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Kingdom Leader

Dr Crokes defender set to be nominated as club's choice as 2019 Kerry senior football captain

Gavin White is to be the nomination of the county champions.

DR CROKES ARE set to nominate defender Gavin White as their choice to captain the Kerry senior footballers for the rest of the 2019 season in the wake of their All-Ireland club campaign concluding.

Gavin White leads the team out Gavin White leads the Kerry team out for last Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Kerry is one of the last remaining counties, along with Kilkenny in hurling, to bestow the honour of selecting the captain to their county senior champions.

Dr Crokes completed three-in-a-row in the Kingdom last October but their run in the All-Ireland series, which ended on St Patrick’s Day when they lost out in the final to Galway’s Corofin. saw them to opt to wait on revealing their nominee. 

The club announced in early January that they would be holding off on making the decision, suggesting instead that a player from one of their neighbouring clubs in East Kerry would lead Peter Keane’s senior outfit during the league.

Rathmore’s Paul Murphy has been the captain during their spring campaign in Division 1 and could lead Kerry out again on Sunday as they bid to land silverware in the Croke Park final against Mayo.

In the event of no Dr Crokes player in the starting side, The42 understands that  2014 All-Ireland winner Murphy will continue to captain Kerry.

Paul Murphy is first out for the photo Paul Murphy pictured leading Kerry out for their game in Tuam against Galway. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

No Dr Crokes players were part of Kerry’s 26-man match day squad for their last round-robin game against Roscommon last Sunday with White playing a Kerry county league game that day for Dr Crokes against Kerins O’Rahilly’s. Kerry will unveil their squad this Friday night for the decider with Mayo.

Last July White captained Kerry for their Super 8s clash against Monaghan in what was only his fourth ever game as a county senior. Fionn Fitzgerald was the nomination from Dr Crokes to captain Kerry for the 2018 season but White ended up the club’s only player in the starting team for that tie in Clones.

Gavin White Gavin White in action for Dr Crokes against Corofin in the recent All-Ireland club final. Tommy Dickson / INPHO Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO

Two other Dr Crokes players, goalkeeper Shane Murphy and attacker Micheál Burns, ended up captaining Kerry at different stages last year, despite being championship debutants that summer. Murphy was captain for the Munster final win over Cork while Burns found himself fitting the role of captain for a league game in late February against Galway.

21-year-old White is a two-time All-Ireland minor winner with Kerry in 2014 and 2015, while he was centre-back for the 2017 All-Ireland club final win that Dr Crokes enjoyed.

The issue of the county captaincy cropped up at the annual Kerry county convention last December but a recommendation to take the selection away from the county senior winners and hand the responsibility to the Kingdom management, was met with strong opposition and the tradition was retained. 

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