brosnan, Darran O’Sullivan and Stephen O’Brien club-tied for the time being, Savage and some of the other younger lads should get their chance to impress in the early rounds of the League at least.

A player who doesn’t quite fall into that category is Jonathan Lyne who was quietly effective last Sunday, making an appearance at wing forward as he did the previous week against Cork. The Legion man seems to have suffered for his conversion from a very fine wing back to a wing forward, and between those two stools his career has been somewhat on the floor, for club and county, for the last couple of seasons. His re-appearance at no.10 would suggest the Kerry management haven’t lost faith in him, and his two points from play last Sunday was the first down payment on that faith.

In the end it was another two Millennials who carried the day: Lyne’s club mate Conor Keane teeing up Conor Geaney for Kerry’s 90th minute goal as if to re-affirm that the kids will be alright.

After that Killian Young became the first Kerry man to accept the McGrath Cup for the second time after he did the honours in 2010, going one better than Maher (2013), Tomas Ó Sé (2011) and Billy O’Shea (1996).

And a final piece of trivia just to underline the slightly odd nature of the day: what football final did the Kerry senior footballers win having started the match in their traditional green and gold jersey but finishing the game decked out in their ‘away’ blue jersey?

Answers on a postcard.