Within Kingdom’s grasp

playing in Ennis with the Kerry Minors in 2012 in a Munster Semi-Final against Clare but Keane is not too worried about the venue on this occasion.

“I don’t think you can get too caught up with them for Finals as if you go back far enough you will find some occasion where your side have lost there. The one thing we must do is up our work-rate because despite the start we made against Kildare in Navan we did get a bit lax afterwards,” he said.

Thomas Hickey, Niall Ó Se and Lee O’Donoghue offer a lot of promise in the full-forward line as Keane once again has Paul Quinn of An Ghaeltacht and Tarbert’s John O’Connell as selectors. Connacht has been a county Kerry nearly have seen the most of in this Junior run since 2014. Two Finals (2015 and 2016) with Mayo in Croke Park, Sligo (2014), Leitrim (last year) and now Galway have been encountered with maybe the element of the unknown keeping everyone cautious about the challenge as much as the senior’s loss last Sunday in Croke Park.

Ultimately the better track record is Kerry’s at this level, 18 titles as opposed to four for Galway with 1985 the last year the Tribesmen won this competition. Keane is just hopeful now though that Kerry can finish off a campaign filled with obstacles with ultimate success. “It would be nice to win after the effort that the players have put in on top of the demands placed on them. I’m very happy that we have a similar set-up to last year in players that want to force their way onto senior level and feel that we have a nice even balance to the side.”

Saturday is the day it will all be decided as Kerry bid for fourin-a-row at Junior level. A new opponent will bring new challenges but if they are defensively strong and pick off the scores they need then they might just close off another recent success story with another title. Should it be the competition’s last staging in this guise then hopefully it will get a decent send-off!

A new opponent will bring new challenges, but they if they are defensively strong they might just close off another recent success story

Verdict:

Kerry