Savage coming home for Kerry title defence

The half-forward relocated to the Middle East at the beginning of September.

Tue, 29 Nov, 2022 - 07:05

Eoghan Cormican

Jack Savage is to return home from Dubai for good at Christmas and will be available to the Kerry footballers in 2023.

The half-forward relocated to the Middle East at the beginning of September, and while he has since flown home for Kerins O’Rahilly’s county championship group game against Dingle, the club championship final against Templenoe, and last Sunday’s Munster semi-final, the expectation was this back-and-forth between Dubai and Strand Road would become far less frequent once the club campaign concluded and that he would watch the 2023 inter-county season from afar.

But Savage has confirmed his intention to return home for good at Christmas and “hopefully” fall back in with Kerry for their defence of Sam Maguire in 2023.

“I'll probably be back full-time at Christmas. That was the plan - to go away until around Christmas and then hopefully join up with Kerry again in the new year,” Savage revealed after supplying four points in 14-man Kerins O’Rahillys’ Munster club semi-final win over Éire Óg Ennis.

“I talked to Jack [O’Connor] in September about going out to Dubai. My girlfriend was out there so I wanted to go travelling for a few months. I'm still tipping away and doing my bit in the gym over there.”

Kerry boss O’Connor recalled Savage to the Kerry panel at the end of last year. His half-time introduction during Kerry’s Division 1 League opener against Kildare in January was his first competitive appearance for the county in four and a half years.

He saw action in all seven rounds of the League, as well as the final victory over Mayo. His only appearance in the championship came as a four-minute blood substitute for Paudie Clifford in the first half of the county’s All-Ireland final victory over Galway.

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