John Egan: League displays show Kerry hurling on upward curve

Experienced Kerry forward John Egan believes their exploits in the league this season shows that the Kingdom hurlers can survive with the big guns.

And the former Kerry captain, their top marksman in a campaign which saw them win away to Laois and Offaly, said they will not dwell on the disappointment of going so close to securing a shock quarter-final spot in their first season up in Division 1B.

Kerry finished on the same number of points as quarter-finalists Offaly and Wexford but an inferior scoring difference means they will face a relegation play-off with a Laois team, who didn’t pick up a single point in their five matches.

“There was nothing further from our minds,” said Egan, regarding their quest for a quarter-final spot before taking on Offaly. “Getting the performance and then trying to beat Offaly would have been a huge positive for us. The way things were set up, it was going to be an outside chance that we were going to make it. We are pleased with the way things went, we have another crucial game coming up, so our confidence will be high and we can get back training Tuesday night.

“I am really looking forward to the rest of the year.”

Egan’s haul of 1-10 in the 2-18 to 2-17 win over Offaly on Sunday took his league tally this season to 1-23. He took over the free-taking duties from Shane Nolan after the opening few games but 1-11 of his tally has been from play.

The St Brendan’s clubman insists it is vital for Kerry to be playing against the top counties if they want to continue progressing.

“We want to be playing up with all these big counties and improving all the time.

“It’s very important that young players would get confidence winning these games.” Current Offaly manager Eamon Kelly led them to the Christy Ring Cup title last season and Egan said that good work is now being taken on by Ciarán Carey.

“We had a great two seasons with Eamon and he really brought us on. This year Ciarán Carey has taken it on another bit and we have a really young team, there are a lot of young players out there, two or three lads today had their first start so it’s great for them.”

He knows they face a test when they host Laois in the relegation play-off, with Cheddar Plunkett’s men looking for revenge for the 1-24 to 2-14 opening day loss.

“We played really well up there, but I think they were missing a couple of players on the day.

“I am sure it will be a 50/50 game, and they will be mad up for it since we have beaten them already. We are hoping this win over Offaly can springboard our season into having plenty of these performances,” added Egan.