McConville refuses to write off Kerry

Oisín McConville doesn’t subscribe to the theory that Kerry will have a long wait for another All-Ireland senior title win.

The Armagh and Crossmaglen Rangers legend, who revealed his intention to hang up his boots at the weekend, vehemently disagrees with former Derry star Joe Brolly and Tyrone’s Brian McGuigan, who have both written off Kerry’s chances of success.

McGuigan maintains Kerry can forget about winning an All-Ireland for at least six or seven years while controversial commentator Brolly has formed the opinion that the future for Kerry football is dimmer now than at any time in living memory.

But despite their far from impressive National League performances against Mayo and Dublin, McConville said he tipped Kerry to win the All-Ireland at this start of this year and nothing has happened to change his mind.

“They have lost a few league games but I wouldn’t be hitting the panic button just yet. Kerry should not be too perturbed about that happens in the league and they never have been,” he said.

The 37-year old Armagh hero, the most decorated club player in the game, said he has spoken to a number of the Kerry players and they are more than happy with the steady progress being made under Eamonn Fitzmaurice and physical trainer Dr Cian O’Neill.

“They have started a new training regime centred around conditioning. It takes a bit of getting used to but they will be ready when the championship comes, even though it might seem a long way off. They will see the fruits of what they are doing now in the summer. They are doing the type of conditioning training now that I feel they should have been doing a few years ago,” said McConville.

McConville believes Fitzmaurice may have been distracted playing with his club Finuge in the intermediate championship but he can now concentrate on his managerial role and the public will see the difference.

“The simple fact of the matter is that Kerry are one of just three or four counties that could win the All-Ireland this year. They rest are also-rans. My tip is Kerry and I’m sticking to that,” he said.

McConville said it was “nonsense” to suggest Kerry didn’t have the players to win in Croke Park in September and he insisted that the blend of experience and youth favoured by Fitzmaurice provides a great balance.

“You could pick a team from that Kerry squad and it would be very hard to get 15 players in any other county to match them. You certainly wouldn’t find better footballers than them.”

He revealed: “I’d love to have been a corner-forward with Kerry. They way they play, you are always guaranteed to get a fair share of the ball. In other counties you would be living off scraps with maybe five or six touches but with Kerry, you get a lot of possession to show what you can do. I grew up on a diet of Kerry football, watching them and admiring them. We didn’t have much success in Armagh and we had little to look up to. It was either Kerry or Meath,” he said.

McConville’s admiration for Kerry goes back through the decades as he lists Maurice Fitzgerald as his all-time favourite player, Colm Cooper as the one player he’d like to line out alongside and Tomás Ó Sé as the most difficult opponent he encountered during his long, trophy-laden career.