Keane pleased but still room to improve

IN a game that pretty much spoke for itself, Peter Keane said that the Kerry minors still want to try and improve ahead of the All-Ireland series.

“While we’re very happy with how we played there are still a few things we want to work on for the All-Ireland quarter-final. We found it a bit difficult to prepare for today having played Clare already and not knowing if they would be similar or different to what we faced the first night in Tralee,” the Kerry Minor boss said.

One of the major aspects of Kerry’s win was their foot passing, something Keane says is a very effective way for any side to make progress.

“A ball will always travel faster in a foot pass than trying to carry it through. You play to whatever strength you can find and while we were a bit disappointed with our kicking in the first period we were happy with how we improved there in the second period,” he said.

When asked about the impact of the substitutions introduced, Keane said he was very happy with the contribution of those brought on.

“We want number 30 to put pressure on number 24, 24 to put pressure on 17 and 17 to put pressure on 13. There are subs there who are very anxious to get a hold off a starting jersey and that’s showing when they come on,” he said.

Keane praised both the side’s forwards and defenders in the win, saying the defence played as well as they did in the semi-final win over Cork while the forwards continued to give good options for scores in the overall task of scoring more than they will concede.

The date of Kerry All-Ireland Minor quarter-final is uncertain at the moment due to a clash with the All-Ireland U-17 semi-final but Keane is hoping all the panel come through the upcoming County Minor Championship intact.

“There are a number of rounds to be played in the County Minor Championship while it could be up to five weeks before we play the All-Ireland quarter-finals depending on when the match is fixed.”