Kerry ready and open for championship business

They spent four days last week at a training camp in Johnstown House in Co Meath, and still fresh from ending Dublin’s 36-game unbeaten game run in the league final, Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice has further enriched his panel with the cream of the county’s under-21 footballers.

Unfortunately for Clare, it seems, Kerry are in no way taking them for granted in Sunday’s Munster semi-final in Ennis. Fitzmaurice was never going to suggest otherwise, and despite playing them twice last summer, at this same stage and an All-Ireland quarter-final, winning both by a combined total of 23 points, the Kingdom mean business.

“I was at the Clare-Limerick game the other week,” says Fitzmaurice of the Munster quarter-final, where Clare won by a point. “It wasn’t vintage Clare, but I think they’ve improved. Physically, they’re another year down the road, and knew what they were about.

“I think they took their foot off the gas a bit, but we know the last time we played them up in Ennis we got a fair testing. So we’re not looking beyond that. I think Clare are going in the right direction. We know how it works if we’re a little bit off.”

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Clare do have something to hold on to, this summer being the 25th anniversary of that special Munster final win over Kerry, in 1992. And they actually beat Kerry back in 1949 as well.

In fairness to Fitzmaurice, he is simply talking up a game Kerry could probably win with one hand tied behind their backs: despite falling to Galway in the All-Ireland under-21 semi-final, five players from that much-lauded panel are now part of the senior set up – defenders Jason Foley, Brian Ó Beaglaioch, Tom O’Sullivan, Gavin White and forward Seán O’Shea.

O’Shea – stepping up from last year’s All-Ireland minor winning team – is a particularly exciting prospect, Fitzmaurice is happy to single out some praise for the young Kenmare player: “Yeah, a great young talent, exciting, and he’s taking to it like a duck to water. He’s young, and we’ve to be mindful of that, but yeah, he’s enjoying it.”

In fact Fitzmaurice is also working off a second “development panel” aimed at bringing through as many of those underage players as possible: his league panel is still largely intact (including Brendan O’Sullivan, back on board after his inadvertent anti-doping violation).

“We have a development group, too, and are looking after them for summer as well. So I would say there is no one who was involved in the league that isn’t on one or the other.

“There is a lot of talent in the county, and we’re trying to make sure that fellas maintain their development, rather than miss a period, and then try to come back in again. For a lot of those the aim is simple, next year’s league, and to be in a position where they could go from the start.

“Jack Savage was in that boat this time last year. But because he was in with us over the summer, last year, then trained through the winter, he was ready to go in February. If a fella isn’t involved with us, the chances of him being ready to go are reduced. That’s the thinking, to keep them in the loop, and keep them in best practice.”

Gone from last summer, however, are Colm Cooper, Marc Ó Sé and Aidan O’Mahony, although Fitzmaurice has little fear their presence can’t be replaced.

“We’ve had that in the past, and it forces other fellas to step up, and that’s what’s happened. It seems to be the way of the world. After 2014, it was Eoin Brosnan, Paul Galvin, Tomás Ó Sé, three big personalities, and other players stepped forward. New leaders emerge, and that keeps the thing fresh.”

As great as it was to beat Dublin, says Fitzmaurice, there is the sense they will meet again: “It was great to win a game against Dublin, a league final, but afterwards it was straight into championship. Look, we know with Dublin, if anything, that defeat will probably help them, that they’ll up their efforts further.

“It was great to get the job done, albeit barely in the end, get national silverware. And with plenty of challenging games, a couple of disappointing defeats, but for such a young group, there was plenty of learning in that.”

As Sunday might well prove.