Moynihan's permanent spot will be determined in the next few weeks

SEAMUS MOYNIHAN can expect to find out shortly where he is likely to line out with Kerry in the championship.

On the basis of his outstanding performance in the weekend Allianz League game against Dublin in Killarney, it will be a surprise if it's not at centre-back.

In last season's league competition he started in the half-back line before ending up at midfield. But he was restored to full-back for the championship.

Asked specifically about his former captain, manager Páidí Ó Sé said Moynihan was such a valuable player "that they could play him anywhere".

"In the next few weeks we are going to secure a position for him, wherever it's going to be.

"We're not going to be leaving it from Sunday to Sunday,'' he added.

Against Dublin, in the absence of Barry O'Shea who picked up an injury a week earlier, the full-back position was manned by Michael

McCarthy, with Marc Ó Sé coming back into the side at left corner-back (and Tom O'Sullivan on the other side).

Interestingly, the full-back trio looked the most vulnerable part of the team early in the game, and even after settling they were again exposed in the early part of the second half.

However, it is likely the selectors will persist with this line for the foreseeable future and that Moynihan will remain first choice for centre-back unless circumstances dictate he should again be moved further back.

In general, Ó Sé said the management will be looking to strengthen their squad over the next few months. In this respect, he pointed out that reserve goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy's involvement in the previous two league games stood to him when it came to filling in for injured Declan O'Keeffe for Sunday's match.

"For every department in the field we are going to be looking for back-up, and that's going to be very important,'' he added.

Murphy had reason to be delighted with his display, saying: "Any day you don't concede a goal is a good day. You would have to be pleased."

With Ó Sé commenting they have the foundations of a great panel, Dublin manager Tommy Lyons believes Kerry will be the team to beat in the championship.

"They have forward units that are awesome. Okay, they are leaking scores, but any team that wants to beat Kerry is going to have to stop their forward line."

Lyons was pleased with a number of aspects of his team's performance, not least the form of Alan Brogan and Tomás Quinn in the corner-forward positions.

"It was the first really good game Alan Brogan has played. Hopefully it will give him more confidence".

And after an erratic first half, he acknowledged there was a significant improvement on the resumption. "I thought we kicked some great points and we moved the ball well. But we're well down the pecking order if you are comparing us to Kerry."

Starting with Sunday's game against Cork in Parnell Park, Lyons feels they need another three or four points to be in the final shake-up. He said after watching the start of Cork's floodlit game on television on Saturday evening, he switched off.

"Once I saw the pitch I just stopped watching. It was only a lottery after 15 minutes. You'd gave to ask the question why the game was allowed go ahead.

"I thought there was serious risk of injuries. I think we have to start making bigger decisions than letting these sort of games go ahead."

Cork chairman Jim Forbes said that while they were disappointed with the condition of the ground, there had been some heavy falls of rain over the previous two days and again a few hours before the game.

Other than that, he pointed out that there was a problem with the city end goal mouth which they hoped to have rectified next month.

This will involve closing the ground for several weeks.

Following the opening round against Kerry, the senior hurlers trained there at the Blackrock end on Friday week. But there had been no other activity on the playing surface.

Mr Forbes was pleased with the size of the crowd, although admitted it would probably have been bigger had the team managed to beat Roscommon.

"We got far more than we would have got on Sunday afternoon.

"Again, it was a great promotion, especially having it on TG4."

Certain that more and more league games will be played under lights in the future, he confirmed that no others are planned for Páirc Uí Rinn.

"Our only two other home games are against Derry in hurling and Donegal in football, and because of the long distances they have to travel it would be impossible to play on Saturday night," he said.