Kerry must rekindle drive for Cork test

KERRY undertook a renewed bout of naval-gazing yesterday - despite advancing to a Munster SFC semi-final showdown with Cork in three weeks.

Not only were the harshest GAA fans in the country unimpressed by the Kingdom’s seven-point victory over Clare - the players and selectors were equally unhappy at the display.

Attacker Eoin Brosnan believes Kerry will have to rediscover their drive and hunger to keep their All-Ireland ambitions alive. The Dr Crokes ace, whose live-wire display was one of the few high points for Kerry in their 2-10 to 0-9 win over Clare on Sunday, struggled to pinpoint how the League champions could produce such a flat performance.

“I don’t know what happened but it felt almost like a challenge game. We just had no drive in us and that is something we are going to have to find again.

“That is something that we are going to have to look at hard. We have to play for seventy minutes.

And he admitted that Kerry will have to learn to deal with the defensive set-up employed by Clare, for the remainder of the summer.

“There is no point complaining about it. We just have to work around it because we are trying to do the same thing ourselves, snuffing out the space that the opposition can play in. Hopefully, we have a few more plans for the games ahead.”

Full forward John Crowley is optimistic that the injury he sustained on Sunday will not keep him out of the provincial semi-final with Cork in Killarney on June 13.

“I got a knock on the knee. It was sore enough after the game, but I’ll have to wait and see until it settles down before I know if it’s serious or not,” he explained. “I didn’t last too long, which was disappointing. With the Cork game only three weeks away, it doesn’t give me a lot of time to get it right. But, I would still hope to be in the shake-up.”

Admitted selector Ger O’Keeffe: “I don't think we could be satisfied. It was very flat. We did not seem to play well, and maybe that was because there is always a downer after winning something important,” he said.

“It was not that we did not have respect for Clare because we knew we were going to be in a dog fight, but the players seemed to be a bit flat.”

Asked if he thought that Clare’s negative tactics might have contributed to Kerry’s inability to get into a rhythm, O’Keeffe explained: “The modern game has developed to the point where teams will stop you playing. We will just have to be able to deal with situations like that and go out and play a proper style of football that suits the occasion.”

O’Keeffe admitted that midfield remains a problem area. “Darragh Ó Sé has not played for a long time and he knows he has an awful lot of work to do as do a lot of the players around the field,” he told Radio Kerry.

Kerry’s opportunity for further experimentation is limited, given that they have lost a possible challenge game next weekend against Roscommon after Tommy Carr’s side drew with Sligo in the Connacht SFC on Sunday. That replay is also next Saturday, the same evening as the proposed Knocknagoshel pitch opening.

Clare manager John Kennedy, meanwhile, is hoping that his team can re-focus their attention on the qualifier system, encouraged by what he feels is a strengthened panel.

“The game on Sunday showed the quality of our back-up. We have young lads who came in and have done exceptionally well for us.”

Limerick have resisted overtures from the Munster Council to bring forward their provincial senior football semi-final clash against Waterford, on June 13. With Kerry and Cork in action in their semi-final on the same afternoon, Council suggested to both counties a switch to the previous day.

While Waterford voiced no objection, Limerick stood firm. Limerick County Board secretary James Hartigan said it was a crucial match for them after their slender first round win over Tipperary and that advance preparations were geared towards a Sunday fixture.

Meanwhile, team manager Liam Kearns must be concerned that for the second time inside a fortnight his defence leaked three goals, this time losing to Kildare by 3-9 to 0-13 at the weekend. Fears are growing that regular netminder Seamus O’Donnell may not win his battle for fitness for the semis, having been a late withdrawal from the team which beat Tipperary.

*A notable absentee from Ennis on Sunday was Weeshie Fogarty, the well known Radio Kerry analyst. The Killarney man is recovering in hospital from a recent illness.