VIDEO: Eamonn Fitzmaurice studying the form guide for Killarney

Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice insists too much is being made of his selection policy.

The All-Ireland-winning football boss has routinely stated his team is picked on training-ground form, but this week suggested his selection policy “has taken on a life of its own”.

Fitzmaurice made five changes to the Kerry team ahead of the drawn Munster final, with Colm Cooper among the quintet relegated to the bench and the Kerry manager was criticised for the lack of loyalty shown to the players who delivered All-Ireland glory last September — Brian Kelly, Aidan O’Mahony, Paul Murphy, Anthony Maher and Paul Geaney were also sitting alongside Cooper in the stand at Fitzgerald Stadium.

Fitzmaurice says the problem is not with how the team is picked, but rather the unsettled nature of the Kerry line-up at present.

When questioned if a player’s performance in their most recent competitive outing comes into the reckoning when Fitzmaurice sits down with Mikey Sheehy, Diarmuid Murphy and Cian O’Neill to pick the team, he bluntly replied: “Of course it does.”

“An awful lot comes into consideration when you are picking a team: The opposition, the balance of the team, who is playing well, who played well the last day and I think it is a problem that we have at the moment that our team is not settled yet,” he asserted.

“The thing with form is that if you are playing out of your skin at training, you are not going to be left sitting down. It means everyone has a chance.

“There were eyebrows raised at Barry John Keane starting the last day. His form carried into the game. Even though things didn’t go for him early in the game, he showed how much he has matured. He stuck in there and got three great points before half-time. He got two great points from play when we needed them. That to me was an affirmation that a fella who is going well in training brought his form into the game.

“It is not a case that we say let’s forget about the last day when picking the team, of course fellas’ performances the last day, good and bad, come into the equation. On top of that, form comes into it. If there is nothing between two lads, well then the fella that is going well at training is going to get picked.”

Despite the multitude of All-Ireland winners warming the Kerry bench these days, including the returned Tommy Walsh, Fitzmaurice reckons the panel’s strength-in-depth isn’t bearing fruit because players such as Paul Geaney, Anthony Maher and Colm Cooper simply aren’t accustomed to entering a game from the bench.

“There’s a skill to coming on as a sub, and to be fair to lads like Anthony and Colm, in particular, they would not be used to that role. Paul Geaney wouldn’t be either really, though he has come on as a sub in the past. It is a tough role.

“To be fair to the lads when they came in the last day, Cork had momentum at the time and we were trying to wrestle the momentum back. So I wouldn’t read too much into it, but in both championship games so far we haven’t got the impact off the bench we would like. That becomes something for me and the management to see how can we balance having a very strong squad, as we do, and getting that impact from the bench when we introduce the lads. It’s a balancing act and it’s a work in progress.”

Cork’s third goal was indicative of Kerry’s lethargic efforts in Killarney, Michael Shields comfortably evading the tame challenges of Peter Crowley and Colm Cooper to put Barry O’Driscoll in the clear.

Aggression, accepted Fitzmaurice, was sorely lacking from men wearing the green and gold last Sunday week. “The funny thing was that 40 seconds into the game Peter Crowley hit Mark Collins a great belt of a shoulder. After that, we didn’t seem to have any huge physicality in our game. But I mean, to be physical you have to get at the ball and get to the man, the last day we just weren’t getting to the man. It was another one of the areas in where Cork beat us hands down. They were more physical and more aggressive. Absolutely that is one of the areas where we will have to try and up the ante.

“All of the goals were preventable. It’s a cause for concern, of course. It’s something we have got to get right for Saturday and for the games after that, be it going down the qualifying route or going straight to Croke Park.

“It was one of the things we got right last year from the point of view of winning the All-Ireland. It is something that we have to address, but I think with a lot of these things, we’re quite close to getting things right.”