Kerry and Fermanagh worlds apart in football terms

TOMORROW’S NFL meeting of Kerry and Fermanagh in Killarney represents one of the greatest imbalances in the world of gaelic football.

Fermanagh have never won the Ulster championship and apart from two All-Ireland 'B' successes in the nineties, their only national title was gained in junior in 1959, against London.

Contrast that with the grand total of 65 All-Ireland wins in the Kingdom.

The Northerners had at least something in common with Kerry last season they were also knocked out of the championship by Tyrone.

They managed just five points against the ultimate champions in the quarter-final and conceded 1-21 while Kerry limited them to thirteen points, they scored only six themselves.

The last meeting of the counties was in the championship two years ago. Kerry had fared poorly in Munster but were reinvigorated by a good run in the qualifier competition and easily disposed of Fermanagh on a 2-15 to 0-4 scoreline.

A fortnight ago in Parnell Park, Kerry produced a storming second half performance against Dublin recovering from a six points deficit at half-time to win by three.

County Board Chairman Sean Walsh credits new manager Jack O'Connor with laying the foundations for the win in training the previous week.

"We hadn't beaten Dublin away in the National League in over 20 years, but the players knew coming up that there was no pressure on them. Jack told them that all that week.

"He told them at half-time that while we were six points down, we had been five points down against Cork the previous week and came back and won it. He laid it on the line for them at half-time. If they wanted to be involved with Kerry they had to give a performance to show people that they were and they gave that type of performance," he said.

O'Connor agrees that it was a significant result at such an early stage in his tenure.

Kerry will be without their Gaeltacht players but O'Connor admits that it allows the management an opportunity to experiment.

With Declan O'Keeffe having opted out of the panel because of injury, former U21 goalkeeper Kieran Cremin from Dr Crokes has been brought in as reserve to Diarmuid Murphy.

The Kerry manager agrees that it will be important for the team to remain consistent, but he also wants to see them picking up another win.

"We certainly need the points if we are to make the knock-out stages and get an extra game," he added. "But, it won't be easy. Fermanagh have not done badly in any of their games so far!"