Structure is great...once we went direct to the quarter-final, admits White

QUARTER=FINAL BOUND: Gavin White of Kerry poses for a portrait with the Sam Maguire Cup at the 2023 GAA Football All-Ireland Series national launch in Howth, Dublin. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Ten years ago, having won their final Division 1 game against Tyrone in Omagh, relegation-threatened Kerry quickly returned to their dressing room to await word of their fate.

Upon learning that Paul Mannion’s equaliser for Dublin in Ballybofey had condemned Donegal and Kerry were safe, a relieved Éamonn Fitzmaurice and county chairman Patrick O’Sullivan skipped out from their bolthole wearing smiles.

Shortly after the final whistle in Sunday’s crushing win over Louth in Portlaoise, O’Sullivan was the bearer of further good news, informing the Kerry management and players of the Cork's three-point victory over Mayo that confirmed Kerry were straight through to an All-Ireland quarter-final. Once again, another of their favourite foes had done them a favour.

Sidelined with a thigh injury as a precaution and with Louth’s threat subsided, O’Sullivan’s fellow Dr Crokes clubman Gavin White was also in the O’Moore Park stand following events in the Gaelic Grounds. Jack O’Connor expected Cork to give Mayo a contest but his dashing wing-back never believed quarter-final qualification was a genuine possibility for Kerry.

“We weren’t expecting it, to tell you the truth. We just kind of presumed we’d be looking forward to a prelim quarter-final and that wasn’t taking Louth for granted or anything like that. We just thought that was the way it was going to go. But look it, we’ll take it. It’s certainly a surprise but the week off is definitely a big help.” 

Especially with his thigh setback, which was deemed more serious than the knee complaint that threatened his participation in last year’s All-Ireland final before he was passed fit to start. Even though Kerry’s championship existence was on the line against Louth, he was told by the physiotherapists to take it off.

“I suppose at the same time I didn’t want to play in a game when I couldn’t help the team. If I felt I had something to offer, I would have certainly offered myself up like in the final last year.

Gavin White of Kerry. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“I just felt I would have been a bit more of a hindrance to the team and that’s the last thing I want to do. We weren’t taken for granted, we knew with the permutations it could happen (that Kerry could go out of the SFC) but I felt myself and the physios felt it wasn’t the right call.” 

The 2022 All-Star is honest enough to admit his thoughts on the new championship format have been coloured by avoiding the preliminary quarter-finals. 

“If results didn’t go our way at the weekend, I would probably say I wasn’t a fan of it. Obviously, the answer now is it’s a very good structure.

“I suppose down through the years players have been saying the more games, the better especially in Kerry when if you won a Munster championship you’d probably had a break of six, seven, eight weeks I would say. It was just too long. When you’re training, it’s probably hard to keep up the motivation levels up for a longer period of time.

“I’m certainly a big fan of it. Obviously, with that comes huge challenges. If you’re playing three games in three weeks, it’s going to bring obvious challenges with injuries and being fresh and whatever.

“Time will tell but I can certainly say I’d much prefer to have the weekend off than having to play. I think every second week is the right duration between games especially the way the game has gone it’s so physical and so mentally taxing now that it takes you a couple of days to come down after a game then you obviously have to build back up for another game. I think two weeks is optimal.” 

After the slip against Mayo in Killarney, 26-year-old White believes the wins over Cork and Louth indicate Kerry are on the right path. “Going into that Mayo game, we would have felt we were in a good position. The way it turned out, we obviously weren’t and that was only our own fault. The weekend gone now probably gives it a bit more confidence that we can push on further.

“In the Munster championship, we had two very good wins and thought we were in a very good position physically, tactically and everything like that. Obviously, Mayo and playing Division 1 they showed we were a small bit behind and we had to catch up and thankfully we did.”