Juniors triumph
WHEN you think about it Jimmy Keane was on a bit of a hiding to nothing when he accepted the reins of the Kerry junior footballers for the 2017 campaign.
After Stephen Wallace had led the Kingdom to successive All Ireland titles the only way, surely, was down... especially with the way junior teams have to be rebuilt from the ground up after an All Ireland triumph.
The fact that instead of down Keane and the juniors stayed upright, retaining their All Ireland title for the third successive season, represents a massive achievement. It goes to show just how good a coach the one time Brosna manager is and just how much talent is coming through the ranks in the Kingdom right about now.
In seeing off Meath in the final in O’Moore Park 2-19 to 1-14 , former underage stars – Éanna Ó Conchúir, Killian Spillane, Tomás Ó Sé and Dan O’Brien – mixed with more experiened players like Eamon Kiely and Brendan O’Sullivan (a senior panellist) to form a formidable collective.
“Cork was really the milestone for us,” Keane commented.
“We said it in the dressing room beforehand that it would be a shame to let everything we did that night in how we won it slip away with a defeat here today. We knew we were never going to dominate Meath, they are a solid outfit at inter-county level.”
Seventeen year old Ryan Kelliher from Killarney claimed the Kerry Boys Championship at Ballybunion in style.
The Kerry Under 15 soccer team got off to an encouraging start in the SSE Airtricity Under 15 League going down to Cork City 3-2 away from home. The Kerry Under 17s, meanwhile, saw off Cobh Ramblers 3-1 and Limerick 2-1 to make it four games unbeaten.
Former Laune Rangers, Tipperary and Roscommon boss John Evans was confirmed this month as the new manager of the Wicklow senior footballers. There was a second Kerry appointment in Leinster with the news that South Kerry native John Sugrue was to assume the reins at Laois.
Killarney’s lady golfers got their hands on the
Irish Ladies Senior Cup after a fabulous win over Royal Portrush at the Royal Curragh Golf Club.