Bryan Sheehan makes it 19 wins from 21 games after latest Kerry victory

Kerry captain Bryan Sheehan made it a remarkable 19 wins from 21 matches with victory over Mayo on Sunday.

Aside from a Division 2 play-off defeat to Spa in January, the All-Ireland final reverse to Dublin was the last time the 30-year-old lined out for a losing team. Since then, he has helped guide South Kerry to a county senior title and St Mary’s to county, provincial, and All-Ireland intermediate honours.

He’s led Kerry in consecutive wins over Down, Donegal and Mayo, which have lifted them from the relegation places to third in the table.

But he is mindful of how they went into the last two games last year with six points only to miss out on the knockout stages. “Unfortunately, we’ve been here before on six points and not qualified for a league semi-final,” said Sheehan.

“It’s nice to get two points on the road, they’re good value but we know we still have a lot to work on. Our first- half performance wasn’t up to scratch and we were very lucky we got a (Johnny Buckley) goal before half-time. It kept us in the game.”

Sheehan is glad of the forthcoming rest weekend, even though it arrests the drive Kerry have developed in recent weeks.

“Momentum is a big thing and winning is a habit but three games in three weeks is tough going especially at this level so it might be no harm to get a bit of downtime. We know we have another tough away game in Monaghan next. We’ve four away games this year and it’s tough to get points on the board.”

Earlier this year, Kieran Donaghy admitted he had overextended himself coming back so early to the Kerry set-up as captain after Austin Stacks’ run to an All-Ireland Club semi-final. He said he was going to impart some advice to his successor Sheehan following his success with St Mary’s.

Sheehan confirmed: “I spoke to Kieran; he was very good. I spoke to Éamonn (Fitzmaurice) about it as well. At the moment, things are just working out.

“If it comes down the line the body is feeling a bit tired or if mentally I’m not feeling right we’ll cross that bridge but, look, so far, so good.”