Kerry players to drive individually to Monaghan 

Kingdom board chairman Tim Murphy says overnight is a 'must' for player safety 

Tim Murphy, Kerry GAA chairman: 'We just feel, in the current climate, it is the most prudent thing to do'

The Kerry footballers will drive, individually, to and from Inniskeen for Saturday’s Division 1 League game against Monaghan.

Kerry are permitted to travel by bus to the game, but the county board executive and Peter Keane’s management team have decided players will travel separately for the eight-hour round trip.

Kerry players have travelled separately to training since the Kingdom regrouped on September 16 and it was against this backdrop that manager Peter Keane last week questioned how sensible it would be, from a health point of view, to pack his players onto a bus for the lengthy journey to and from Monaghan.

Kerry will overnight on Friday and embark on the return leg after Saturday’s 2pm fixture.

Kerry chairman Tim Murphy said their preference was for a neutral venue within “driving distance” of Kerry.

“Everybody is going to travel individually because we just feel, in the current climate, it is the most prudent thing to do and to make sure our players are protected to the absolute maximum,” Murphy told the Irish Examiner today.

“The overnight is a must, given it is a 2pm throw-in. It would be too much to ask the players to drive on the day of the game, what you’d have then is the players driving up Saturday morning, they’d play the game and drive home afterwards.

“We can obviously take a bus. There are no prohibitions on going on a bus.

But a bus journey to Monaghan is probably a five-hour trip. We feel driving individually is giving our players the best possible chance of staying healthy.

I know there is no exact science about that, but we discussed it at length and we feel this is the best approach.

“Obviously, two members of the same family, such as the Clifford brothers, can travel together. Other than that, it will be singles.” 

Away from the logistics of safely ferrying an inter-county panel 380km up the road this weekend, Kerry manager Keane believes it will be unfair if a county is forced to step out of the All-Ireland championship because they are not able to fulfil a fixture owing to Covid-19 having infiltrated the panel. He kept shtum, however, on whether he had a preference for the championship spilling into 2021.

“Is it unfair if a team has to go out? Sure, of course it is. [But] I don’t know an answer. They seem to have set in stone an All-Ireland final on December 19. If they are working to that, there are only so many weekends in between.” 

Keane said his players are being as cautious as they can be, but there is an “inevitability”, he added, that the virus will enter a panellist or management member's workplace.

“It is in the community. Touch wood, we are okay at the moment. There is an inevitability that this is going to happen at some point, somewhere, whether it is your own workplace, a school, a working environment. It is around the corner.

“There is a lot of stuff coming out of college environments, from what we are all hearing. Some of those guys are in college. All they can be is as careful as they possibly can. It is not something that you tar somebody because they contracted this. It is in the community.” 

Cork football manager Ronan McCarthy is of the view home fixtures pose greater challenges than away days in the current climate. Cork entertain Louth at Páirc Uí Chaoimh this Saturday.

“I’d say the away game is easier. This weekend, even if you meet three hours beforehand, which you are allowed to do, what do you do after the players have had their food? They can’t gather, they can’t really congregate. What do you do in that period of time between 1.20pm and getting down to the Páirc ahead of a 4pm throw-in," McCarthy remarked.

“The only advantage for the Longford away game is we are over the distance set out by Croke Park so we are allowed overnight. But you then have to make logistical decisions around travel, do you travel in a bus or do you let players travel themselves.

"Every aspect of your preparation you took as normal over a long number of years, you are kinda stopping now and saying, ‘what is the best way to work this’.”