Kerry's Gavin White getting himself back up to top speed
FLYER: Kerry’s Gavin White.
It’s an anomaly that may take another couple of years to correct: Gavin White, in his fifth season as a senior Kerry footballer, still has more championship than league appearances to his name – 18 to 13 (and 15 starts to 11).
A combination of extended commitments with Dr Crokes and injuries meant the flying wing-back had 13 SFC games to his name across the 2018 and ’19 campaigns before he finally made his league bow against Galway in the second round of the 2020 Division 1.
If Kerry’s captaincy rule wasn’t so idiosyncratic, the fact he was named skipper without having played a league game and in 2019 only in his second full season would be bizarre. But then that honour has been landed on the shoulders of several young tyros in Crokes as county champions, and it appeared to weigh heavy on him that year as he was dropped for the All-Ireland semi-final and final replay.
“It’s a tradition in Kerry and sometimes you can have a natural selection like Gooch who was well established and was a very obvious choice,” says White’s club-mate Brian Looney. “Gavin, like Fionn (Fitzgerald), picked it up at a very young age due to the fact they were the ones from Crokes involved in the Kerry set-up at the time.
“You’d like to think that there isn’t that expectation on them, that they won’t be seen as the old-style captain with added responsibility. But no doubt when you’re there and you’re made captain at 21 it’s bound to have an impact and weigh on you.”
White first came to Looney’s attention when he was involved in managing the club U16s. Lightning quick, the raw material was there and it wasn’t long before Looney, no slouch himself, was avoiding sprints with White in the senior set-up. “I would never go near him. He was barely 18, out of minor and was up there with the fastest and a powerful runner as well.”
It was in Crokes’ All-Ireland winning run in 2017 that then 19-year-old White came of age. “He was becoming a target for teams too,” Looney recalls. “In the open spaces of Croke Park in the final, he stood out and could have stuck a goal day after making an unbelievable run from his own half.”
Starting against Kildare in Newbridge on league opening day in January, White looked Kerry’s most dangerous player before he was upended by Ben McCormack on his way to goal. Sustaining a hamstring injury in the process, he was sidelined until appearing off the bench in the final league game against Tyrone, scoring a point. He did the same in the final but bettered his scoring contribution with a goal.
In last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, he was clearly identified by Tyrone as a player who had to be stopped at source, although White grew into the game and was one of Kerry’s best performers in extra-time.
“He’s not identified as a player teams need to take out, but he’s definitely seen as one of the three or four key players that opposition teams are singling out and if they have to cross the line to do that then so be it,” Looney remarks.
“Gavin was always strong but it’s in recent years that he looks to have the conditioning to take the hits at inter-county level. He shipped a lot of knocks for us over the years. Being targeted is part and parcel of the game and I think Gavin has adapted to it and is cuter about avoiding taking too much punishment."
Punching holes in the lines as he does, Looney sees him as being integral to Kerry’s plot for the Sam Maguire Cup this summer.
“In Newbridge, he started strong on and was going along nicely. When he went off, it took away that threat he provided from deep. He has a huge amount to add to the team this year. They did well in the league without him but he launches great platforms for attacks. There is nobody fitter or faster than Gavin White to do it.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
