Kerry and Armagh hampered by club duties

FOOTBALL NEWS: BOTH KERRY and Armagh could use the excuse of missing several first-choice players for their Allianz Football League Division One clash in Tralee on Saturday evening – although whether that's in accounting for victory or defeat remains to be seen.

What balances the act is the AIB All-Ireland club semi-final on Saturday week, when Dr Crokes take on Crossmaglen. It means the absent stars will include Kerry’s Colm “Gooch” Cooper and Armagh’s Jamie Clarke, and also provides an interesting reminder of their rivalry at both club and county level.

Kerry have had the edge in recent years at county level, winning the corresponding Division One fixture last season, 1-13 to 1-9, plus that comfortable championship win in 2006: still, the 2002 All-Ireland defeat to Armagh remains close to memory.

At club level Crossmaglen boast the upper hand, beating Dr Crokes in the 2007 club semi-final, and go into Saturday week’s game as All-Ireland club champions.

Yet the loss at county level is probably more severe for Armagh, as among those missing, as well as Clarke, will be Paul Hearty, Aaron Cunningham, and of course the Kernan brothers. Oisín McConville is still shining for the club although he has retired from the county, and Steven McDonnell will also be absent on Saturday as he’s yet to rejoin the panel for 2012.

As well as Cooper, Kerry will also be without Eoin Brosnan and Kieran O’Leary although they were hardly missed in last Saturday’s convincing win over Dublin at Croke Park.

For Armagh manager Paddy O’Rourke, last Sunday’s draw with Cork possibly surpassed most expectations, but it would have been useful to capture the two points at home nonetheless. Even after one round the difficulty in winning away games is evident: of the 15 opening round ties last weekend, nine were home wins, four were away wins, one home game was drawn, while Kildare’s lost match against Tyrone was played at the neutral venue of Croke Park.

O’Rourke had the advantage of watching Kerry on Saturday night, and believes his team can’t afford to be overawed like they appeared to be in the first half against Cork last Sunday: “Yes, we’ll have to take them on like we eventually did against Cork and see where that takes us,” says O’Rourke. “It would have been easy for them to walk away and say they were playing a Cork team that has All-Ireland medals in their pockets. But they dug deep, they took the game to Cork and we went about our business as if we wanted to win the game.

“We tried to get them going into the game relaxed, but they were obviously a bit overawed with Cork. Everybody was talking about the team that Cork had named. It wasn’t until they were in around them that they realised these people are only human. That is what we have been trying to tell them. But some of our team were very young.”

Meanwhile, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has confirmed Stephen O’Neill has succeeded his Clann na nGael club-mate Brian Dooher as team captain for 2012.

After rotating his captains during the successful McKenna Cup campaign, Harte handed the former footballer of the year the captaincy for last Saturday night’s win over Kildare, and has now confirmed he will retain the role for the rest of the season.

Dooher retired at the end of last year and had held the Tyrone captaincy since the death of Cormac McAnallen in March 2004, and with that had the honour of lifting the Sam Maguire in 2005 and ’08.

Finally, All-Ireland club hurling semi-finalists Coolderry, Na Piarsaigh and Loughgiel received a boost ahead of their crucial ties this weekend with the news that key players from each of their clubs will receive a provincial player award. Cathal Parlon (Coolderry), Shane Dowling (Na Piarsaigh), and Joey Scullion (Loughgiel Shamrocks) have been honoured for the first time; there is no award for Connacht given their automatic qualification.