Kennedy’s concern at Kingdom capitulation

KERRY U21 manager John Kennedy has warned that the county’s crushing 22-point defeat to Cork in Wednesday’s Cadbury Munster football final illustrates how far the Kingdom have fallen behind their neighbours in the physicality stakes.

Kennedy admitted the county needs to address their strength and conditioning preparations if they are to compete with the Rebels in the future.

“Now is not the time for any knee-jerk reaction but you just have to look at the physical power of Cork and the big men all over the pitch to know the physical work they’ve been doing in preparing their players. We beat more or less the same side at minor level a few years ago,” said Kennedy.

He continued: “A lot of good work is going into coaching in Kerry. But something has to be looked into with the amount of core and conditioning work that is being done. We have been doing that kind of work with minors and U21s but it’s a long-term thing.

“I remember (fitness coach) Pat Flanagan saying a while back that with the Kerry senior team it was going to take two to four years to have them conditioned right. The same now applies to our players at under-age level. It’s going to take time and it’s something that has to be monitored, changed and restructured.”

Kennedy admitted he felt “helpless” on the sideline in Páirc Uí Rinn.

“The game is all about performing and when you don’t perform you’re helpless. It was a lonely place to be on that sideline. There’s no thinking ‘if I had done this’ or ‘if we had done that’.

“A crossbar didn’t deny us a draw. The chances we missed would have had no impact on the result of the game.

“From a Kerry point of view, maybe we should look at Cork and how good they were. No team in the country would have lived with them. And with that performance no team will beat them.”

Kerry chairman Jerome Conway echoed Kennedy’s sentiments.

“I wouldn’t panic,” said Conway. “We have very good structures at under-age level and with competitions in Kerry. We’d take heed of the result and there will be soul-searching but we won’t be making rash decisions.”

Meanwhile, Cork captain Aidan Walsh has insisted he and his team-mates won’t be getting carried away with their superb victory. And with more Connacht opposition now facing the county’s U21s tomorrow week in the form of Galway, Walsh is wary of Cork getting too far ahead of themselves.

“For a start, we still made a few mistakes against Kerry and there are areas where we have to improve,” he maintained. “We know what we’re capable of and we want more than a win like that. We’re hoping for more and that’s what’s driving us on. We’re not dwelling on it, we’re looking forward to Galway because that’s the game that now matters.”

Walsh, who could line out for Conor Counihan on Sunday as the seniors aim to beat Armagh and qualify for a second successive Division 1 final, has also thanked the arrangement between Counihan and U21 manager John Cleary for ensuring he avoids burnout.

“I’m lucky enough in being involved with the U21s all the time at the moment.

“It seems to be working out fine and it’s a case of so far, so good.

“The lads (Conor and John) played together for years and get on well. The work that’s done in senior training is very similar to what’s done in the U21s — so that’s made things easier.

“I know there could be a lot of games coming at me in the next few weeks but this is the position you like to be in.”