Forward thinking sees Kerry add Keane edge for Offaly clash

BARRY JOHN KEANE has been drafted into the Kerry minor football attack at corner-forward for today’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Offaly in Newbridge.

The Kerins O’Rahilly’s youngster will replace the luckless James O’Donoghue who dislocated his collar bone in a freak training accident on Tuesday night. The loss of O’Donoghue, who starred for St Brendan’s College during their march to the Hogan Cup final this year, is a major blow after his 0-4 haul in Kerry’s Munster final replay victory over Tipperary. Yet Keane is an able replacement, having featured in Kerry’s Munster semi-final win over Cork and the drawn provincial decider against Tipperary.

After easing their way past Cork by two points in a thriller, Kerry were taken to a replay in that Munster final by Tipperary yet the 2-12 to 0-8 defeat was not a true reflection of Tipperary’s efforts.

Offaly failed to Meath in the Leinster final by a point, having trailed by five points entering the final quarter. Earlier in the campaign the Faithful County had been hammered by Wicklow and few expected them to recover from such a loss. Yet they proved worthy opponents for the Royal County in a thrilling provincial final where midfielder Brian Connor was the star. Two goals by Patrick Rigney were not sufficient to give Offaly the spoils, but both players will have a big say in the outcome of tomorrow’s clash, where the Munster champions will start favourites.

Mayo surprised a fancied Roscommon side in the Connacht final which should hand them the favourites tag for their quarter-final clash with Monaghan in Longford. Roscommon stormed into an 0-5 to 0-1 lead after 20 minutes but Mayo recovered to be just a point down at the break. They went on to clinch victory thanks to late points by Aidan O’Shea and Raymond Geraghty.

Monaghan were defeated by a similar margin in the Ulster final by Tyrone, one of the fancied sides for this year’s All-Ireland title. Monaghan had their chances in the closing minutes to send the game to a replay but an excellent save by goalkeeper Tim Harney denied Kieran Hughes an equalising goal late on.

The Red Hand county will fancy their chances in their quarter-final against Roscommon which is the second game at the Longford venue. Kyle Coney, Niall McKenna and Ronan Tierney are their key players, and despite the best efforts of Dara Lennon, Cian Shine and Niall Daly, it’s hard to see Tyrone falling at this hurdle.

Meath will be fancied to beat Tipperary in their quarter-final tie at Portlaoise but would not want to take anything for granted against the beaten Munster finalists. It took a late point by David Ryan to edge out Offaly in the Leinster final, but in truth the Royal County were deserving winners thanks to the excellence of goalkeeper Padraig Curran, team captain Tommy Johnson and full forward Harrison Silke. Tipperary have superb players in Conor Sweeney, who has been their top scorer this season, David McGrath and Shane Russell, but it is asking too much of them to win this game.