The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
No doubt on the streets of Cahersiveen: Keane’s the man for Kerry
TAKING a stroll around Cahersiveen on Friday last, after news had broken that local man Peter Keane would be appointed as Kerry’s next senior football manager, the verdict was unanimous: a good man for the job.
And for one man over at St Mary’s Cahersiveen GAA Club who has trained and played with Keane, club manager Kieran McCarthy, there was no doubt but that Keane’s late father, Tom, would be very proud of his son, who was duly awarded the role by the county board on Monday night.
“I’m sure Tom is looking down from the pearly gates and is delighted with Peter,” Mr McCarthy said.
“Peter is a great man for the job. He is a great analyst of the game – but the important thing is that he doesn’t over-analyse. He knows that the goalposts are exactly where they’ve always been, the sidelines, everything...It’ll be a tough task, but it will come good eventually.”
On Main Street, the sentiments were exactly the same.
“He has plenty of youth, and he knows all the young lads from the last couple of years,” Liam Musgrave said as we stopped for a chat with himself and his friend, Paddy O’Shea. “He is of course the right man for the job. We know Peter all our lives here in Cahersiveen before he moved to Killorglin.”
“I know Peter and all the family,” Danny O’Connell said. “He has done great work the Minors the last few years. And he’s good because he’s for the youth. He’s young himself, and we have great young players coming up.”
As Walsh’s SuperValu on Valentia Road sponsors the South Kerry football championship, it was easily known we’d find a few shoppers there with an opinion. Sisters Mary Dennehy and Anne O’Malley were both delighted to see a local man getting the job, while Noreen O’Shea has no doubt he’ll be successful.
Owner Dermot Walsh was more pessimistic about the news than his shoppers – but that’s only due to his county allegiances
“As a Cork man, I hope not!” he joked when asked if Keane would prove successful. “In all seriousness, though, I think it’s a brilliant appointment – unfortunately!” SEE SPORT