The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Banner men with senior experience to provide worthy test of Kerry
MUNSTER U21 FC QUARTER-FINAL
Kerry v Clare Wednesday, March 8 Austin Stack Park, 7.30pm
WHAT we shouldn’t expect tonight [Wednesday] is that the Kingdom go out and absolutely blitz their opponents the way they did Tipperary in the McGrath Cup.
They could do, but we suspect they won’t. There were a very particular set of circumstances surrounding that game. Clearly Jack O’Connor and his management team had more work done with their Under 21 side than Liam Kearns’ had with his Tipperary senior squad.
The reason why is quite obvious – the Kerry Under 21s needed to be up and running and peaking much earlier than when Tipperary did. Tipp came to town expecting and preparing for something quite different to what the Kingdom delivered. That’s not what’s going to happen against the Banner this evening.
Clare know they’re entering the lion’s den, they won’t be caught off guard or on the hop like the Tipperary senior footballers were. At around the same time Kerry were playing in the McGrath Cup the Clare Under 21s were winning the pre-season McNulty Under 21 competition.
Over the course of that competition they had wins over Kildare, Galway and Wexford, before they went on to see off Limerick in the final. That’s impressive stuff and as the Clare seniors proved last weekend nobody should underestimate Banner football, they’re on a genuine upward curve right now.
On this Under 21 side they’ve got two footballers with experience of Croke Park with the senior side. Kealan Sexton and Cian O’Dea both featured for the Banner against the Kingdom last August.
Indeed, Clare are a little unfortunate not to have a third player with Croke Park experience at their disposal with the news coming through on Monday afternoon that Pearse Lillis has been ruled out of the game through injury and for all the obvious progress Clare are making to stand a chance of downing the Kingdom they probably needed all hands on deck.
Even without the Dr Crokes players for the opening round of this championship, Jack O’Connor has been able to name a formidably strong bench. Killian Spillane is a guy most people would expect to start most games. Cormac Coffey is another big talent. John Mark Foley and Jack Morgan likewise.
It’s hard to see anything other than a Kerry victory in this game, but the expectation is that Clare will give Kerry plenty to think about. It might not be until the second half that Kerry find their groove and grind their opponents down. A win by just a handful of points isn’t out of the question. All that matters in this game for Kerry is the result, to get the ball moving, to get up and running, anything else would be a bonus.
Kerry
Verdict: