Ó Sé: Loss of 'vital' Foley not Kerry's only concern

'PUTS OUT FIRES': Jason Foley of Kerry. Pic: Morgan Treacy, Inpho

KERRY great Tomás Ó Sé says the ankle injury suffered by full-back Jason Foley isn’t the Kingdom’s only concern heading into the Championship.

Foley is expected to miss Sunday’s final round Division 1 game against Galway, and the final if they make it that far. After that, who knows?

The odds on Kerry regaining the Sam Maguire Cup will lengthen if Foley is ruled out for a longer period with Ó Sé describing him as “vital to them”.

Five-time All-Ireland winning defender Ó Sé said Foley is a player who “puts out fires at the back” and is “key” to their Sam Maguire Cup hopes.

But the current Kerry U20 manager said a question mark remains over their midfield too with Jack O’Connor still trying to find high-functioning replacements for David Moran and Jack Barry, their All-Ireland-winning axis in 2022. Speaking at the launch of the EirGrid All-Ireland U20 football championship, Ó Sé noted that Joe O’Connor has started all six of Kerry’s league games so far this term.

“I think Joe had a good game the last day, against Roscommon,” Ó Sé said.

Kerry’s Joe O'Connor celebrates his goal against Roscommon. Pic: Evan Logan, Inpho

“I think you are talking Joe O’Connor, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Diarmuid O’Connor. No matter what way you look at it, David Moran is a huge loss and it’s not comparing like with like but you still need to be strong in the middle of the park.

“What I find is, Kerry will get away with it against nearly every team in the country and it will only come to light whenever they are up against the top two or three teams in the later stages of the Championship.

“I think if they do progress through the Championship, it will be an area where other teams will look at.

“But I see positives in what Joe O’Connor is doing, he’s had a very positive league and he’s a big physical man who gets up and down the pitch really quickly.

“But look, since David Moran left us it’s always been a talking point.”

Cillian Burke was highlighted as a midfield contender following a strong club campaign.

He played at midfield for Ó Sé in last year’s U20 Championship and started Kerry’s first four Division 1 games this season, though he did so up front.

“He was good at midfield (at U20 level) but you could tell he was more used to playing as a forward, he wasn’t an actual midfielder, he wasn’t brought up as a midfielder throughout his underage career,” Ó Sé said.

On the Foley situation, and whether he gets good news regarding his injured ankle this week, Ó Sé shrugged.

“I don’t think you can go through a pre-season, a National League, a provincial championship and an All-Ireland series, put all that into six months, and not expect fellas to be breaking down,” Ó Sé said..

“I think Kerry are strong enough to shoulder that anyway. Jason Foley is an outstanding player but Kerry, if they have any ambitions of winning All-Irelands, they have to have enough defenders in there to provide cover until they get him back.

“And look, they are not talking that he is going to be out for the full season or anything like that.

“You can bet your bottom dollar that Jack O’Connor already has a plan for how he is going to deal with it until he gets Jason back.

“His main concern will be that what Jason Foley used to do best was negate top players and who is going to be your man to do that now?” he said.

“Is it going to be Tom O’Sullivan or is it going to be somebody else, have they someone else in mind? Graham O’Sullivan? I don’t know, but it is what they will have to figure out.”

Ó Sé described Dublin’s recent league wins over both Kerry and Derry, the Dubs’ closest rivals in his opinion, as significant.

“I just think that in the space of a week, and fellas can say, ‘Derry were shy of players, it’s the league’ and I do buy all of that, but don’t tell me Kerry went up to Croke Park to let what happened to them happen, or Derry in
Celtic Park either,” Ó Sé noted.

“Dublin are going well at the moment and they flexed their muscle in a week and blew the two teams that probably are closest to them out of the water.

“That’s not to say it’s going to happen again during the summer, but at the same time they probably got inside their heads a little bit for sure.”

On the scheduling of the U20 Championship, Ó Sé said it’s “silly” and argued that it should be run alongside the senior Championship, when younger players have completed exams and are clear of other college and third-level competitions.