MIDFIELDERS

DAVID MORAN, JACK BARRY, DIARMUID O’CONNOR, MARK RYAN, ADRIAN SPILLANE

Succession is probably the key term here. David Moran (below) isn’t going to be Kerry’s main man forever and, unfor tunately, the Strand Road man is closer to the end of his time as Kerry’s automatic starter than he is to the beginning of it. That, of course, is not to say that he won’t be in place at the start of this year’s championship – he probably will be and probably should be – it’s just that in a year of two that may no longer be the case. Not that Moran will like to hear it – what footballer would? – but it’s time to star t grooming a potential successor or successors. That Moran is sitting out the first couple of rounds of the National League – following his recent nuptials – is probably no bad thing in that regard and will give Peter Keane some early oppor tunities to experiment. It’s most unfortunate from a Kerry point of view that Stefan Okunbor has opted for a career Down Under as he would’ve surely been strongly considered by the new management team over the coming months. Thankfully he isn’t the only young Na Gaeil player with midfield potential. It’s thought that Diarmuid O’Connor is going to be in a strong early position to stake a claim – he was the main man in the middle of the park in the 2017 All Ireland minor campaign. We shouldn’t be at all surprised to see him star t some of these early games, probably alongside his Na Gaeil colleague Jack Barry (below). Barry has a big year ahead of him. 2018 was a difficult second album kind of year for the Tralee man. He seemed a little more timid or at least a little less explosive than he did the previous season. He’ll need to hit the ground running to be sure of his place in the starting fifteen – he could do with adding some scores to his reper toire. He’s almost cer tainly good enough to do so, but the pressure is on with guys like O’Connor snapping at his heels. Peter Keane has also drafted Mark Ryan into the panel and the Rathmore man is another who’s likely to be granted game time over the coming weeks and months. This league campaign, meanwhile, is probably make or break for the ambitions of Adrian Spillane. The Templenoe man needs to stake a claim and fast, otherwise it’s hard to see him remaining on the panel beyond this season. One option the new management team might consider for midfield is Mark Griffin. We’ve got the Ballyfoilmore man listed here as a defender, but he’s never par ticularly excelled in a defensive capacity – just think back to Clones last July. That said Griffin is a very fine footballer and has a real cut about him and an engine too – again think back to Clones in the Super 8s – which could be just what the Kingdom need in the middle of the park. Statistically Kerry did fine in midfield last year – Kerry won more than their fair share of contested primary possession in most games – but there was nevertheless a feeling that Kerry lacked a cer tain amount of dynamism in the middle third of the pitch. Griffin could possibly be a solution to that, if not from the star t, but cer tainly as an option off the bench. Seán O’Shea is another guy we have listed elsewhere who could, on occasion at least, feature out around the middle of the park. He’s probably too valuable a commodity to move from centre-forward, but such is the way the game has gone that a centre-forward is often pulled back more towards midfield than to the for ty. Of course, it’s possible too that the management team will draft a few others – perhaps Johnny Buckley might be in a position to return after Crokes finish their campaign? Or maybe Keane might call upon another of his protégées, Barry Mahony, who’s probably going to be a key figure for the Under 20s this year.