'Proud' Kerry eyeing immediate return to Joe McDonagh

Kerry face Derry in the Christy Ring Cup final on Saturday with promotion back to the Joe McDonagh Cup on the line

Jamesie O'Connor: "Where I'm from in north Kerry, we're proud of our hurling in north Kerry and we'd like to be up in the second tier of hurling, at least." Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

It's only last year that Kerry beat Kildare in the opening round of the Joe McDonagh Cup.

After coming so close, so often, perhaps it would finally be their year to get out of hurling's second tier. And they did, although not exactly as they'd planned.

Current captain James O'Connor wasn't involved in 2025 - we'll get to that one later - and looked on through his fingers as a disastrous campaign unfolded after the win over Kildare in Newbridge.

Kerry lost their next four games and were relegated. Kildare, meanwhile, won their next four matches, reached the final, and turned on the style against Laois at Croke Park to take the title.

That must be a tough one to get your head around? "It was disappointing, for sure," shrugged O'Connor. "Especially where I'm from in north Kerry, we're proud of our hurling in north Kerry and we'd like to be up in the second tier of hurling, at least."

Kerry were favourites from the word go this season to get back to tier two and will do so if they beat Derry in Saturday's Christy Ring Cup final. But you don't even consider mentioning that word, favourites. The 35-year-old has been around the block and come up short in far too many Joe McDonagh and League finals with Kerry teams to start thinking anything is a given.

And it'll only have been a fortnight since they lost to Derry too. The background to that one was that Kerry had already secured their final place and Derry needed to win, which they duly did, by 2-15 to 0-19 at Celtic Park, but it was still a near full strength Kerry team.

"They got a run on us," acknowledged O'Connor, a nod to how Derry came from eight points down at one stage in the third quarter to win by two. "When they're on top, they can really punish you."

Kerry proved earlier in the year just how devastating they can be too. When the sides met in Round 1 of the League, Kerry put 5-23 on the board, to Derry's 0-12. They were eventually promoted to Division 1B and maintained their strong form in the first four games of the Ring Cup, returning 3-17, 5-18, 4-22 and 8-25 tallies.

Podge Boyle has been on fire up top again this season, though an injury picked up late in the final round-robin game in Derry was concerning.

"He got a cut on his shin, he should be okay," assured O'Connor. "He's a massive player for us, has been a great player for a lot of years."

O'Connor put in his time with Kerry too before taking a three-year break. A busy dairy farmer, he's only just back this season having received a call from Kerry manager John Griffin after the 2025 season.

"I wasn't sure, I was kind of on the fence about it, to be honest," said the Abbeydorney defender when asked if he was always planning to come back at some stage. "John rang me at the end of the club season. He said they were going to put a massive push on to go straight back up to the Joe McDonagh.

"He had coaches like Shane Brick and strength and conditioning boys like Damien Ryall, really good guys. He also said there were other boys coming back from long-term injuries and guys just coming back generally, fellas who had taken a year or two off as well. So there were five or six of us coming back into the fold. It was a hard thing to say no to."

Griffin wasn't joking about the scale of change for 2026. Remarkably, the side that played Derry last Saturday week showed a dozen changes from the team that lined out against Kildare last year.

Defensively they've been solid though it's up front where Kerry really possess the potential to dazzle. They scored 20 goals in their first four games of the Ring campaign, Boyle with hat-tricks against Donegal and Roscommon. Michael Slattery has five goals so far, and netted in three of the games. Mind you, Kerry didn't score a goal against Derry.

"Our inside forward line is very dangerous and the half forwards are making good runs through and getting on overlaps and making those openings," said O'Connor. "Our forwards are definitely going well but we've had a lot of injuries as well. Thankfully the panel is fairly strong so we've been able to cope with them."