'One of our leaders': Sean O'Shea leading the way in Kenmare football boom

Kerry forward Stephen O’Brien, now a club and county colleague, talks about the man who was long ago touted as a top prospect

Kerry's Sean O'Shea scores a point despite goalkeeper Niall Morgan and Ronan McNamee of Tyrone during a National League game. Picutre: INPHO/James Crombie

It was while performing a full dive and blockdown at the age of just eight that Sean O’Shea’s greatness was first signposted in Kenmare.

Kerry forward Stephen O’Brien, now a club and county colleague, didn’t see it but heard one of the club’s coaches raving about it.

“John Morgan, who trained us a couple of years ago, he maintained that Sean was the only young fella to do a full diving block at U8 level,” said O’Brien. “He would have said that Sean was one to watch out forever since then.”

It was a solid prediction and the feeling now is that O’Shea could be on the cusp of delivering for his county on the very biggest stage.

David Clifford may have shot the lights out in the league with 6-22 in just four games to secure a joint title success.

But it’s O’Shea that has delivered so far in the Championship, top-scoring in each of their three games with 1-7, 0-8 and 1-6 tallies.

“We’re in a good position with a squad of really committed, enthusiastic players and Seanie is the epitome of that,” said O’Brien. “He’s very, very dedicated to his craft.

“He trains exceptionally hard. I would have known him for a long time, I suppose everyone in the club knew that he was going to be a good prospect.

It’s great to see that he’s turned from being a prospect into a proper senior player for Kerry. He just fits in so well in the camp, he’s definitely one of our leaders.

These are boom times for the general Kenmare area with so many players now from the local Shamrocks club and nearby Templenoe all thriving with Kerry.

“When I started playing with Kerry I was the only one on the team,” said O’Brien, an All-Ireland winner in 2014. “Then Tadhg Morley came and now there’s eight of us between Kenmare and Templenoe which is amazing. It’s down to a lot of hard work put in by coaches really. Tom O’Connor, he was a selector with Kerry in 1997, he took over the school team and he’s had a huge impact. He’s brought a lot of players through.

“There are some other excellent players as well involved in the U20 set so they might feature in the future as well. Football has definitely been very, very strong in the Kenmare area.”

O’Shea was an All-Ireland winning Kerry minor in 2015 and 2016. He played in successful underage teams with Clifford, Jason Foley, Mike Breen and Gavin White — all of whom are set to start against Tyrone on Saturday.

The sense of a young team coming to its peak now is strong.

“For a lot of our players who have come through from those great minor teams, they’ve been around the senior panel now for a couple of years,” said O’Brien. “They’re moving more into their athletic peak.

“A lot of our backs, Jason Foley, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tom O’Sullivan, they’re moving into the 24, 25 age bracket which I suppose is the start of your athletic peak. It’s great for our team that we have a lot of players coming into their peak years.”

The bookies believe this will be the year when Kerry finally burst through for a first All-Ireland in seven years. Even when holders Dublin were still in the competition, Kerry were favourites.

“Look at the Olympics, how many times does the favourite actually win at the Olympics?” countered O’Brien. “You saw the American 4x100 team didn’t even make the final — they were the champions and the favourites coming into it.

“From the Irish perspective, you had Rhys McClenaghan, a great gymnast, who was favourite and did very well in qualifying and just one slip and it didn’t work out for him.

That tag is something that’s out there but it’s often the case that it doesn’t end up being the actual winner of the competition.

Kerry faced Tyrone just weeks ago in the semi-finals of the league and blew them away, firing 6-15 in Killarney.

Tyrone have regained the Ulster title since then but they’ve also been laid low by a Covid-19 outbreak which forced the semi-final to be postponed by 13 days.

“We were happy with the result in the league, but that was the league,” said O’Brien. “The game was on in Fitzgerald Stadium where we have a very strong record and we’d like to think we’re tough to beat there.

“Being up in Croke Park will be completely different, we haven’t played there since January of 2020 and Tyrone were playing there the last day in the Ulster final, so that’s definitely an advantage for them.”