Kingdom seeking saviours

Questions and facts. Facts and questions.

As Kerry partake in a wake after a fruitless summer, the questions and facts will plague their minds.

Fact — the three years Kerry have now gone without Sam is the longest barren patch since Páidí Ó Sé bridged the four-season gap between his two All-Irelands as manager.

Question — What options did Kerry have in reserve when the game was going against them?

Fact — Kerry have lost their last three knock-out games in Croke Park.

Question — Why wasn’t a fit-again Darran O’Sullivan, a whisker away from being footballer of the year last season, not started?

Fact — Of the team that started against Donegal, nine made debuts for Kerry seven or more years ago.

Question — Did this team expunge itself of its passion on that emotionally-charged evening they beat Tyrone in Killarney?

Much like last year, Jack O’Connor this summer played the role of a host reluctant to risk the younger wine on his guests. It was stubbornness on his part to mop up the vintage claret and wring it back into the bottles, but it was logical too given so many proven men were still making themselves available to him and an underage system offering him little in alternatives.

However, there was no trick card up his sleeve this year. Eoin Brosnan was just that in 2011 as were Mike McCarthy and Tadhg Kennelly in 2009 and William Kirby in 2004.

Earlier this year, O’Connor persuaded Sean O’Sullivan back, the player who helped to make Kieran Donaghy what he transformed into in 2006, but it didn’t work out.

So, halfway through the second half on Sunday and with the season on a knife-edge, O’Connor found himself banking on youth.

Throughout the league, Brian Maguire and Peter Crowley were given starts but only to cultivate a championship bench that wasn’t there last year.

Had Tom O’Sullivan not retired earlier this year, would Shane Enright have been given his opportunity?

A comeback was attempted but had it been successful it would have been an unfair reflection on general play.

“The better team won, it’s as simple as that,” said six-time All-Ireland winner Paudie Lynch. “We just ran out of steam, to be honest about it.

“If we didn’t get the goal, they would have gone on to score again and we would have lost by a lot more, I believe.”

Lynch believes retirements are on the cards, although he sees O’Connor fulfilling the last year of his current agreement.

“I can see two or three certainly calling a halt. I wouldn’t see anyone opposing him [Jack]. He knows the players that are there.”

So who will go? Prior to Sunday, Marc Ó Sé [33 in 2012] already signalled his intentions to stay on and the same should go for Colm Cooper, Declan O’Sullivan and Donaghy.

It’s the older vintage where the attention will be directed. Tomás Ó Sé, 35 next June, has nothing to worry about his form going south; he was one of, if not Kerry’s championship best and constantly took it to Donegal in the second-half.

Football continues to form a large part of his life but the question is will he have the hunger come January?

Brosnan, 33 next year, had been playing well this summer and his absence after he picked up a first-half injury on Sunday was keenly felt.

Sources close to the Dr Crokes man feel his two-year sabbatical has whetted Brosnan’s appetite for more inter-county football and he may stay on for one more blast.

Paul Galvin, also 33 in 2012, sparkled in the qualifiers although he was fortunate not to be suspended for Sunday’s game. His fitness and football are still up to scratch and his close friendship with Eamonn Fitzmaurice, providing Fitzmaurice remains part of the management team, might convince him to stay on board.

However, there may be some concern about Aidan O’Mahony’s future even though he enjoyed a handsome stretch of clean sheets against his markers through the backdoor.

With his Rathmore clubmate O’Sullivan having exited stage left a few months back, he may feel it’s time to do the same.

Whoever stays, whoever goes, a bullet will have to be bitten next year. A Kerry defence without an Ó Sé in it never mind one less is an inferior one but youth will need a bigger say.

If David Moran finally catches a break, Kerry’s options in the centre and up front will improve but the next generation must be abided with for posterity’s sake regardless of how much it may put out older players.

It’s been a slow train coming for Kerry. It can’t be delayed any further.