The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Are O’Brien and Fitzgibbon the best challenge to Ryan as No.1?
Following Brian Kelly’s recent retirement from the Kerry squad, Eoghan O’Brien and Kieran Fitzgibbon are now best placed to push Shane Ryan for the No.1 jersey. Paul Brennan asks if there are other safe pairs of hands
THE retirements from the Kerry senior football panel a couple of weeks ago of Shane Enright and Jonathan Lyne leaves the squad going into 2021 deprived of a wealth of experience, not to mention two very fine defenders. Between them, Enright and Lyne gave 20 years to the Kerry senior team cause, and even though the management clearly used them both sparingly in 2020, their departures will leave a considerable void, at least at training sessions, if not necessarily on match day. Nevertheless, Enright’s and Lyne’s places in the squad will be easily filled. Existing defenders in the panel will feel they can move up a place or two in the pecking order, while the management will also call in a couple of callow backs who will start their journey as Kerry seniors, hopeful, if not certain, to be still there after 10 years having given as much to the jersey as Enright and Lyne did.
Brian Kelly’s retirement is a little different insofar as he was just one of two goalkeepers in the squad at the end of 2020. The goalkeeper is, of course, a far more specialised position than that of a ‘defender’ or a ‘forward’, even if some of the sub-divisions within those are quite specialised in their own way in the modern game.
Kelly’s decision to step away from the Kerry set-up after nine years meant Shane Ryan was the only goalkeeper available to the management at the start of the month, though they have moved quickly to recall Eoghan O’Brien, who had been part of the squad in the early part of the year, before the Covid pandemic took hold.
Kieran Fitzgibbon has also been called up, but it could be some time before the management and coaching staff get to work hands-on with the Kenmare Shamrocks goalkeeper, as collective training won’t be allowed until February 5
O’Brien, from the Churchill club, was, in effect, the third choice goalkeeper coming into 2020. Ryan was always the first choice, and the management’s faith in him was evident by the fact he played every minute of every game Kerry played last year. It’s fair to assume that Kelly - Kerry’s starting goalkeeper in their last All-Ireland success back in 2014 - was the immediate back-up to the Rathmore man, with O’Brien drafted in over the winter of 2019/2020 as further back-up.
When inter-county teams resumed collective training last September after the summer lock-down, O’Brien was let go as the panel was trimmed as part of an overall suite of measures to best deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was always likely that O’Brien would be recalled anyway for 2021, but Kelly’s retirement certainly sped up his return, and the
St Brendan’s divisional team goalkeeper looks in pole position to be Ryan’s understudy and closest competition.
Should
Fitzgibbon bring his club form to Currans, he would provide further cover and options in that position, but as Peter Keane and his management team start to lay plans for the season ahead, Ryan will certainly be the first name on the team sheet.
The hope for the management would be, naturally, that, at the very least, their second choice would apply plenty of pressure on the incumbent to keep him sharp, and at best the deputy would give the management a real selection headache.
So, the question remains: could O’Brien really challenge Ryan for the no.1 jersey this year, and is there another goalkeeper in the county - Fitzgibbon aside - who could stake a strong claim for inclusion
in the Kerry panel.
Shane Murphy (Dr Crokes)
AN obvious choice given that (a) he has already been the first-choice Kerry goalkeeper and (b) he remains one of the very best ’keepers in the county. Having started playing with his native Kilcummin club, Murphy somewhat controversially transferred to neighbouring club Dr Crokes for the start of the 2016 season. Since moving to Lewis Road Murphy has developed into from the hand and from placed restarts. Murphy was called into the senior squad by Eamonn Fitzmaurice and made his championship debut in the 2018 Munster semi-final win over Clare, and stayed in goals for the Munster final win over the Cork and subsequent Super 8s defeat to Galway. He lost the no.1 jersey to Brian Kelly for the remaining Super 8s games against Monaghan and Kildare, before Fitzmaurice stepped down as manager. Murphy remained part of the Kerry panel after Peter Keane succeeded Fitzmaurice for the 2019 season but he wasn’t involved in the National League owing to Dr Crokes run to the All-Ireland Club Championship final that March. In that time Ryan took a firm grip of the goakeeper’s starting jersey and Murphy parted company with the Kerry squad in late April. The reason for Murphy’s departure from the squad was never really disclosed and one wonders if there remains any willingness on the part of the player or the Kerry management to have the Dr Crokes man recalled at some stage.
Brian Lonergan
(Ballymacelligott)
LONERGAN has been involved with Kerry squads since 2017
when he was second choice goalkeeper on the Under-17 team that went to the All-Ireland semi-final in 2017. He even got a couple of minutes of game time at the end of the semi-final loss to Roscommon, replacing Deividas Uosis between the posts in added-on time. The following year Lonergan and Uosis shared the no.1 jersey on the Kerry U-20 team, with the Ballymacelligott man getting the nod to start in the Munster semi-final wins over Waterford and Cork after Uosis had played in the quarter-final win over Limerick. Lonergan was in goals for the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Kildare. In 2019 Lonergan was in goals for Kerry’s two Munster Championship fixtures. The Ballymac man can also claim a Kerry senior appearance, as he was in goal for the Kingdom’s 2020 McGrath Cup game against Cork in Tralee, played in late December 2019. On that occasion Kerry fielded a team comprised mostly of Under-20 players. Lonergan was excellent in goals for his club in the Premier Junior Championship last year but he was kept out of the St Kierans team for the county championship by Sean Óg Ó Ciardubháin.
Darragh O’Shea (Ballydonoghue)
O’SHEA has been minding the goal for Ballydonoghue for several years, and is the preferred choice for the Shannon Rangers divisional team also. He won All-Ireland Junior Championship medals with Kerry in 2016 and 2018, and enjoyed further exposure on a national stage when he was selected as team goalkeeper for the 2018 Underdogs series on TG4. O’Shea made it through the trials to claim the no.1 jersey for the Underdogs coached by
Paul Galvin,
Ray Silke and Valerie Mulcahy - in October of that year. The Ballydonoghue man is a fine shot stopper and keeps a strong command
of his goal.