MARC Ó SÉ endured an injury nightmare in the run up to yesterday’s All-Ireland football final.
Kerry boss Éamonn Fitzmaurice revealed his starting fifteen last Thursday night to face Dublin and there was no place for Ó Sé or Paul Murphy.
Rathmore man Murphy did come on as a second-half substitute but Fitzmaurice outlined the problems five-time senior champion Ó Sé had encountered in trying to prepare.
“Marc had the run in to an All-Ireland final from hell. He had a toe injury coming into the Tyrone game which meant he missed the weeks training coming into that game. He had only 15 minutes against Tyrone.
“We trained the following week and he hurt his calf. He came from that and he then got sick. Then he hurt his hamstring. He trained three times in five weeks. So as good as he is, we felt it was too much of a risk.
“He made it. He was available to us if we needed him. We felt we needed to put on forwards and midfields to try and reel it in.
“Paul Murphy was similar. He had a hip injury and his preparation was disrupted. Thankfully, he made the game and he came in and he did well.”
Fitzmaurice had no complaints about the end result, conceding his team did not function like they can.
“Not much to be said, the better team won. We didn’t perform today.
“Obviously, I am disappointed, the lads are disappointed. If you are going to win an All-Ireland final you have to turn up, you have to play. We didn’t do that today.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Dublin. Dublin played very well. They had the best of both worlds. They worked so hard up front.
“Their forwards worked so hard that when we were in possession they were slowing us down coming out and at the same time getting bodies back, which was a very effective game-plan today.
“We, in possession, weren’t as accurate or as clinical as we can be. We did okay, in fairness, without the ball, but in possession we would have been disappointed, definitely.”
