No quick fix for Kerry, but Marc Ó Sé backs Éamonn Fitzmaurice

Marc Ó Sé believes there will be no return to the Kingdom for Sam Maguire in 2018 and that Éamonn Fitzmaurice needs time, and the continuing presence of senior players such as Kieran Donaghy, for the county to reign again.

Fitzmaurice has another year of his term still to run but Ó Sé is of a mind that the current project will need longer to complete and pointed to Tyrone’s decision to offer Mickey Harte another three years as an example of the route Kerry should take.

There was a warning, too, that the county can’t simply look to the impressive batch of underage players due to come through as they continue to lick the wounds suffered in the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Mayo last month.

His response was brief but to the point yesterday when asked if he believed Kerry would be good enough to go all the way next year.

“No, I don’t think it will happen next year, I think it will take a while.”

Fitzmaurice, he insisted, is the best man for the long haul. Whether the incumbent wants that length of tenure is something he can’t say, but Ó Sé is sure the county board would be amenable to offering it.

“We have a very decent county board and I think they will look at that,” said the five-time All-Ireland winner.

“They are progressive people and I think they would see that he is the man. I’d be fairly sure that they would.”

Ó Sé’s backing for his former playing colleague and manager is not delivered in blind faith. He believes mistakes were made on the sideline during the Mayo loss but his conviction is that Fitzmaurice is well in the black.

His tactical blueprint for the 2014 final against Donegal and the pressing of Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs in last year’s semi-final were both presented on behalf of the defence as debate continues to circulate through the parishes.

Ó Sé has heard that chatter and, in his newspaper column last weekend, he had a pop at the cohort of Kerry’s support that has been most critical of Fitzmaurice whilst opting against making trips to Dublin that don’t fall in September.

“Possibly we have had it too good, but that’s been the case back to the Micko team,” he explained. “Fans would wait till the final. In 1981, we played three games. My first year, we played nine games. It has to change.

“We are high achievers and that can be a great thing, but enough is enough: You have to realise we are just not good enough. There’s areas around the team where we were exposed: Our full-back line, our half-forward line. If we can find maybe two, three players…”

With the county claiming the last three All-Ireland minor titles, the expectation could be that the new blood will naturally emerge from the underage grades but Ó Sé joined a long list of people to warn of the gulf in standards between the teenage years and the big show.

Still, there will be players who get the chance to showcase their talents in the league next spring. Sean O’Shea and Brian Ó Beaglaoich were both offered up as examples yesterday, but Ó Sé believes the retention of a senior spine remains paramount.

Kerry have lost significant experience in recent years.

Ó Sé himself finished up last year. So too Colm Cooper and Aidan O’Mahony.

The net loss of all that experience can’t be overestimated as they look to keep pace with Dublin.

“How many fellas are going to go this year? I’d like to see the likes of Kieran Donaghy staying on because I think he has a lot more to offer. It’ll be interesting to see what he will do. There are other fellas that I’d like to see get more game-time. The likes of Darran O’Sullivan.

“I felt that game the last day was really crying out for him to be on earlier, where he could run at the Mayo defence, like Mayo were doing to Kerry.

“It was very disappointing that he was sent off. But I couldn’t use that as a reason we lost.”

For now, all Kerry can do is sit and watch with the rest of the country as Mayo and Dublin meet in the final.

Ó Sé likes what he has seen from the Connacht side as the summer wore on but whether they are the side to halt Dublin’s inexorable march is another thing.

“This is the question. They are an exceptional team. You just have to look at the players at their disposal. I don’t think there is anyone out there that can stop Dublin, the way they are going at the moment, no way.”