Moran chose county over college, says Kerry boss O’Connor

JACK O’CONNOR insists it was Brian Moran’s decision to play for Kerry ahead of UCC over the weekend.

The older brother of David was involved as the Kingdom overcame Wexford in a challenge game while his college defeated Limerick in a McGrath Cup quarter-final.

His involvement with Kerry appeared to suggest another county v college tug of war but O’Connor explains Moran took it upon himself to make the call.

“It was his own choice,” said the Dromid Pearses man. “He just wanted to see how he’d get on. UCC won by 12 points in their McGrath Cup game anyway.”

Last year, O’Connor called for a reform of the colleges GAA calendar as he feared promising players under 20 were risking burn-out lining out for so many teams. He will face a juggling act in the coming weeks as he continues to blood players mindful of their college commitments. While the Brogan brothers Alan and Bernard are out of Dublin’s Allianz Division One opener against Kerry on February 4, O’Connor won’t be playing with a full hand either.

Colm Cooper, Kieran O’Leary, Eoin Brosnan, Johnny Buckley and Daithi Casey are committed to Dr Crokes until the middle of February at the earliest while Tom O’Sullivan’s inter-county future remains in doubt.

“There are lads playing a lot of college football at the moment and club football as well.

“We haven’t had access to all our players and it will be a couple of weeks yet before we get hold of most of them.”

O’Connor played down the significance of the win over Wexford on Sunday coming off the back of another challenge victory against Dr Crokes last Sunday week.

“We’re going low key at the moment. I wouldn’t read much into it. We’re just keeping things ticking over for the start of the National League. I wouldn’t be getting too excited.”

O’Connor paid glowing tribute to Tommy Griffin, who decided to retire from inter-county football at the weekend.

“My involvement with Tommy goes back to 1998 and winning the U21 All-Ireland with him alongside Eamonn Fitzmaurice in the middle of the field.

“He was a great versatile player and he filled in for us very well at full-back in 2009 when we were stuck.

“He owes nothing to Kerry football. He’s had a great career and was unfortunate with injuries.

“Father Time just seems to have caught up with him.”

O’Connor remembers the 2009 final as one of Griffin’s highlights when he recovered from an early setback marking Cork’s Colm O’Neill to give a commanding performance. “He showed his mental strength that day. There was great stuff in him. Another fella would have cracked after conceding 1-1 in the opening 10 minutes but Tommy is made of sterner stuff. He epitomised the spirit of the team in the face of adversity that season.”

Griffin returned to the panel after injury for the All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo last August but couldn’t make his way into the team or as a used substitute.

“It just didn’t fall for him. He came back late and was lacking game-time and when there are other fellas who have been playing ahead of you it’s difficult. He just didn’t get the game-time and I think himself and Seamus Scanlon were in that boat. They didn’t have enough minutes under their belt.”