Kerry beating the Banna beach drum

It is where Mikey Sheehy and his team-mates went to sharpen themselves for Micko. It is where Eamonn Fitzmaurice went to sharpen himself for Páidí and Jack. No reason, then, why this latest bunch of Kerry footballers wouldn’t benefit from a few days spent on Banna beach.

The timing, mind you, couldn’t have been better - the Kerry footballers landing onto the beach in North Kerry one week after their surprise defeat at home to Roscommon in early February.

Granted, the sick bay had been close to overcrowding with the high volume of players unavailable for the visit of the westerners. Still, this was a fixture where Kerry were expected to claim maximum points. Kevin McStay and Fergal O’Donnell’s charges had fallen at home to Monaghan a week earlier and there was little to suggest a shock raid could be successfully carried out in Killarney.