The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Midfield crunch for Kerry
Maher, Sheehan and Buckley all missing
EAMONN Fitzmaurice’s room for manoeuvre at midfield for the opening rounds of the National Football League is somewhat constrained by the absences of Anthony Maher and Bryan Sheehan.
While the Kerry manager reports a largely clean bill of health, Kerry will be struggling for experienced cover in the middle two positions. Sheehan is back in training but won’t feature in the first couple of games the Kerry boss confirmed last week. Maher too will miss those games as he “still has a bit of work to do” according to Fitzmaurice.
It means that with Johnny Buckley club-tied – and Kieran Donaghy unlikely to feature until after the basketball season has drawn to a close – David Moran is the only established midfielder available.
In the McGrath Cup Na Gaeil’s Jack Barry and Dingle’s Barry O’Sullivan featured and they could be called upon (Barry started the first game against Tipperary as part of an Under 21 selection while Barry played the other two games, including the final).
Other possible contenders for a berth alongside Moran include Brendan O’Sullivan and Tadhg Morley.
Fitzmaurice confirmed Donaghy’s return to the fold for the 2017 campaign, but no decision has been made as of yet on the availablity of Colm Cooper despite indications suggesting otherwise emerging last week.
“Colm is with the Crokes and will be until they are finished and he will make his decision then,” Fitzmaurice said.
In the meantime Fitzmaurice has appointed Laune Rangers’ Peter Crowley as stand-in captain.
“Dr Crokes have yet to make a call on the captaincy; they will decide when their club campaign is over. Peter Crowley is our captain in the meantime,” he said.
“It makes no difference really because the lads are not going to be playing anyway. It’s a very important role for that particular individual, but the captaincy is a ceremonial role really.
“The leaders are the leaders within the group and if happens that one of the leaders is the captain great, but if not the lads pick up the slack anyway. It’s not a big deal anyway.
“Aidan O’Mahony and Marc Ó Sé have retired as ye know and other than the players involved in the club championships, everyone else is back in.”
Fitzmaurice also confirmed that Alan Fitzgerald had not re-committed for the season.
“Alan has stepped out. He had a serious enough injury last year and he worked hard to come back from it. While his body is pretty good he doesn’t feel at the moment that he is at the level that he is able to train I suppose at inter-county level and do himself justice at an inter-county level.
“So it was his own decision and it was a pragmatic decision really but, the door is still open to him if feels that the body is strong and he is able to go again.”