Kingdom return for key man Sheehan

Kerry fans will be boosted by the sight of Bryan Sheehan lining out for the county's senior footballers this weekend in a challenge match against Sligo.

A knee injury ruled Sheehan out of Kerry's recent Munster SFC semi-final against Cork and he was badly missed as they fell to a 0-17 to 0-12 defeat.

The top class midfielder and free-taker, who was an All-Star last year, is due to return against Sligo and should be fully fit for Kerry's All-Ireland second round qualifier in two weeks' time.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Sheehan said: "I have the four weeks down with the treatment on the knee injury. So I am back in training with the squad and doing the running and hopefully by the weekend I will be back playing football.

"It only affects me when I am jumping for a ball or kicking of a free, because all my weight is transferred onto my left leg. It did not stop me playing only that I was very sore afterwards.

"In hindsight I probably played too much this year. I played all Kerry's league games and I was also playing with St. Mary's in the club Championship.

"At one stage I played 11 weeks in-a-row. So I was flat out since February and then flat out training for the Championship. It's a wear and tear issue."

There are doubts over the fitness of Kerry defender Marc Ó Sé who damaged a shoulder in the Cork game, but his brother Tomás, who has been nursing a back problem, is on track for the qualifiers after playing for divisional side West Kerry on Sunday.