Brosnan in hunt for Kerry captaincy
There are the likes of Kieran O’Leary and Johnny Buckley too but the 32-year-old appears the best placed to take the role should Cooper decide not to accept it once more.
After winning his fourth Kerry SFC title, Brosnan, who skippered Kerry previously in 2001, and in Cooper’s stead in the league last year, was somewhat circumspect about his inter-county future – “the legs aren’t that young anymore but I’m enjoying my football and we’ll see how things go”.
However, the indications are he will make himself available to new manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice next year.
For now, Brosnan is solely focused on the challenge presented by Kilmurry- Ibrickane in Quilty on Sunday.
He admits Crokes were keeping abreast of how their Munster club SFC quarter-final opponents were faring in their county championship.
“We were keeping a quiet eye on the Clare championship and how it was progressing. We played them last year, they came down to Killarney and they gave us a fright.
“After about 50 minutes, the game was in the melting pot and we got the last two or three points. They’ve got home advantage this time too.
“Naturally, there will have been celebrations after beating Dingle but we’ll get back in training (this evening) and our target going up to Clare is to win and the Munster club is the long-term aim now.”
Crokes manager Noel O’Leary doesn’t anticipate the west Clare club will pack their defence to negate Crokes.
Brosnan points out they will have their own bit of homework onKilmurry-Ibrickane this week.
“We haven’t really done any video analysis of Kilmurry but we knew they’re big, strong men. I’m sure they have their plans for us.
“We know our strengths and we try to play to them. Obviously, other teams will try and counteract them but having said that we’ll be looking at their strengths.
“Dingle’s strength were goals coming into the final and the defenders, we talked as a unit about stopping them doing that and we succeeded.”
Were Sunday’s victory their first in years, Brosnan and his team-mates could be forgiven for being somewhat dismissive about what lies ahead.
However, nobody was going over the top on Sunday.
“When you win your first county championship there’s an element of ecstasy about it,” said Brosnan. “We’ve won three-in-a-row and we’ll cherish it but it’s a different feeling.
“It’s self-satisfaction, really, on a job well done. I think it’s about eight years since we last lost to a club side in the Kerry championship and that’s something we can take great pride from.”
