Tony Leen: Kerry's spring priority was never League, it's about building serious depth

Jack O'Connor and his players are building a bank of options from back to front for their All-Ireland defence. If a League final comes along, they'll go after that too, but of greater import is the work going on behind the scenes at their centre of excellence in Currans

SMILES BETTER: In-form defender Tadhg Morley before Kerry's Rd 4 win over Dublin in Croke Park. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

NEITHER qualifies as Fatima’s third secret, but separately on Sunday, Jack O’Connor and his centre back Tadhg Morley addressed a 2026 Kerry priority – building robust squad depth.

The Templenoe defender has hit a rich seam of form, notwithstanding his contention after a facile 14-point win over Monaghan that ‘it’s only March’. But in addressing the number of frontliners still to return to the Kingdom’s set-up and the rude health of the squad in general, Morley went back to the lessons learned not from their 39th, but 38th All-Ireland success in 2022.

“We won the All-Ireland that year with a very settled team, we had very few injuries, and we ended up playing pretty much the same team in 2023. We came up short then, we didn’t change that much. Whereas with injuries, you’ve no choice but to use more players and that definitely deepens options,” he explained.

On the basis that standing still actually means going backwards, Morley addressed another key tenet – coaching.

“The squad depth we have is a testament to the coaching over the last two years. The coaching ticket that Jack has put together has done so much serious work with the players. I mean the ones who came back a little bit earlier this year, the lads who might not have been involved on All-Ireland final day. They would have got serious coaching into them before Christmas and into January and the start of the league, the likes of Armin (Heinrich), Eddie (Healy), even Shane Murphy in goals. Cian (O’Neill), James (Costello), all the coaches. Kieran (Donaghy) has also been very positive, and excellent one-to-one. You’ve seen a lot of patterns from what Donaghy is on about in out play. There is serious work going on in the background.” 

In holding onto a jersey, it was not lost on Morley (32) that Kerry’s entire All-Ireland winning half back line was training in Currans on Sunday morning – Brian O’Beaglaoich, Mike Breen and Gavin White. So for himself and others, such as debutant against Monaghan, Eddie Healy, it’s a strong incentive to perform.

“The competition is savage,” Morley said. “I’m under no illusions. Jack is always on about putting pressure on the lads that are not there at the moment. Eddie Healy came in, he’s been brilliant for the 20s over the last couple of the years.” 

Morley’s form is relevant for another less-mentioned reason – filling in at full back. As deep as Kerry’s options seems at the moment, the loss of full back Jason Foley would make for a present and immediate problem. Dylan Casey could swap over from corner back for sure, but Morley might be the preferred option.

“Jason is an unbelievable full back,” Morley agreed. “He came out with some ball there against Jack McCarron who is a really good full forward. We have great faith in Jason, a savage operator.” 

In the inter-county ecosystem, the spring month of three successive League games and training on gluepot pitches is notoriously fraught. Tony Brosnan succumbed with a muscle injury last week, and Morley understands his pain.

“I’ve put a lot of work in over the winter, I was disappointed last year the way the body broke down a small bit at different times. So just to get through these three games, that’s a big block of work with training as well in between, fellas can pick up a lot of nicks and niggles.” 

His manager is similarly aware: “Pitches are very heavy, and it’s taking a toll,” Jack O’Connor explained. “Coming up to the fifth (League) game, this was always going to be the dangerous week. It’s a pity on Tony (Brosnan), because he was going very well, good vein of form. He will be fine in a few weeks, and he has the memory of scoring a goal into the Hill last week to sustain him.” 

Explained the Kerry gaffer: “That was a key aim for us this year, to deepen the panel. So that come championship time, you’d have a very competitive group. It all depends on who you have. Tomás Kennedy picked up a quad injury in the Donegal game, he was training with the lads on Sunday morning. Dara Moynihan is getting back doing a small bit of rehab. But already, Armin Heinrich has had a great league, Keith Evans looked lively again against Monaghan. And Gavin, Brian, Paul Geaney, Sean O’Brien, Mike Breen, Shane Ryan, Diarmuid O’Connor are working away, we might have a couple more back for Mayo.”

You can throw Dingle veterans Paul Geaney and Barry 'Dan' O'Sullivan into that too. It all augurs well for Kerry’s summer push. And all the while they are extended their playbook, even down to what they now call ‘weather football’.

“You get that in the League,” Morley explained. “We picked up some stuff from the Dublin game last year in Tralee and the Galway game there a few weeks ago on how to handle the winter conditions better. It’s a big factor with the new rules, the two-point arc, kickouts and all that. On Sunday, the first half was probably not the greatest spectacle, but we were happy to keep it tight, and pleased with how we restricted Monaghan to four points in the first half when they had the breeze.

“It sounds cliched of course, but we come out of every game looking for learnings and build on that for the next game. We are not thinking ‘yeah we are purring and planning for this and that’, we just move onto the next game. We have two massive games to come (home to Mayo and away to Armagh) and hopefully a few lads training Sunday morning in Currans will come into contention for that. By the end of the league, we want to have everyone champing at the bit.” 

Evidence of same is that without evening taking stock-taking possible returns for established players like Barry Dan O'Sullivan, Dara Moynihan or Tom Leo O'Sullivan, there are players already with National League minutes this year under their belts who might not feature in an inter-squad game in Currans with everyone fit – the likes of Donagh O’Sullivan, Charlie Keating, Darragh Lyne, Ruairi Murphy, Cathal Brosnan, David Roche and Thomas O’Donnell.

If Kerry played Kerry

Team 1: S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; B O’Beaglaoich, M Breen, G White; M O’Shea, D O’Connor; J O’Connor, S O’Shea, G O’Sullivan; D Clifford, P Clifford, T Brosnan.

Team 2: S Murphy; E Looney, T Morley, D Casey; E Healy, A Heinrich, S O’Brien; L Smith, C Trant; K Evans, D Geaney, M Burns; P Geaney, T Kennedy, K Spillane.