IN THE FALLOUT from last August’s All-Ireland semi-final exit, Kerry supporters wanted the rebuilding to commence.
The thinking was that the raw materials were there and management had been slow to utilise them. With four golden minor teams having swept the boards since 2014, there was a considerable push for them to be exposed to the senior arena.
West Kerry pair Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Tom O’Sullivan have both sampled senior championship fare, Ó Beaglaoich against Dublin in 2016 and O’Sullivan in that Mayo replay last August. Sean O’Shea made the bench as Kerry’s 2017 summer progressed.
But after that, the blossoming of minor talent at senior level has yet to take place. The expectation was 2018 would be the season where the onus was on new blood coursing through the Kerry setup.
Next Sunday will see Kerry become the last team to step out on the 2018 championship road and Colm Cooper believes there will be fresh faces populating the team when it is revealed on Friday night.
“They lost up to Mayo here last year and there was kind of a rallying cry at home to introduce young blood, which he was done. Bearing in mind the first championship game is this weekend, I think potentially you could have five new starters for Kerry.
“(David) Clifford and (Sean) O’Shea are two. Possibly Jason Foley. Like Ronan Shanahan played the league, we don’t know if he’s going to start. Gavin White from Dr Crokes, he’ll be in with a shout if he’s fit.
“Tom (O’Sullivan) played last year but him and Briain Ó Beaglaoich are very young, he’s played championship but maybe only once or twice. So of those gang, I think there’s probably eight young guys going there and I think five of them might start.”
Kerry used 12 players this spring in the league that have won All-Ireland minor medals since 2014. It was an investment of faith by manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice although injury stalled the progress of a couple of players.
Kerry’s Young Guns
Barry O'Sullivan (Dingle)
Andrew Barry (right) (Na Gaeil)
Brian Ó Seanacháin (Ballydonoghue)
Matthew Flaherty (Dingle)
Jason Foley (Ballydonoghue)
Séan O’Shea (Kenmare)
David Clifford (Fossa)
Micheál Burns (Dr Crokes)
Tom O'Sullivan (Dingle)
Cormac Coffey (Kerins O'Rahilly's)
Brian Ó Beaglaoich (An Ghaeltacht)
Source: John McVitty/INPHO" title="">
Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO" title="">
Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO" title="">
Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO" title="">
Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO" title="">
Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO" title="">
Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO" title="">
Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO" title="">
Source: Lorcan Doherty/INPHO" title="">
Source: Lorcan Doherty/INPHO" title="">
Source: Lorcan Doherty/INPHO" title="">
Full-back Jason Foley and wing-forward Micheál Burns were permanent fixtures with seven starts. Ó Beaglaoich started in six games, while there were five starts for Barry O’Sullivan, O’Shea and Clifford.
Tom O’Sullivan lined out from the off three times with Cormac Coffey beginning two games. Killian Spillane and Andrew Barry both started once while also getting substitute appearances in. Matthew Flaherty came on as a sub in five games while Brian Ó Seanacháin was sprung from the bench twice.
For players like Clifford and O’Shea, the difficulty is the quality they showed at minor level heightens the demand for them to excel quickly now they have moved to the elite level. The pair came in for the greatest focus during the league but weighed in with tallies of 0-21 apiece up front – from placed balls 0-13 for O’Shea and 0-12 for Clifford – and provided glimpses of their class in unlocking the defences.
Cooper knows that patience is required but is aware that is a commodity in short supply in his county.
“That’s going to take time but time in Kerry and transition doesn’t really come into the vocabulary really. They’ll still expect to be in here in August and please God in September. That’s what they’ll be judged on. I could see progress.
“It’s very difficult because Division 1 is very, very competitive. You don’t get anything soft. You had to play the young players, when you play young players, you’re going to get inconsistent performances. I think it’s been a big learning curve for them.”
The twin issues of settling on their best squad and tightening matters up at the back prey on Kerry minds before Sunday against Clare.
“My hope is, certainly by the time the Super 8s come around, that they’re in there and they’ve an idea of their best 20 players,” said Cooper.
“I’m still not sure they know them now at the moment because of all the young players coming through.
“My biggest concern is about them defensively, I still think they need to find those players. I think they conceded far too much in the league and I think there was an acceptance of that. That’s the big issue. Every inter-county team, we don’t know what they’re doing in training. So we might have a better idea after Sunday how they’re going to remedy that.
“I was at the Kerry Clare match last year and Clare gave them plenty of it, hit the crossbar at the start of the second half and if that had gone in, things could have been much trickier.
“Eamonn Fitzmaurice will want a performance but most importantly win the match and get to another Munster final and get as much time into the young players as possible. I think that’s the big aim this weekend.”
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