Costello asks minors to take the lead on social distancing

Minor boss says players can be peer leaders

KERRY minor boss James Costello is calling upon his players to be leaders in their communities when it comes to social distancing.

The Blennerville man feels that due to their status as Kerry minor footballers, his players can be a positive influence on their peer group, an age-group some people fear is not adhering strictly enough to the guidelines laid down by government.

“The gap we’re all seeing at the moment is the groups of young lads hanging around together,” Costello told The Kerryman.

“We have to say really strongly to the lads that they’re leaders in their community and amongst their peers because they’re playing minors and there’s a responsibility on them, in their towns and villages, to really drill home on all the guidelines, because they’re probably more influential in their own group than people like you or me talking or Leo Varadkar or Simon Harris.

“If they [young people] see guys like them it will filter through a lot faster than other messages.”

Kerry senior hurling manager Fintan O’Connor, meanwhile, is still holding out hope that his side will get to play their Division 2A Allianz League final with Antrim in Croke Park.

“Croke Park was a massive, massive thing for the lads and hopefully we’ll still get to go to Croke Park,” he told The Kerryman.

“Hopefully they might still play the league final in Croke Park, but with the circumstances and the amount of sick people in the country and Croke Park is now being used as a testing centre, that was probably the moment that the crisis really hit home for me.

“People driving up to Croke Park and it looked like something out of a film. That said we’d hope to get to Croke Park eventually... maybe, I don’t know!”

The game was due to be played on Sunday, March 15.