Ciarán Carey shielding players from Kerry hype
“If I was down there six or seven days a week, I’d probably feel it but I’m only down there two or three nights,” Carey said. “Obviously there’s a bit of a buzz down there but we’d be trying to keep the boys away from that.
“Things have changed down there, there’s a bit of talk about the hurlers now. Prior to this it would have been all football but I believe the footballers are even talking about the hurlers now which is a great sign.
“The whole country knows that football is number one down in Kerry and I’m certainly not going to go down and upset the applecart in relation to that.
“As soon as football is over and some are playing hurling, the door swings both ways as far as I’m concerned.”
Carey added that he didn’t view last weekend’s game as a Leinster championship outing as such: “We kind of viewed it as a round-robin. We haven’t spoke about any Leinster games yet, we’re a bit away from there. It’s nice and pleasing for the lads to have got two points out of it.”
The former Limerick star said his club experience in Kerry — and that of fellow Shannonsider Mark Foley — was an asset.
“I suppose it was hugely helpful in that we’d a fair idea of the pool of players that were out there.
“We’d a fair idea of all the club set-up. You’re not going to break the tradition that they have down there over night. We’ll be nibbling away at it but, without a doubt, it was nice to be down there and be involved with the clubs, to have that experience going forward with the county teams.”
Carey said he “wasn’t too shocked at all” by Westmeath’s win over Offaly.
“I kind of said I wouldn’t be too surprised if Westmeath came out of there with a win. That’s the way it turned out, they came out with a convincing win.
“No different to Kerry and Carlow, they have an opportunity of a lifetime entering into the Leinster championship, so they need to hurl in accordance to that.”
The Limerick man added that the younger Kerry players are gaining valuable experience.
“You’ve a lot of guys coming off minor but you’re talking coming off minor B and being catapulted straight into the position that they’re in. That gives you an idea of the work we’ve put in. We were looking for instant coffee from day one and we needed to if they were going to maintain their status in 1B. Thankfully they’ve responded to that.
“One thing that stands out for me was the night we played Clare down in Ennis and you know they gave us a trimming on the night, but I was just alongside Jason Diggins and he appeared to hold his own for the whole game.
“I said: ‘Isn’t that great for a guy who played minor B hurling last year that he can go out and hold his own against Clare?’ That moment stood out for me.
“If you can do that to Jason, we’ve three or four of the guys who would be that same position as him and if they can improve bit by bit the world is their oyster really.”
