James O’Donoghue undergoes shoulder operation

Kerry’s James O’Donoghue has undergone surgery on a shoulder problem, and is set for an extensive period of rehabilitation before being available to the beaten All-Ireland finalists in 2016.

O’Donoghue had a procedure on one of two troublesome shoulders on Monday at Santry Sports Clinic. Because he has rehabbed from a similar operation in 2014, O’Donoghue may be sidelined for four rather than six months, but a return to action for the Kingdom before July would be a welcome surprise for Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

The Kerry manager is preparing for next year’s Allianz League with a seriously depleted squad. Already he is without O’Donoghue, Anthony Maher, Paul Geaney and Peter Crowley for the first three or four rounds because of operations, and Bryan Sheehan also likely to be given time off after his All-Ireland club commitments with St Mary’s come to an end in January or February.

Colm Cooper is set for a minor surgical procedure on an AC joint in his shoulder as well and looks likely to miss the early rounds of the league. The Kerry ace is expected to play for Dr Crokes against Legion next Sunday in the (East Kerry Division) O’Donoghue Cup semi-final, but is unlikely to be available for the final, should they win.

Meanwhile the Kerry County Board have been accused of bringing the game into disrepute over their decision to “artificially relegate” three teams from the County SFC. With the number of teams competing in next year’s Kerry football championship being reduced from 20 to 17 in a restructuring of the club scene, St Michael’s Foilmore and Ardfert have already been relegated from the top tier; Laune Rangers and Austin Stacks meet this Saturday in the third and final relegation play-off.

Austin Stacks delegate Ger Reidy launched a scathing attack on the top table at Monday night’s convention in Killarney, suggesting that the restructuring is in no way related to improving the standard of the county’s premier competition but rather freeing up more weekends during the summer for Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s Kerry team.

“The whole thing is ill-advised and the premise that it is improving the championship is false. It is disingenuous of the county board to put that out there,” said Reidy. “I believe it has more to do with having fewer games and having fewer Sundays where clubs can interfere with the progress of Kerry football.”

Reidy was annoyed that in the process of reducing the number of teams from 20 to 17, no divisional outfit was subject to relegation. “You can’t improve standards when half the teams competing are exempt from relegation. If it was genuinely an effort to improve standards, the weakest team would go, irrespective of who they were or where they were from. We are after giving this super status to those exempt from relegation. We are after telling them that no matter how bad they are, they are safe. There has been no natural justice to how this has been done.”

“In a county our size, it sends out completely the wrong message that our county board believe we have only eight clubs good enough for senior.”

Kerry intermediate champions St Mary’s have been denied promotion to senior level as a result and Reidy believes this will carry “serious ramifications” at provincial club level. “This is going to create a terrible imbalance. If St Mary’s win the Kerry intermediate championship next year, will they be allowed again compete in Munster? This move carries serious ramifications for our clubs.”