Currans centre of excellence can’t open quickly enough for Éamonn Fitzmaurice

On the evenings he points his Volkswagen Passat towards Killarney for training, Éamonn Fitzmaurice must look wistfully west approaching Farranfore towards the long overdue Kerry GAA centre of excellence in Currans.

Two defeats to start the Allianz League Division 1 is bad enough but righting the wrongs at training this year has come second to finding a surface to train on. For football’s pre-eminent county, it might be a Kerryman joke if it wasn’t so serious.

Last year they had to venture to Limerick to train. This year, only as far as Ballybunion, and Banna beach have been pressed into action when Dr Crokes’ second pitch has been unavailable.