Back to back for juniors

IT’S all very well and good having a vision, the thing is having the ability and the discipline to follow through on it and that is what Kerry junior boss Stephen Wallace had and has.

When he took on the job of Kerry junior football manager he laid out a vision of the team as a breeding ground for future senior stars. He saw the junior job as an Under 23 squad in all but name.

And, for the most part, that’s what he did in his three years in charge of the side. Tadhg Morley made the move from junior to senior under his watch and one of the star men of the 2016 side, midfielder Adrian Spillane, is tipped to do likewise.

As for Stephen Wallace himself? Well his side’s victory over Mayo in the All Ireland final is something of a crowning achievement for him. Not that this will be the last we hear of him following his decision to step away after three years at the helm. Nor, we suspect, will it mark the end of the template he put in place. Victory over Mayo in Croke Park – 2-16 to 2-11 – secured for Kerry back-to-back titles for the first time ever. A remarkable achievement. Indeed, it was a game where Kerry were forced to dig deep and deliver their best. In an eleven minute spell just before half-time delivered for the Kingdom 2-8 unanswered – both goals courtesy for Dromid’s Niall O’Shea – to all but seal a famous victory. A 2-10 to 0-4 margin at half-time was unlikely to be overhauled and so it proved, despite an improved showing by Mayo in the second half. “People might say that Patrick O’Sullivan [County Board Chairman] and myself were either eejits or geniuses to come up with the Under 23 idea for the team at the start,” Wallace said post match. We’re more inclined to regard it as closer to genius than eejitry and the facts back us up in that contention. No question it was a huge plus for Kerry football.