Battle-hardened Bannner will offer stern resistance to Kerry in opening contest

TOMÁS Ó Sé didn’t even know the identity of his opening Phase Two round-robin opponents until late on Saturday afternoon, but it’s now full steam ahead for the Kerry Under 20 football manager as his charges take on Clare at next Wednesday evening (7pm).

Instead of last season’s knock-out format, the provincial championship is being run on a double group phase basis, with the Banner, phase one winners Tipperary, Limerick and Waterford already enjoying three outings in the competition since St Patrick’s weekend.

Therefore, Michael Neylon’s Clare are at a significant advantage when it comes to having had serious games under the belt in advance of next Wednesday, but Ó Sé has being doing his homework, and he feels that the Kingdom are as well prepared as they can possibly be.

“The format will be that two of them will come across, so we’ve got to a few games. We travelled to two games the last two weekends. They all play a similar style of football. I don’t think, at underage level, whatever about senior level, that those type of teams fear Kerry,” he said last Thursday.

“We saw what happened last year inside in Tralee with Clare, they came down, and they came down to Tralee to win it, and they nearly did win it. Every team that comes across, they’ll have three games played at that stage.

“They’ll be a lot more prepared and hard-edged than we will be. We’re just hoping that the preparation we do will have us right for it.”

Clare began their campaign with a seven-point victory over Waterford, 0-13 to 0-6, and, despite holding a four-point advantage with ten minutes to go against Tipperary, they were pipped by a late scoring surge from the Premier county, 1-8 to 1-6.

Therefore, last Saturday’s clash with Limerick at Ballyagran was a must-win encounter for both sides. Always in control after building up a half-time lead, 0-5 to 0-1, Éanna Rouine’s second half goal was the icing on the cake for the Banner, 1-9 to 0-6.

Well-organised and difficult to break down, and with the knowledge of how close they came to lowering the Kingdom’s colours at Austin Stack Park last year, Clare will be no pushovers. Aaron Kelly, Rouine, Conor Fennell, Odhran Cunningham, Josh Moloney and Darren Keane are key figures in the side.

The Kerry manager, in his second season at the helm, recognises that his squad are potentially vulnerable, in the first of what will be three consecutive Wednesday night assignments – Cork (away) on April 17, Tipperary (home) on April 24 – with the Munster final the following Wednesday again.

“You can look at it every which way. You lose that game, and you lose a second game, and you’re out. The second game is definitely Cork, and definitely away. But that’s just the nature of it. It’s not easy.

“Cork have a very good outfit, but there’s no way that you can afford to be looking at the second game.”

Having gone down the challenge game circuit in recent months, it will be intriguing to see the Kingdom line-up when it is announced.

Of course, in the definite absence of Rob Monahan (Aussie Rules) and Jack Clifford (opted out), with Luke Crowley a serious injury doubt, Kerry are missing some quality players.

However, up-and-coming talent like Michael Tansley, Dara O’Callaghan, Cian Lynch, Eddie Healy, Adam Segal, Colm Browne, Ryan Diggin, Robert Stack, Evan Boyle, John Kelleher, Fionn Murphy, Cormac Dillon, Odhran Ferris, Paddy Lane, to name a few, should be there or thereabouts in the selection mix.

To call a spade a spade, there is no opportunity whatsoever for Kerry to ease their way into the competition. Next Wednesday is a must-win, especially with a trip to Cork following on the horizon.

It really is a huge banana skin, but the Kingdom simply must eke out a win by any means possible. It might not be pretty, but Kerry should nick it.

Verdict: Kerry