Waiting for Johnny to jump up

Dr Crokes’ lead midfielder knows that there’s more than tomorrow’s Kerry SFC final opponents, Dingle, keeping an eye on him as he heads into what he calls his “breakthrough season” in 2013.He spoke to Tony Leen

IT’s the perennial question, the nagging doubt about certain footballers, and Johnny Buckley, even at 14½stone and 6 ft 2, comes to mind. Is he too nice? Does he have the drive, the want, the cut to horse Anthony Maher and Bryan Sheehan out of the way and instal himself in Kerry’s midfield in 2013? You ask and the response is unfailingly polite.

“Without a doubt,” he emphasises when the importance of next season with Kerry is broached. “It’s a breakthrough year for me. It was great to be coming on (as sub) this year, but I’m four years with Kerry, and I need to be keeping my foot in the door. I know what I have to do.”