The preparations of Kerry senior football championship semi-finalists St Kieran’s for their meeting with Dingle on Sunday week have received a major setback. The players and management were victims of a robbery carried our during a training session at the Desmonds Club Grounds in Castleisland on Thursday night.
The players, including Kerry players Seamus Scanlon and Padraig Reidy, had just started training on the pitch when the thieves entered the dressing rooms and removed all clothing that was hanging up, as well as other items. They took the keys of several cars and then ransacked the vehicles in the car park, stealing money, wallets, jewellery, mobile phones and CDs. One player had his rent money stolen, while another had a suit taken, as he had come straight from work to training.
The players discovered the robbery when they finished training at 9.15pm. They found car keys in a wheelie bin at the entrance to the grounds.
St Kieran’s manager Martin Horgan said it would take the players some time to get over the incident. “As regards our preparations it is after putting a downer on them and it will take us a couple of sessions to get the heads right again,” he said. “We will obviously have to change venue and the players are very upset. We are offering a reward for information that might lead to the recovery of any items, especially sentimental stuff that was taken.”
He said the main reason they had decided to go public was to warn other clubs that were training under lights that they might be targeted by thieves.