Tomás Ó Sé 'wouldn't be too hopeful' injured Kerry stars will return for U20 All-Ireland semi-final

DOUBT: There is only a very minuscule chance that Kerry U-20 captain Cormac Dillon will start their All-Ireland semi-final clash with Tyrone next Sunday. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane.

There is only a very minuscule chance that Kerry U-20 captain Cormac Dillon will start their All-Ireland semi-final clash with Tyrone next Sunday.

Manager Tomás Ó Sé told local media this week that he is not too hopeful of having any of his injured stars back in time for is side’s arm wrestle with Tyrone.

“We still have a list of lads, Cormac Dillon, Fionn Murphy, Isaac Brosnan, and there are a couple of more lads still carrying knocks, including Jamie Moynihan and David Mulvihill. Will they be back for the next day? There are three of them, off the top of my head, back on the pitch playing," he explained.

“Will it be too soon? We don’t know. We’re getting them back bit by bit, but it’s just unfortunate with the nature of the championship that the games come so hot and heavy. When you get players back, its one thing getting them back, but you can’t dump them straight into a match.

“They have to get a bit of training into the body, to make sure that the injury will be ok going forward. That’s the story at the moment. The answer is that I don’t know will we have any of them back, but I wouldn’t be too hopeful.”

When the possibility of a midweek All-Ireland semi-final was broached, Ó Sé didn’t not hold back regardless of how the Kingdom fares on Sunday. He just does not agree with the fixtures plan nor the possibility of a midweek All-Ireland final.

“Without getting into it, I think it’s completely disrespectful, the whole thing. An All-Ireland semi-final midweek, when people are working, and lads are doing college, people are missing out on the fact that had Donegal beaten Tyrone, and it was fixed for next weekend.

“Donegal were playing an Ulster senior final, and Roarty and a couple of other lads are involved in the senior panel, so it would have been a midweek game had we been facing Donegal. That is completely wrong.

“It should be a stand-alone competition, and it should have precedence. You could be arguing about it all day long. It comes back to the championship being so condensed that the GAA have obviously given precedence to the senior championship, and have squashed the under-20.

“It’s not good enough. If there’s a fixture made at the start of the year, and it’s played on a weekend, and then play it on a weekend. If they can’t find a weekend there, push it out to a weekend where they can find.

“Pushing an All-Ireland semi-final, at any level, to midweek, especially when there are lads in college, I don’t even have to explain the madness of it."

The other All-Ireland U20 semi-final between Louth and Mayo has been fixed for Pearse Park in Longford on Friday night May 16th at 7pm.