Mickey Ned back to take charge of Kerry minors

KERRY delegates at last night’s county committee meeting at the Austin Stack Pavilion in Tralee ratified former Kerry and Limerick senior boss Mickey Ned O’Sullivan as the county’s new minor manger.

O’Sullivan, who replaces Pat O’Driscoll, will be joined by Kerry GAA legend John O’Keeffe, who has managed Limerick, Clare and the Irish International Rules team in the past.

They face the onerous task of resurrecting Kerry’s poor record at minor grade, where the Kingdom have not won an All-Ireland title since 1994.

“The reason it was suggested that I get involved was that basically we needed to produce a pathway for players to get on the senior team and I would like to be blooding young players and treat their minor days as an apprenticeship for senior football,” he said. “This would not rule out, as a by-product doing well in the minor championship. But ultimately it is a pathway to the seniors.

O’Sullivan says that his days of managing the Kerry and, more recently, Limerick seniors means he knows what is required from him.

“I have plenty of experience of the end product and what we will be trying or needing to achieve and straight away I asked John O’Keeffe to get involved with me and he would have similar knowledge to myself as to what is required at senior level”

Many will see the Kerry minor job as a poisoned chalice. Kerry were beaten by Tipperary in the Munster semi-final this year and under Charlie Nelligan, John Kennedy and Pat O’Driscoll, the Kingdom has struggled.

“It’s a challenge but it’s more than winning minor championships. It’s about setting up structures, for the development squads as well, and we might have a say in that as well.

“It won’t improve matters overnight maybe but it’s about structures being addressed so that players have a higher intensity of coaching and preparation — and I am not saying it wasn’t there — but we are obviously not producing minors for some reason and what we aim to do is improve the whole structures up along from U15.”

O’Sullivan is considered one of the greats of the game, having played for various Kerry teams from 1972 to 1980, captaining Kerry to All-Ireland success in that infamous 1975 final against Dublin, when he became the first captain in Sam Maguire history not to lift the cup — as he was concussed at the time — and clubmate Pat Spillane accepted it his absence.

A teacher in Ballyvourney, O’Sullivan took over as manger of the Kerry senior team in 1989 from Mick O’Dwyer, when Munster rivals Cork were at the zenith of their powers.

He managed both Kerry senior and U21 teams, winning an All-Ireland U21 in 1990 before losing out to Tyrone in 1992.

O’Sullivan had mixed luck with the Kerry seniors, winning back the Munster title in 1991 after a five-year gap but losing to Down in the All-Ireland semi-final. Kerry then lost the 92 Munster final to Clare, who were winning a provincial football title for the first time since 1917.