NEWS ROUND-UP:IT COULD be just the pressure or it could be something far more troubling, but Kerry football manager Jack O'Connor has made the unprecedented move of delaying the naming of his team until just before throw-in time in Sunday's All-Ireland fourth round qualifier against Antrim.
Typically this is the mark of a manager with an injury crisis on his hands, although that’s not the case with Kerry.
While Kieran Donaghy continues to be sidelined due to the recurrence of a foot injury, Tadhg Kennelly is set to return, having missed Kerry’s two previous qualifiers against Longford and Sligo due to a broken finger. In fact, the team is in generally good health, prompting speculation that the reason for delaying the team announcement is because certain players have been disciplined following the Sligo game.
These aren’t believed to be on-field related, but rather to do with players not adhering to the general code of conduct during championship games.
The Kerry County Board denied any such indiscipline, and instead, in a short statement, simply declared that “the team to play Antrim will not be announced until over the weekend”.
It has also been reported in Kerry this week that Tuesday’s training session in Killarney began with an hour-long meeting between players and the management team in the dressingroom.
Kennelly’s return is pivotal in that his steadying influence was clearly missed in the Longford and Sligo games. In an interview with RTÉ earlier this week, O’Connor declared the mood in the Kerry camp was good: “We are still in the championship – we have lost only one game. It is not the end of the world stuff. It was hard playing the likes of Longford and Sligo, if we had taken a few goal chances the last day, things would have been different. On the field we are just off it a small bit, but, hopefully, it will come on Sunday.”
O’Connor used all five substitutes in the Sligo game and, even allowing for Kennelly’s return, several changes are expected in Tullamore in Sunday.
Marc Ó Sé, Donncha Walsh, Seán O’Sullivan, Séamus Scanlon and Aidan O’Mahony were all replaced the last day and none of them can be guaranteed a start again on Sunday.
It’s not the first time Kerry have been victims of heated speculation, with similar rumours of discontent doing the rounds after the Munster final defeat to Cork in 2006, only for them to bounce back with a vengeance to win the All-Ireland.
Meanwhile, a joint statement from the GAA and Gaelic Players Association (GPA) suggests agreement may soon to reached on the controversial matter of recognition for the players body.
“The GAA and the GPA have engaged in informal discussions over recent days,” read the statement. “A formal process of dialogue has been agreed for the weeks ahead with the aim of addressing the differences in their respective positions. Neither the GAA nor the GPA will be making any further comment.”
