Hectic schedule for Keane and co

Success brings fixture congestion for minor and U17 boss

THE Kerry minors and Under 17s face a hectic schedule over the coming weeks if they continue to be as successful as they have been to date this season.

Saturday’s Under 17 game with Connacht champions Roscommon is the second game of what could be a busy period for players involved in both the minor and Under 17 set-ups this month. Should the Under 17s be successful in Ennis on Saturday afternoon they will then face either Meath or Tyrone in the All-Ireland final.

The final is scheduled for the weekend of August 20, but with the Kerry minors down to play Cavan in their All-Ireland minor semi-final that weekend it’s likely that the final could be pushed back to the following weekend (August 27) if Kerry are involved.

Kerry will be without the services of Austin Stacks’ Michael Slattery for the game. Slattery picked up a one match ban as a result of incidents, which took place at the end of the Munster Under 17 final in Mayo. The ban Slattery received is only applicable to the Under 17 grade hence the reason he was able to feature for the minors in Portlaoise last Saturday.

The Cavan minors prevented a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland Minor final from taking place in the semi-finals after coming from behind to defeat Galway in Carrick-on-Shannon last Saturday as well. The other All-Ireland Minor semi-final will be between Dublin and Derry after both won their respective provinces earlier in the campaign.

The seniors also discovered their semi-final opponents on Monday afternoon when Mayo comprehensively saw off Roscommon in their All-Ireland quarter-final replay.

Meanwhile in the aftermath of the Kerry Minor and Junior double in Portlaoise, the draw for the Garveys Supervalu Senior Football Championship quarter-finals was made and it has pitted the defending champions Dr Crokes against last year’s intermediate winners Kenmare Shamrocks with both sides also due to meet each other in the senior club championship decider.

East Kerry’s prize for their dramatic extra-time victory over St Brendans in Round Three, meanwhile is a meeting with Kerins O’Rahillys. While Austin Stacks, despite being threatened with relegation from Division 1 of the County Senior Football League, will face West Kerry in the last eight.

The tie of the round, however, is arguably the meeting of Rathmore and 2015 winners South Kerry which is sure to attract plenty of interest when the quarter-final stage comes around after the con- clusion of Kerry’s All-Ireland campaign.

This weekend also sees the penultimate round of fixtures in the County Senior Football League, which could see various promotion and relegation issues decided across the five divisions.

In the top flight Stacks must defeat An Ghaeltacht to have any hope of bringing their chances of staying up to the final day and hope other results go their way at that.

The West Kerry club will want to ensure a place in the league final, meanwhile, as they could guarantee a decider with Crokes with a win coupled with a draw between nearest challengers Rathmore and Glenbeigh / Glencar at the Mid Kerry venue.