Enright backs Moran and Walsh to play major roles with Kerry this year
SHANE Enright has soldiered in the Kerry jersey with David Moran and Tommy Walsh for the bones of fifteen years, notwithstanding the latter’s spell in Australian Rules.
From lining out together in the All-Ireland minor final of 2006 against Roscommon, to their role in the Kingdom’s most recent under-21 success two years later, and on to the senior grade up to 2020, the Kerins O’Rahillys’ duo have generally been a fairly constant presence during the Tarbert man’s inter-county career.
Having brought a halt to his own journey in the green and gold jersey last week, Enright is adamant that fellow 32-yearolds Moran and Walsh, now the elder statesmen in Peter Keane’s squad, still have a lot to offer the set-up, and he is confident that both players will continue to line out in 2021.
“I think they will stay on, hopefully they will, for Kerry’s sake, because David is still probably the best midfielder that Kerry have at the moment, he’s a top quality player, and I think he definitely has another year or two in him,” he said.
“Tommy is similar, he will offer you something different off the bench or if he’s starting. He’s a big outlet if you need to win kickouts, if you are under pressure, if you need a ball into full-forward and you need a goal at the end of a game. That’s why he is so important as well. There’s plenty left in him yet, so hopefully he’ll go on for another year.”
The 2015 All Star corner-back also acknowledges that James O’Donoghue has been bedevilled by injury in recent years but that, at 30 years of age, there is still time for the Legion forward to return to his best form.
“I think he can. Any time I marked him in training when he was back fully fit and well, he was not far off the levels that he was at back in 2013 and 2014. It’s just about staying fit. His problem I suppose at the moment is that he can’t get two, three, four games under his belt without picking up a bit of a niggle or whatever it is, and that’s setting you back another couple of weeks. You’re losing a bit of match sharpness again.
“For him, he seems to have a good run with the club. It’s because inter-county training is so intense now, you can’t take a session off or whatever. It’s not like it was maybe seven, eight, nine years ago where you might modify training for a fella if he had a particular issue. He could do slightly different training, whereas now everybody is training together, which is tough.
“You just have to be able to get through that, and he is picking up a couple of niggles. I think if he can even get six to eight months of injury-free football, I think he can get back to his top level.”
As for David Clifford, who turns 22 later this month and has the burden of huge expectation on his shoulders every time that he takes to the field, Enright feels that the Fossa man can go on to become the indisputable best player in the country.
“David is a good friend, we play a bit of golf together and stuff like that. He’s a class act. I remember one of the first days he went training, and I marked him. He went to hop the ball, but he bounced it through my legs, collected it the other side and put it over the bar, and I was saying ‘Jesus Christ, mad stuff’. But he never again did it, so I’m saying it was poxy enough!
“Seriously, he is phenomenal. He’s got everything, he’s got two good feet, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s agile, he’s a good goalscorer, he’s clinical. But, look, he’s only 22 in January, he’s only a kid yet.
“At 22, most of us were not even inside with Kerry, never mind having already had three championship seasons, and collected two All Stars. Obviously, he can become the top player in the game over the next few years and, hopefully, go on and fulfil that potential, because it’s definitely there within him.”