KERRY boss Peter Keane has cautioned against any complacency in the build-up to the Munster Championship opener against Clare and he stressed that his players will be under no illusions as to the extent of the challenge that awaits.
He said he is expecting a huge battle in tomorrow week’s big clash in Fitzgerald Stadium because Clare are tough, tenacious, very fit and they are kicking big scores.
“You’re definitely on a high-wire here. There’s no safety net and there’s no back door so it’s kill or be killed on the day and that’s where it’s at,” Keane said.
The Kerry manager said Colm Collins has put a really strong Clare squad together and it shouldn’t be overlooked that, in their last two outings, they notched 2-18 against last year’s All-Ireland finalists Mayo and in the game prior to that they kicked 1-18 against Cork who beat Kerry last year.
“They will have got a lot of momentum and a lot of experience out of the run they have had so we are expecting a big challenge,” he said.
Responding to a suggestion that, following big wins against Tyrone, Galway and Roscommon and a draw with Dublin, Kerry supporters might expect a comfortable win against Clare, as opposed to just squeezing through, Keane said the lesson learned against Cork last year should be kept in mind.
“You take one game at a time. We have one game coming up and that’s what it’s all about. To get over that, whether it’s by a point or two points or three points, we’ll be delighted and we’ll take it,” he said.
Keane said the Banner have great mobility the middle of the field and they have really good footballers to call on, singling out David Tubridy as “a beautiful player” so they will be very formidable opposition.
He confirmed that, as it stands, the Kingdom will go into the Killarney clash with a clean bill of health and he is hoping nobody picks up a knock during the few training sessions that remain over the next week.
Keane acknowledged that following the enforced lockdown, players sustaining soft tissue and muscle injuries have become a big concern for every county so he is fully in favour of retaining the seven substitutes rule for the duration of the championship.
He said it was imperative to keep that option purely from a player welfare point of view.
“It was a very condensed league and it will be a very condensed championship with 13 days of a break between the league and the championship so I think it’s something that should seriously be looked at,” Keane said.
“You could have a fella being tight on the field and, if you have no sub to bring on, he ends up tearing the hamstring or whatever but if you have the ability, with the extra sub, to get him off, you’re looking after his own welfare,” he said.
The manager said Kerry’s main aim when the National League resumed was to build the squad and remain injury free in the lead-up to the championship and that has worked out well.
They used 28 or 29 players in the four games over the five weeks and the selectors have been working hard increase the depth of the squad.
Keane said the county lost Peter Crowley, Shane Enright, Brian Kelly and Jonathan Lyne at the start of the year so there has been a big transition, with several younger players coming in.
“We need to build depth and that’s the only way you’re going to have a platform to go forward if you have depth in the panel,” he said.
Coming out of the league and facing straight into the championship is a pressured environment and he has been working on a strong pool of players to call upon.
“There’s no point just bringing them into the panel – you’ve got to put them on the field and give them some game time,” the manager said during the course of a virtual press briefing this Friday afternoon.
He pointed out that many of the players in the squad are still very young with the likes of Diarmuid O’Connor, Dara Moynihan, Seanie O’Shea and David Clifford all still in or around 22 years of age while Mike Breen, Kieran Fitzgibbon, Paudie Clifford and Joe O’Connor are all newcomers to the squad.
While the new additions have done exceptionally well, he said he can only pick 26 players for the matchday squad and that will lead to disappointment for those left out but that’s the one downside of strengthening the panel.
