Kerry poised to return to the big time in Under 21 football

MUNSTER UNDER-21 FOOTBALL FINAL

IT’S really quite remarkable. It’s really quite inexplicable. It’s really quite difficult to wrap your head around.

Kerry haven’t won a Munster Under 21 title since 2008. They haven’t beaten Cork in the Under 21 championship since the Munster quarter-final of 2010. They’ve lost four finals since then (three of those to Cork, one to Tipperary).

Kerry’s record in the Munster Under 21 championship has been below par for so long that it’s almost taken for granted at this stage and that, perhaps, is the greatest anomaly of them all.

The reasons why Kerry have stagnated at this level are well known by now, there’s not much point in repeating them here again, but at a certain point the time for excuses and explanations passes. Kerry’s time to stand up and deliver is now.

Tonight’s game is one of the biggest games a Kerry team will play this year. A hell of a lot is one the line. It’s a chance to prove that all those great minor successes can be translated into success at more senior grades. It’s a chance to prove those former minor stars are every bit as special as we think them to be.

Above all else it’s important for the Kerry psyche. Not being able to get a result against your biggest rival, for almost a decade in one particular grade, is an intolerable situation, but maybe it can also act as an important spur.

All those disappointing statistics from a Kerry point of view – including the fact they haven’t won in Pairc Uí Rinn for the best part of twenty years at Under 21 level – should liberate them as much as weigh them down.

When it gets down to brass tacks, however, most of that stuff is irrelevant. It’s all comes down to thirty men on a pitch over sixty minutes. Who is better prepared? Who has the stronger set of players, the more skilful set of players, the better game plan?

Regardless of whatever happened to those various other Kerry Under 21 sides down through the years, this particular Kerry team would have a lot of expectation upon its shoulders. There’s no getting away from that. Three All Ireland minor titles in succession will do that for any Under 21 team.

The bookies certainly agree and have given Kerry a 4/9 chance (about 70%) of winning the game. That seems to us a little ungenerous to Cork. Kerry are favourites for sure, but it’s more likely a fifty five / forty five situation than a seventy / thirty.

Cork teams are hard beaten in Pairc Uí Rinn as we’ve already noted. They’re the reigning champions. They still have a number of players from last year’s final at their disposal – although not as many as Kerry do. They retain the same management team.

Remember too that Cork were never that far off Kerry in any of the games they played with Kerry at minor level over the past three or four seasons. Granted Kerry always had the edge, but those were some monumental battles (especially the one won last gasp, after extra-time, in Austin Stack Park in 2015).

It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Kerry needed something a little bit special – a la Mike Foley’s winner in 2015 – to see them over the line here. Nor would it be particularly surprising if Cork managed to win the game. As Jack O’Connor is probably sick of noting at this stage, minor success guarantees nothing.

Still Kerry do have a hell of a lot of talent at their disposal. Shane Ryan is a really fine goalkeeper. The full-back line looks strong with Jason Foley – a contender for a starting berth for the Kerry seniors this year – manning the number three shirt.

The half-back line, meanwhile, is especially strong. All three players are in the running for a Kerry jersey come championship, with Brian Ó Beaglaoich having already made the breakthrough under Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

If we have one concern about the team as selected it’s at midfield. Don’t get us wrong, both players are fine players, it’s just that neither are what you’d call natural midfielders. Andrew Barry is probably the best centre-back in the squad, while Brian Ó Seanacháin is a more natural half-forward.

It’s a bit of a surprise that Dingle’s Barry O’Sullivan hasn’t been selected to start. We have no report of an injury so it’s possible he could yet feature and could yet start the game, even if that’s possibly a little unlikely at this stage.

It does mean that Kerry will have an especially strong bench for the game, bolstered as it is by O’Sullivan and by two Dr Crokes players, Jordan Kiely and Micheál Burns. If things are going against Kerry this evening, then Jack O’Connor has plenty of options to call upon.

There’s Conor Geaney who featured for the seniors during the National League already this year. There’s Daniel O’Brien, a star of last year’s minor team. There’s Jack Moran and Roibeard Ó Sé and Mark Ryan. Lots of options for all over the pitch.

The forwards as selected pack a real punch. Seán O’Shea at centre-forward is a real gem. Matthew Flaherty on the wing is a man surely ready for a crack at senior football, such have been the quality of his displays. In the inside line Matthew O’Sullivan at full-forward is a real handful and an ever improving footballer. Killian Spillane and Cathal Bambury are the perfect foils for him. All in all it’s a pretty damned good Kerry team and it’s a team (with subs) that can be re-purposed during the game if needs be. Our familiarity with these players going by three years suggests they can finally knock Cork off their perch. Our familiarity with these players – and, indeed, this manager – suggests that they perform at their best when the challenge is greatest.

It’s about as far from a slam-dunk as you can get, all the same this Kerry team have what it

takes. Kerry