The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
History is bunk for Keane as minors write new chapter
Keane: Three in a row means nothing to me
ALL-IRELAND winning minor team manager Peter Keane has dismissed any significance attached to the county winning the Tom Markham Cup for the third year running.
Much was made about Kerry’s three-in-a-row bid leading up to last Sunday’s final, a feat not achieved since Cork won consecutive All-Ireland minor titles in 1967, ’68 and ’69. Indeed, the three-in-a-row at this age group has only been accomplished three times before – Kerry in 1931, ’32 and ’32, and Dublin from ’54 to ’56 inclusive before the Rebels did it a little over a decade later.
However, Keane was placing little value on the achievement from a personal point of view or from a players’ perspective.
“Three-in-a-row means nothing to me, and I don’t think it means a whole pile to those fellas. You had fellas there today winning their first All-Ireland medal. It’s not like they won it last year and the year before,” the Cahersiveen native said in the wake of his team’s 3-7 to 0-9 victory over Galway in Croke Park.
“History is great, it is great to see we are in with some gang in the 1930s but so what? It’s all about these fellas winning an All-Ireland medal.”
Rather than dwell on the past or focus on matching history, Keane was eager to place the significance of the day and the win with the players.
“There’s a lot of vibe about [investment in coaching] over the last couple of years but ultimately it comes down to players.
“We as coaches can sometimes get carried away and talk about how good we are, but if you don’t have players you won’t win games. That’s the key. We have the players at the moment,” he said.
This is the first year of a two- year term in charge for Keane and he will be keen to retain the Markham Cup in 2017 which would, of course, mean an unprecedented fourth consecutive All-Ireland title for any county at the minor grade.
Ten members of this year’s minor panel will be eligible to play minor next year, which will be the last year for the competition under its current guise as it will change to an Under-17 Championship for the 2018 season.