Strength in depth key for Dr Crokes

If recent games are anything to go by, then Micheál Burns will be the first Crokes sub called down from the stand tomorrow. Jordan Kiely will follow shortly after, with Tony Brosnan not far behind.

For those unfamiliar with the youngest members of Pat O’Shea’s matchday squad, Burns and Kiely, both 19, won All-Ireland minor medals under Jack O’Connor in 2014. Burns owned the number 12 shirt during that famine- ending campaign, while Kiely, similar to his role with the Crokes seniors, was one of the first sprung from the bench — he kicked two points when introduced at half-time in the decider against Donegal.

Twenty-year old Brosnan, on the other hand, never started a game for the Kerry minors. He saw the last couple of minutes in this year’s Munster U21 final against Cork at Tralee. Kerry senior boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice, though, saw something he liked and called the Crokes corner-forward into his set-up. He’d get the last four minutes of the All-Ireland quarter-final win over Clare.