Kerry find spring in their step

The conversation with Eamonn Fitzmaurice runs for almost 19 minutes, and on only one occasion talk turns, briefly, to relegation.

And in truth, the possibility of the Kerry footballers dropping to Division 2 is put to the Kingdom manager more in jest as no top flight team finishing on six points has fallen through the trap door since the league was split into four tiers back in 2008 and, also, because Kerry’s recent run of victories lies in stark contrast to the stuttering campaigns of springs past.

It is a rather strange phenomenon for Fitzmaurice to be looking towards the possibility of the semi-finals at this juncture. Past campaigns have been all about scrambling for points over the closing fortnight to avoid the drop.