Sheehan ready to lead from the front

THE joy at acquiring the Kerry captaincy for the 2010 season was quickly tempered for Bryan Sheehan in his very first run out in January.

A pedestrian McGrath Cup clash against Waterford concluded on a low note, when Sheehan was left writhing in agony on the Fitzgerald Stadium turf after his ankle smacked against an opponent. The optimism of a new campaign was quickly evaporated and Sheehan faced an anxious few days awaiting scan results which would inform him of the extent of his injury lay-off. The eventual prognosis was serious but not terminal to his ambitions for 2010.

“It was a nervous enough time but it’s all good now”, says Sheehan. “I suffering a small tear in the knee cartilage that delayed my comeback by two weeks. It was disappointing for it to happen at the start of the year but I’m feeling good now and I’ve done a lot of sessions outside of our scheduled sessions to improve fitness.”

Sheehan’s fitness may have been restored but other Kerry players have been visiting the infirmary on a regular basis these past few weeks. That has clouded the All-Ireland champions’prep work for Sunday’s Munster SFC opener against Tipperary, but, despite the exodus of Tadhg Kennelly and Tommy Walsh to Australia and the retirement of Darragh O Sé and Diarmuid Murphy, Sheehan is still confident the team possesses the requisite leadership skills for another campaign.

“I think the injuries are just knocks more than anything else. They might take a few nights off training if they need to, but I’d be hopeful everyone will be okay for the weekend. This team has been to a lot of All-Irelands and that brings leaders on board. The likes of Tomás, Paul Galvin, Declan Sullivan and the Gooch are around a long time.

“There’s no way you’re going to replace someone like Darragh O Sé. He’s one of the players of his generation, and proved that for Kerry time and time again. As much as Darragh and Diarmuid Murphy are massive losses, it’s time for other fellas to step up.”

Kerry endured a difficult league campaign scrapping it out at the bottom of the table but Sheehan reckons that will steel them for championship fare.

“It was different but the last game against Monaghan was good as it was close to a championship battle. Last year we coasted through the league and Cork showed in Munster how far off the pace we were. This year we got real, competitive games and we found players as well which was important.”

The ultimate aim at the conclusion of the season is still crystallised in the minds of these Kerry players.

“The way you’re brought up in Kerry is that you’re measured on success. We set the bar that if we don’t find ourselves in an All-Ireland final in September, it’s a failure of a year. But we can’t afford to be complacent next Sunday. Tipperary have been doing fantastic under John Evans, their U21’s defeated ours in Tralee and their minors gave us a bad fright as well. They’ve come a long way.”