Kerry must now decide who gets winners' medals

Kerry football is facing one more selection dilemma this season over the distribution of the All-Ireland winning medals.

Under current GAA guidelines 30 medals are made available for distribution, corresponding to the maximum number allowed on intercounty panels for championship purposes. Like most counties, however, Kerry easily surpassed that number over the championship.

It means not all 30 panel members named for last Sunday's final against Mayo are guaranteed a medal. Kerry County Board chairman Seán Walsh confirmed yesterday only 30 medals were available, and that Darragh Ó Sé, who missed out on the final through injury, " has to get one".

Such an awkward situation is set to worsen next season when the maximum number allowed on intercounty panels reverts to 24, the result of the surprisingly unanimous decision at GAA Congress last April. Most county managers and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) expressed their disappointment at such a decision.

In the meantime the Kerry board must decide how to distribute this year's winning medals, something that won't be done in haste. It is normal for county boards to hand out the medals at an official presentation later in the year, and Walsh admitted some careful consideration was necessary.

"We have 30 medals and that's it," he added. "And someone like Darragh Ó Sé who played in the semi-final and every game up to the final has to get one. It's something we haven't yet discussed and we'll have to look back at what players played when and where, but ultimately we are talking about only 30 players."

Clearly, though, it won't be a straightforward process for the county board executive. Manager Jack O'Connor is likely to have some say, but after Ó Sé's apparently obvious inclusion there are few certainties. Ó Sé played in Kerry's five championship matches before the semi-final against Derry, where he was forced off after just 20 minutes with the foot injury that subsequently kept him out of the final.

The more pressing decision then will be who to leave out. Of the 15 players named on the Kerry bench last Sunday, five were used as substitutes on the day. Another five played some role during the championship. None of the remaining five made any appearances in the summer. They are John Cronin, Noel Kennelly, Bryan Sheehan, Ronan Ó Flatharta and substitute goalkeeper Kieran Cremin.

It's a sensitive subject in Kerry, with memories of the fallout after the 1997 All-Ireland still fresh in the mind. On that occasion Mike Hassett missed out on the final because of injury and, despite being captain earlier that season, also missed out on the medal allocation which then numbered 21.

As a result both Mike and his brother Liam Hassett temporarily withdrew from the Kerry panel the following year.

Walsh was among several county chairmen who late last year voiced particularly strong calls for intercounty panels to be reduced back to 24 - just two years after the increase to 30 had been so widely well received.

Although the reduction was approved at Congress, GAA president Seán Kelly has hinted the number could be reviewed again if enough support was garnered in time for next year's Congress.

Yet Walsh is standing by his view that 24 is enough, having originally pointed towards the increasing costs incurred in team preparations: "I still firmly believe that 24 on the panel is adequate, " he said. "But we're only talking about the travelling panel. It doesn't mean a manager can't have 30 players at training or even more. But one of the main reasons we put the motion forward last year was that we wanted it reverted back to 24 panel members, and 24 medals."

The move also featured in the proposals of the Fixtures Task Force, which noted the increase to 30 had a detrimental effect on club fixtures.

When passed at Congress the GPA referred to it as "logistically, morally and culturally" a body blow for Gaelic games at intercounty level.

Winning the All-Ireland hasn't caused any major disruption to the Kerry club football championship. The quarter-finals are set to go ahead next weekend, with the final set for November 7th.

Having got a bye into the semi-final of the Munster championship, the Kerry champions will then play the winners of the Clare-Limerick tie on November 14th.

Meanwhile, over 3,000 Kerry supporters turned up to witness the GOAL challenge at Austin Stack Park, Tralee, last night.

In a match where nine of last Sunday's starting Kerry team played, the All-Ireland champions beat the county champions An Ghaeltacht by 17-7 to 15-3, with bookmakers Paddy Power donating €100 to GOAL for each goal scored in the game.

Pat Roe was, as expected, reappointed as Wexford football manager for another season. The Laois native this year led Wexford to the Leinster semi-finals.