IN ONE WEEK the opinion of two Kerry legends on the future of football within their county could not be more different.
Eight time All-Ireland winner Mikey Sheehy certainly doesn’t agree with Pat Spillane’s comments that Kerry are nearly halfway through a trophy-less famine.
“Pat is Pat. He is talking about us being halfway through the famine that we have. Maybe he’s right but I certainly wouldn’t be in agreement with him” he says.
Earlier this week Spillane explained that Kerry’s failure to develop U21s and minors into the senior panel, means that as a number of the current set up close in on retirement — there’ll be no All-Ireland there for Kerry any time soon.
Last year Kerry won their first minor Munster championship in three years, while they haven’t won a provincial U21 title since 2008, but Sheehy does not agree with Spillane.
“I know the work that is being done at U21 and minor level. You even saw this year with Chorca Dhuibhne, Eamonn’s team winning the All-Ireland. There’s good players coming through.”
Sheehy, who’s a selector in the current senior Kerry set-up, also believes that Spillane is a little harsh in his review of the work being done by development squads within the county.
“I wouldn’t agree with him entirely because of the fact that I’m close to the camp” he says.
“He made one reference to development squads and I wouldn’t agree with him on that. Development squads have been going on for a number of years. I think that’s a fair point with a lot of counties that with strength and conditioning, the programmes have to be right for a lot of counties. Pat has a point to a point but I certainly wouldn’t agree with all the stuff he said.”