Donaghy ready for year without absent friends

LESS than four years after Jack O’Connor re-invented him as a target man at full-forward, you know that Kieran Donaghy has established himself his seniority in the Kerry football set-up when he talks about the ‘younger’ players coming through.

And despite the fact that theAll-Ireland champions have lost what he describes as “five big men down the middle” from the side which defeated Cork last September, he is satisfied that the resources are there to successfully re-build the team.

Donaghy, whose own recovery of fitness – and form – will enable him to take over the role filled by Tommy Walsh in the attack, believes that the work himself and David Moran are doing in training will facilitate the O’Rahillys man in reprising Tadhg Kennelly’s function in attack. And, in the context of Darragh O Se’s departure from midfield, he feels the time is coming for Micheal Quirke to consolidate his position in the team.