John Meyler: I would always have Kerry in the Munster Championship

Former Kingdom manager John Meyler believes a place in Munster hurling is the only way to maintain progress in the county

Kerry's Niall Mulcahy and Keelan Molloy of Antrim during last weekend's Joe McDonagh Cup Final Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Few teams can get on the bus under the Hogan Stand having scored 4-24 in a national final. Kerry managed that last weekend in the Joe McDonagh Cup final, a fair tally even if Antrim managed 5-22 to win the game.

Is that a platform for progress? John Meyler’s managerial career has included stints in the Kingdom, at both club and county level - he was in charge when Kerry beat Waterford, famously, in the 1992 Munster hurling championship, and is currently manager of Kilmoyley.

Who better to evaluate the situation as both outsider and an insider?

“I would say it’s all on the basis of numbers. You have the eight senior clubs in north Kerry, and they’re all separated by a ditch.

“Moving out from Tralee you have Ardfert, then Kilmoyley, Ballyheigue, Crotta, Abbeydorney, Ballyduff and Lixnaw. There’s only a ditch between them - in real terms you’re starting with the senior hurling clubs from Ardfert out to Ballyduff, about 15 miles. That’s it.

“Elsewhere you’re talking about Tralee Parnells, but they’re still just junior. Even though they’ve done 15 years’ work, great work, you’re still talking about massive football clubs inside in Tralee - Austin Stacks, Kerins O’Rahilly’s, Na Gaeil, John Mitchels. So the fear is that when those kids who are hurling away now, when they get to 14 or 15 they’ll be told to go away playing minor football with their clubs.

“Then you have Kilgarvan and Kenmare, and Dr Crokes in Killarney, and that’s it.

“When it comes to the numbers game, that’s what Kerry have. So in comparison with Cork, Cork have seven divisions more hurling than Kerry, but you could also say that with what they have Kerry are achieving more on a percentage basis than some other counties.

“There are also a lot of fellas in Kerry who are capable of hurling for the county and who aren’t playing. There’s a senior hurling league final this week (Friday night), Crotta against Abbeydorney - that’s going ahead, but some of those fellas could be playing for Kerry against Wexford this weekend.” 

The small number of clubs providing intercounty players has an impact on fixtures: “We - Kilmoyley - have played our county league fixtures without our county players.

“At one stage we had four on the senior panel and three on the U21 panel and we just had to play without them. You’re beaten by ten or 12 points in those league games, and you’re giving out, but that’s the reality of it.

“In Cork a senior club team might have one or two on the county team so they’ll field more or less a full team for a league game; with Kilmoyley at times we were missing eight or nine players for a league fixture, and with Kerry generally, with so few senior hurling teams, that’s something that’ll happen. That’s the point about the numbers game.” 

What is the pathway to the next level, then? Entry to the big show - the Munster Championship itself?

“In terms of the Munster Championship I think it would balance the whole thing up to have six teams instead of five, and I would always be in favour of having Kerry in the Munster Championship,” says Meyler.

“We won the Christy Ring in 2011 and I wanted to go into the Munster Championship for 2012 but everyone said no. I think it’s a good measure of where you’re going - if you’re constantly beaten you can evaluate it and look at it, but you’ll never improve if you’re just playing at your own level.

“Look at the Munster Football Championship. Kerry beat Limerick by 20-odd points in the final this year, but nobody is saying Limerick shouldn’t compete in the provincial championship. I think Kerry should be in the Munster Championship but that they should be left there for two or three years to be allowed to develop.

“If they don’t develop, fair enough, then you can say it’s not working.” 

That’s the key. The odd stand-out game such as the McDonagh Cup final is great entertainment but once-off performances aren’t the way forward, says Meyler.

“If you look at the Munster Championship the standard has gone up since the round-robin has come in.

“The last round of round-robin games weren’t great this year, admittedly, but the championship ended up producing one of the great Munster hurling finals last weekend. If Kerry were put into that championship - and if the resources they need to compete were provided - then I think that would raise standards.

“It’d be sink or swim to some extent, but it would also be a huge learning process for Kerry. You play a match one week against top opposition and then the following week you’re out again, so you say straight away, ‘what did we learn this week that we can bring into next week’s game?’ 

“I think players would respond to that challenge, and young players in particular - and there’s a lot of young players coming on stream in Kerry, young talent, but they won’t improve the way they should if you don’t push them to a higher level.

“(Kerry manager) Stephen Molumphy is the right man to have in place for that, he’s been involved coaching with Wexford and he has a good playing record himself from Waterford, so I think a lot of the ingredients are in place - but the team has to gain experience outside its own comfort zone.

“Players like Podge Boyle, Mikey Boyle, Fionan Mackessy, Eric Leen, Daniel Collins - they’re well able, they’d be on most county teams, but it’s difficult for them to progress. It’s not just Kerry either - teams like Antrim, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, there are a few of them at the same level which need to push on. And like Kerry, a stretch of two or three years in the provincial championship to see if they can progress should be part of that.

“Progress is the key. I know we beat Waterford that time, but it’s 30 years ago and it was a once-off. Sustained progress is harder to achieve.”