Priority U21 so Peter Kelleher to miss senior duel with Kerry

Peter Kelleher will not be part of the Cork squad for Sunday’s crucial Allianz FL fixture away to Kerry following a request from the county’s U21 management to release the player ahead of next Thursday’s Munster U21 final.

Kelleher has been a permanent fixture in the Cork senior team this spring, starting all six league games at full-forward. The Kilmichael player also lined out at full-forward in Cork’s Munster U21 quarter and semi-final wins earlier this month; this during a 12-day period where he pulled on the red shirt on four separate occasions.

Cork U21 manager Sean Hayes says Kelleher has benefited massively from time spent in Peadar Healy’s camp, but that focus must now be on next Thursday’s U21 decider in Tralee.

Final opponents Kerry, by way of contrast, struck an agreement with senior manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice that Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Tom O’Sullivan would leave the senior set-up to concentrate solely on U21 following the second round of Allianz league games in early February.

“It is very hard to go from senior to U21 to senior to U21,” said Hayes of Kelleher’s busy spring.

“He has had a good run with the seniors, so him going down to Tralee [on Sunday] wouldn’t be a priority for me. He has done very well at full- forward. The games I have been at, he has done very well. He has been effective. He is a big lad and hopefully, he will be able to show for us next Thursday night.”

A second concern for Hayes is the Carbery U21 football championship semi-final involving Clonakilty and Ilen Rovers scheduled for Saturday. Cork midfielder Sean White and Sean O’Donovan, introduced as a sub in the win over Waterford, will both be forced to line out for their respective clubs if the game goes ahead. The Cork boss isn’t enamoured by the idea of two players lining out in a key club fixture five days before the clash with Kerry.

“There is talk that Carbery won’t pull off the game. We asked them to give us the weekend off because we have had a lot of our players out playing with their clubs the last two weekends. We are still waiting. We’ve had club games over the last two weekends so it has been very hard to get lads focused on our job.”

Kerry, meanwhile, have been bolstered by the return from injury of Cormac Coffey, Matthew O’Flaherty and 2015 All-Ireland minor winning captain Mark O’Connor. The trio missed Kerry’s quarter and semi-final victories.

“Mark has participated in a couple of the sessions which is good to see,” Kerry U21 manager Jack O’Connor told Radio Kerry Sport. “Matthew Flaherty has got a couple of club games, same with Cormac Coffey, which is good for them after their injuries.”