'Bang, bang, competition over': Tomás Ó Sé wants more spread out U20 football championship

Ó Sé knows the bigger picture is to develop players for Kerry senior involvement in the years ahead but winning is still a priority.

Tomás Ó Sé is in his third season as Kerry U20 football manager. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Kerry manager Tomás Ó Sé believes a more spaced out U20 football championship would be fairer on young players.

Kerry and Cork begin their Munster U20 round-robin campaign next Tuesday evening away to Tipperary and Clare respectively, and was either county to travel all the way to the All-Ireland final on the weekend of May 17/18, their six-game championship campaign would still only have run for just under seven weeks.

That’s too condensed a campaign and championship, according to Ó Sé, now in his third season as Kingdom U20 manager.

“I think it would be fairer on everybody,” he said of pushing out the finishing date of the U20 football championship.

“You’d be talking about playing in a Munster final or a Connacht final and fourteen days later, potentially, in an All-Ireland final. It's so fast. Bang, bang, competition over.

“I try to make an effort of not being negative, but there are so many things that are hard. We had fellas last year playing in an All-Ireland semi-final and sitting three-hour exams that morning. It’s all squashed in. I never knew that colleges do exams on a Saturday, but they do.

“Dalata Hotel Group have come on board this year as sponsors and I’d imagine that they want value as well, and they want the best competition that they can promote.” 

The five-time All-Ireland winning defender is at a loss as to why such a strong product is being shoe-horned into the GAA calendar and not being given proper room to breathe.

“It’s a great competition. The football is brilliant to watch. I know the new rules have made football easier to watch at senior level, but the football that that Tyrone U20 team played last year, not only against us in the final, throughout the championship was brilliant.

“The Derry-Tyrone Ulster final last year, look up on YouTube. I watched it four or five times. It was outstanding stuff. They’re not as organised at U20, so the level of defensive football isn’t the same at U20 level, even with the older rules.” 

Beaten All-Ireland semi-finalists in 2023 and beaten finalists last May, Kerry’s target is to go one step higher in mid-May and end 17 years without an All-Ireland at this age-grade.

Ó Sé knows the bigger picture is to develop players for senior involvement in the years ahead, with Keith Evans and Armin Heinrich having already stepped up from his 2023 group, but he’s not going to deny that silverware is his priority.

“My time playing, there wasn’t too much success at minor or U21 level. Between 1995-2000 there was, but throughout the full noughties, there were unsuccessful teams, but there were still players coming through.

“You can argue that, but then I’d argue from a management point of view that we want to have success with our lads, we want to do well with our lads.

“I get the point and, of course, we’re serving a bigger call in that we're providing and hopefully coaching players down the line that will step up to senior level, and it’s a huge step up, a massive step up from U20. There’s not too many players, no matter how good they are, that’ll step directly up. Davids [Clifford] and Seánies [O’Shea] are exceptions. It’s a challenge, it’s a challenge for every county.

“Sure Cork are the most successful team at U21 level, but does that translate to senior? It doesn't. I wouldn’t lose too much sleep trying to make sense out of how it relays itself up.” And for now, Ó Sé doesn’t want to dwell either on talk of All-Irelands.

“We want to do well with every team that we have, but we’re not going to be arrogant enough to think that we have a divine right to expect anything. You get what you earn.”