The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Kingdom really have no reason to fear the Faithful
NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 2A Kerry v Offaly Sunday, February 2 Austin Stack Park, 2pm
IS there a chance we’re more beholden to the idea of Offaly than to the reality of it?
We can’t quite shake the memory of the good old days with Duignan and Dooley, Whelahan and Troy. The free-wheeling mavericks who danced to their own tune and stole All Irelands right out from under your nose, thank you very much.
The mystique of those days has long outlived the reality, but some of it still attaches itself. The name, the jersey, the brand commands a certain amount of respect, especially in a county like Kerry. A county where All Irelands are a distant dream and far outside of living memory.
When Kerry play Offaly we tend to give the Faithful the benefit of the doubt simply because of who they are or rather what they were. The reality of the situation is, however, that Kerry, particularly this Kerry side, should have no real reason to fear Offaly.
Hardly any of these guys will remember the men of 98. Hell a frighteningly – for those of us of a more, shall we say, mature vintage – large proportion of them weren’t even born when Hubert Rigney collected the Liam MacCarthy from Joe McDonagh.
It’s so long ago that a cup has been named in honour of the GAA former president and since then Offaly have found themselves relegated out of it at the first time of asking. The past really is a foreign country as far as the Faithful are concerned.
Kerry have beaten Offaly in league matches. They’ve beaten them in championship matches. As recently as last June the Kingdom relegated Offaly to the Christy Ring Cup. What possible reason would Kerry have to fear them this weekend?
Offaly have a new management team in place with Kilkenny legend Michael Fennelly assuming the reins. They’re after having a positive pre-season claiming the Kehoe Cup with a win over Antrim in the final, but even taking all that into account beating them shouldn’t be beyond this Kerry team and this Kerry manager.
After just one round of games in the league it’s hard to draw any definite conclusions. Offaly weren’t hugely impressive in seeing off Meath on their home patch by just two points last weekend, while Kerry were much more dominant (eventually) in their victory on the road to Mayo.
Advantage Kerry then? Possibly. Possibly not. Until we get another couple of rounds played we won’t quite be in a position to judge how impressive or not that result in Birr was last weekend. Maybe Meath are better than we gave them credit for pre-match? Or maybe the Offaly revival under Fennelly still has a ways to go? Time will tell.
It’s a similar enough type of deal with Kerry. They were miles better than Mayo in the end, but Mayo were a little understrength for the game in MacHale Park – just three Tooreen players lined out – so how much are we to read into that?
The last time these two sides met the Kingdom ran out two point victors – 1-18 to 1-16
– and really they should have been a bit more comfortable than that. Given what was on the line, however, a certain amount of nervousness was to be expected.
Still that win should give this Kerry side – boosted since then by the return of a handful of players – the confidence they need to get the job done against Fennelly’s men. Offaly have a very different looking side now than then with Fennelly putting his stamp on the side, but the departures of both Shane Dooley and Joe Bergin have weakened his hand somewhat.
There probably won’t be a huge pile in it on Sunday afternoon – the game won’t be forming part of a double header with the footballers presumably due to there being Fitzgibbon Cup action midweek – but really there’s no reason to think Fintan O’Connor’s men can’t get the job done.
Do that and they’ll already have a leg in the league final. A win wouldn’t guarantee it obviously, but it would put the Kingdom in a commanding position in the group at this early stage. That’s a pretty big carrot for this bunch of players. As long as they’re at their best then certainly they can do it.
Verdict: Kerry