Tried and tested set to return after Kingdom stroll

Kerry 1-12 Tipperary 1-05

Eamonn Fitzmaurice has vowed to field his strongest possible teams over the next two weekends as Kerry open their Allianz Football League Division 1 campaign against heavyweights Mayo and Dublin.

The Kingdom manager has run the rule over a number of young players during a successful McGrath Cup campaign but now, only the strongest can survive. Some of his emerging young stars will see game time, for sure, but Fitzmaurice hinted that he’s a ‘horses for courses’ man.

He’s anxious to get off to a good start in Castlebar next Sunday and it should be an experienced team that trots out at McHale Park.

Of course, Fitzmaurice’s hand could be forced to an extent as a number of his players are involved in Sigerson Cup matches over the next few days. But in his head, Fitzmaurice has probably settled on the starting 15 for an attractive opening fixture against last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists, with Killian Young and James O’Donoghue likely to be fit in time.

Reflecting on the McGrath Cup campaign as a whole, Fitzmaurice said: “With these lads, it’s trying to get a bit of game time into them.

Sometimes that can be hard in the National League when you have a very competitive panel. Human nature being what it is, you’re going to go with the experienced fellas that have been there, done that. But the lads have got a good chance and have definitely stuck their foot in the door going forward.”

That’s not to say that Kerry’s young guns don’t deserve a chance, because they do. Jonathan Lyne and Jack Sherwood have done well in defence so far this year while up front, Michael O’Donoghue and Paul Geaney are lively prospects.

But when push came to shove against Tipperary at Sean Treacy Park on Saturday, it was the men who’ve been around the block that got the job done. Darran O’Sullivan scored 1-3 while the Ó Sé brothers Marc and Tomás marshalled a mean defence as Kerry claimed a third title in four seasons.

Tipp, chasing a first McGrath Cup title since 2003, didn’t score from play until the 47th minute. At the other end, Kerry finished with eight different scorers.

Fitzmaurice reflected: “We’re happy with January. What we’ve done with each game is taken stock each week. We’ve trained, seen who’s available, we’ve checked the knocks. There are Sigerson games going on again on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and a lot of the lads will be involved in them. So, we’ll take stock again on Thursday, see who’s available to us. We’ll put our strongest possible team next weekend but we have two seriously tough games coming up, away to Mayo and at home to Dublin.”

Right now, Kerry’s squad looks solid. This team, after all, was only a couple of points off Donegal in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, when they general consensus was that Kerry didn’t play well. The Dr Crokes contingent will return from club duty to provide Fitzmaurice with fresh options and Kerry should be in good fettle when they meet Tipperary again in May, in the quarter-finals of the Munster SFC.

Kerry elected to play with the breeze in the first half last Saturday, in front of 839 spectators in Tipp town. They were 1-7 to 0-2 clear at half-time, with O’Sullivan firing home a clinical 16th minute goal. Tipp managed just two pointed frees from Barry Grogan, scorer of 2-12 in his two previous matches. Marc Ó Sé stuck to Grogan like glue throughout and although the Aherlow forward registered 1-4, he managed to escape just once for a point from play. A number of frees he’d normally pop over drifted wide too but Grogan did goal from a 45 in the 57th minute, with Kerry goalkeeper Brendan Kealy at fault as the ball floated into the net.

It was the highlight of Tipp’s afternoon and their manager Peter Creedon admitted that the Premier County could have few complaints with the end result. He argued that Tipp’s opening Division 4 fixtures, at home to Carlow next Sunday and away to Waterford six days later, are much more important than a McGrath Cup final. “We had a good campaign; two good wins and there were reasonable parts about today as well. But we have to get promotion — that’s it. The next two games are way more important.”

Scorers for Kerry: D O’Sullivan (1-3, 0-1f), P Geaney 0-3 (1f), T Ó’Sé, A Maher, B Sheehan (f), M Geaney, M O’Donoghue & P Curtin 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: B Grogan 1-4 (1-0 45, 0-3f), L McGrath 0-1.

KERRY: B Kealy; M Ó Sé, A O’Mahony, S Enright; J Lyne, J Sherwood, T Ó Sé; A Maher, B Sheehan; M Geaney, D O’Sullivan, M O’Donoghue; B.J. Keane, P Curtin, P Geaney.

Subs: D Culhane for Sherwood (47); A Garnett for Sheehan (57); BJ Walsh for Keane (57); P Murphy for Lyne (58); B Kelliher for O’Donoghue (59).

TIPPERARY: P Fitzgerald; A Morrissey, P Codd, J Coghlan; B Fox, S Kennedy, C McDonald; G Hannigan, L Egan; S O’Brien, P Quirke, B Maher; L McGrath, B Grogan, C Sweeney.

Subs: H Coghlan for Egan (h.t.), A Campbell for Kennedy (h.t.), B O’Brien for S O’Brien (53), B Jones for Hannigan (59), A Matassa for Sweeney (67).

Referee: J Bermingham (Cork).