Kerry football is heading for a fresh crisis as county selector and physical trainer John O'Keeffe yesterday declined to take a training session this Saturday. His action comes after nearly a fortnight of controversy triggered by remarks made by county manager Páidí Ó Sé. It is now feared within the county that the trainer intends to resign.

This latest twist in the now long-running saga came with a terse statement to Radio Kerry from O'Keeffe, which stated: "In the present circumstances I will not be taking a training session scheduled for Saturday morning with the Kerry team at Banna".

It now appears O'Keeffe's future with the senior county management is far from assured. Although he declined to elaborate on yesterday's brief statement, sources close to him confirm that he wishes to talk to the county chairman Seán Walsh and his fellow selectors to hear what they have to say.

The Kerry team is coming to the end of its holiday in South Africa and all relevant parties will have returned home by the weekend.

Coming less than 24 hours after Ó Sé's clear-the-air interview on RTÉ the statement indicates that far from nearing settlement the controversy is about to get dramatically worse.

Interviewed on the specific question of whether he had apologised to his trainer for remarks made in his Sunday Independent interview of 11 days ago, Ó Sé gave the impression that the air had been cleared.

"I've already spoken to John O'Keeffe. He's already organising training for Banna strand next Saturday morning. I don't know what all this bloody thing is about at all," he said

Earlier in the interview he denied that he had indirectly criticised the team's physical preparation.

"No I didn't. In fact from the very beginning when I wanted to get involved with Kerry football as a trainer, the one person that I did want to get involved with me was John O'Keeffe. He is a man of the highest integrity, and that was totally misinterpreted.

"But what I wanted to do was, in conjunction with him, was to bring in some innovative ideas into the training campaign for the New Year."

It is understood that O'Keeffe was less than impressed by Ó Sé's evasiveness when asked about any apology.

O'Keeffe had been unhappy even before the original controversy broke. A story in the Sunday Tribune before Christmas revealed that Maurice Fitzgerald was considering coming out of retirement. Central to this was said to be the promise of a more "flexible" training regime with the clear implication that O'Keeffe's rigorously enforced regimes had been a factor in the player's decision to retire originally.

It was further suggested that Ó Sé would be willing to re-admit Fitzgerald to the panel on the basis of pre-conditions about training.

Ironically the issue that attracted most publicity in the Ó Sé interview initially, published on January 5th, was the reference to Kerry supporters as "rough f***ing animals" but the implication that he would improve preparation left no doubt in O'Keeffe's mind that his contribution was being criticised.

"I have my own new ideas for the team in the New Year," said Ó Sé in the interview. "I want to bring in a bit of creativity. I believe there needs to be a new freshness there but then again I'm not going to divulge any of that publicly. I don't want any of the country to know what I'm doing."

He went on to say he would discuss this with the other selectors "in South Africa. We'll be having a meeting about that." O'Keeffe wasn't on the team holiday, as his teaching commitments prevented him from travelling.

On Radio Kerry Ger Power, one of Kerry's eight-time All-Ireland winners and a close associate of O'Keeffe, reacted. "I think Páidí Ó Sé is getting slightly carried away about his own importance. Ogie Moran got a hard time after losing a Munster final and Mickey O'Sullivan was torn to shreds when Clare beat us in a Munster final back in 1992. So Páidí would want to remember that we were beaten by Armagh, and in my eyes Armagh were handed the All-Ireland and because Armagh won it, it was suddenly okay to lose it."

This latest development will stir up afresh the whole question of the Kerry management. Last week during the first wave of controversy 65 per cent in a Radio Kerry poll said they thought Ó Sé should resign as manager. That likelihood had well abated by the time O'Keeffe dropped his bombshell yesterday but a further poll revealed 53 per cent still believed the manager should go.

Such polls are rarely - and in fairness not held out as - models of correct methodology but the drift is towards crisis and the weekend's meeting between Ó Sé, his selectors and the county board will be more fraught than anything that could have been dreamed of even a month ago.