Kerry defender Gavin White is doubtful for Sunday week’s All-Ireland final against Galway, but manager Jack O’Connor said the Dr Crokes man will be given every chance to prove his fitness as he aims to recover from a knee injury picked up in Kerry’s semi-final win over Dublin last Sunday.
However, speaking at the Kerry GAA media briefing in Killarney on Thursday, O’Connor was pessimistic about White’s chances playing in the All-Ireland final.
White limped off in the 66th minute of the semi-final, in visible discomfort after twisting his knee trying to retrieve the ball. O’Connor said the wing back has had a scan and is waiting on the results.
“We are just waiting for a report on it,” he said.
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“He had a scan done so we have to wait. You’d have to rate him as doubtful at the minute, which is disappointing for him. I don’t know what the nature of the injury is – it’s knee related.”
He added: “It was a twist or something. Something to do with the way he turned. He was trying to do a bit of a cut or a twist. Look, all I know is he wouldn’t come off the field in a game like that if he wasn’t injured. He certainly wasn’t faking it.”
O’Connor said White will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness ahead of the game in Croke Park in 10 days’ time.
“We will see what the scan report says – that will dictate it; we’ll have a fair idea then. But sure look, everyone is desperate to play in an All-Ireland final. No more than Con O’Callaghan, I’d say Dublin gave him every chance to try and play. You want your best players playing.”
Kerry have no other major injury concerns but O’Connor said keeping Covid at bay from their camp is one of his most serious concerns ahead of the July 24th final.
Kerry trained on Wednesday night and were down “three or four players” because of minor injuries sustained last Sunday.
“We’re just hoping they’ll settle down,” he said.
O’Connor – who is looking forward to his sixth All-Ireland final as manager – said a Covid outbreak, or individual players picking up the virus ahead of the Galway game, is every manager’s “nightmare” and management.
“The elephant in the room then is Covid,” said O’Connor. “You are just hoping the way Covid is at the moment that it doesn’t spread into the camp because it’s just something out of your control and that’s every manager’s nightmare.”
The Kerry manager said he tries to keep team meetings at a minimum, but this is proving to be “difficult” in the build-up to such a big game.
“It’s difficult like,” he said. “If you’re doing video analysis, you have to get into a room. You ventilate it as much as you can but what do you do? You do your best. There’s no fool-proofing it.”
O’Connor said Dan O’Donoghue, who played throughout Kerry’s league-winning campaign this year before he was sidelined through injury, is back in contention after playing with his club Spa in a league game last week.
“He’s been training away with us for the last month, for three or four weeks, but you have to remember he missed an awful lot of time and it’s very hard to make up for that time at this time of year,” he said.
