Given that the competition amounts to nothing more than a couple of rigorous training sessions, it’s difficult and it would be rather futile to read too much into Kerry’s brace of emphatic McGrath Cup victories as they prepare for the final against Cork on Friday week,.
But while Jack O’Connor knows as much, he will be quite happy with many elements of what he has seen in the two outings against Tipperary and Limerick.
It’s not the third secret of Fatima – and it’s even well known around Dromid – that Kerry needs to bolster its midfield with fresh options and Joe O’Connor has certainly put his hand up in the two McGrath Cup encounters.
The all-action Austin Stacks man has emerged renewed from his annus horribilis during which he rehabbed from a devastating anterior cruciate ligament injury but he’s back with a vengeance and he produced two fine performances this season to date.
Strong in the air, full of running, clever in possession and a strong link between defence and attack, O’Connor could comfortably fill the void left by Jack Barry who is off on his travels for the year ahead.
“It’s heartening to see Joe O’Connor putting in another big shift around the middle of the field,” Jack O’Connor said afterwards.
Elsewhere in the search for a suitable partner for Diarmuid O’Connor, Dingle’s Barry Dan O’Sullivan – also back from injury – has acquitted himself well and is an obvious option but Beaufort’s Seán O’Brien – while an outstanding prospect – might need a just little more experience at this level before he is pitted against the likes of Brian Fenton, Conn Fitzpatrick and Brendan Rogers.
Stefan Okunbor, Ronan Buckley and Seanie O’Shea are other centre-field considerations although the latter’s experience and clinical finishing would be a real loss in attack while Okumbor looks more comfortable in a central defensive role and Buckley is best deployed as an energetic out-and-out wing forward in the Donnchadh Walsh mould.
The other ‘needs to improve’ reference in Kerry’s end-of-season report card in 2023 was that more scoring forwards were urgently required to ease the burden on the Cliffords and Seanie O’Shea and the McGrath Cup has delivered some intriguing options in that regard.
They have clocked up a whopping 9-38 in the two games to date and, even considering the real limitations of the opposition, that is some scoring – particularly when the two brothers from Fossa were otherwise engaged preparing for their club social on Saturday night and Paul Geaney was pulling pints in his pub in Dingle.
Seanie O’Shea – who looks in remarkable shape this early in the season – was the marksman-in-chief with a two-game tally of 2-10 but others to catch the eye of the scoring observers included Conor Geaney who has contributed 2-3, Dylan Geaney (1-5), Killian Spillane (1-4), Darragh Roche (1-2) and Joe O’Connor (1-1).
Even the final of the McGrath Cup will be considered yet another training session – albeit the most rigorous of the season to date – but Kerry will welcome the opportunity to give the fringe players another sample of what it’s like at this level as O’Connor and his selectors continue their preparations for the national league when tougher and more meaningful challenges await.
When events on the field of play weren’t going Kerry’s way last season, the post All-Ireland victory holiday and the subsequent late return to training was held up by means of an explanation.
This year there are no such distractions or hindrances. A county awaits the outcome.
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