Big Questions

WHO HAS SAFEST HANDS TO HOLD THE NO.1 JERSEY

Despite a healthy rivalry between Dr Crokes are their neighbours, Legion and Kilcummin, there’s no doubt the latter two clubs will be wishing the county champions every success in their All-Ireland Club Championship semi-final against Corofin on February 11. But there might be more motivation behind their best wishes that mere county allegiance. As it stands Brian Kelly (Legion) and Brendan Kealy (Kilcummin) remains Kerry’s goalkeepers but Fitzmaurice has stated that Dr Crokes’ Shane Murphy will be called in to training after the Club Championship. That, presumably, means that if it works out for Murphy then Kelly or Kealy will be deemed surplus to requirements (or would the management keep three goalkeepers on the squad?) If Crokes beat Corofin then Murphy will not, in all likelihood, see any National League action, and that means Kelly and Kealy have the spring to convince the management they’re wor th keeping. If a rotation policy is used it’ll be dog eat dog through the spring, but if one or the other becomes first choice for the League it could spell the end for the other.

BEST OPTIONS FOR FULL AND CENTRE BACK?

The retirements of Marc Ó Sé and Aidan O’Mahony has taken two highly experience inside defenders from the Kerry squad, and even if Ó Sé wasn’t an automatic choice in last year’s Championship, their loss still greatly reduces the options in the full back line. We can take it that Shane Enright is shoo-in at no.4 but how obvious are the other two places alongside him? Mark Griffin finally made the full back position his own last year and all things considered the South Kerry man had a decent year at no.3. But could there be a role fur ther out for the energetic Griffin who seldom spurns the chance to get well forward with the ball and in suppor t of his team mates? It’s likely that comes the summer the full back line will read - Enright, Griffin, Young - as it did for last August’s All-Ireland semifinal, but there is a chance that Jason Foley could break in there at no.3. The Ballydonoghue player should play a lot of minutes there against Donegal and then Mayo before going back to the U-21 squad until the end of March (for the Munster final) and hopefully the end of April (All-Ireland final), but the early signs are that he is the next senior full back in waiting.

WHO CAN SHAKE UP THE MIDFIELD?

All Star winners in 2014 and 2015 respectively, it’s understandable to believe that David Moran (28) and Anthony Maher (30) are the preferred midfield par tnership for this year’s Championship, and maybe they are in the eyes of the management, but that’s doesn’t mean they will be. Not least because Maher was bedevilled by injury problems last year and has yet to make an appearance on a team sheet this year. The Duagh man did carry an injury problem into the new year, which Fitzmaurice downplayed its significance before the McGrath Cup, and is expected to be available sooner rather than later, but the question is: has he lost valuable ground on his Kerry competition and if so who can take advantage? Last year Kieran Donaghy played midfield for much of the League and Championship but it’s reasonable to assume that if and when he is used this year it will be in the full forward line. Johnny Buckley is on Dr Crokes duty for the foreseeable so that leaves the management possibly looking somewhere new for a par tner for Moran. Jack Barry has played there in two McGrath Cup games and though raw and inexperienced, the Na Gaeil man has potential. Tadhg Morley partnered Barry against Cork in Mallow and didn’t look out of place there either, although his performance at centre back against Limerick suggests he’d better serve the team in the half back line. Brendan O’Sullivan cer tainly has the power to operate out there and has plenty of pace too, while Adrian Spillane has surely been brought into the panel with only one position in mind for him.

WHO PRESSURES GOOCH FOR THE NO.11 JERSEY?

While he won’t call it until after Crokes’ are done with the AllIreland Club Championship, the received wisdom is that Colm Cooper is going again with Kerry this year. Either way, his absence and Darran O’Sullivan’s - from the early rounds of the League means an opening at centre forward. Fitzmaurice has plenty of no.11 options for the games against Donegal: Donnchadh Walsh, Mikey Geaney and Paul Murphy are the experienced options, while Jonathan Lyne, Barry John Keane and Jack Savage would be more adventurous choices. There’s a school of thought that Cooper and Kerry might be best served this year with a return to no.13 for the Gooch, so someone else surely gets a few games to stake a claim for the no.11 shir t, if only to keep it warm for Darran O’Sullivan.

WHO CAN KEEP STAR ON THE SIDELINES?

Kieran Donaghy might be back training but basketball will probably mean he plays no League football in February or March. It’s believable to think Donaghy is staying on to play a role at full forward and the big man will want to star t Championship matches. In the meantime there’s an opening in the inside line - alongside Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue - but for who? Conor Keane and Conor Geaney could get an early chance to make an impression, before Barry John Keane and Steophen O’Brien come into the equation as possible star ters.