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‘Something had to give’ – Kerry players withdraw from district championships over burnout concerns

Published

5 months ago

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The Kerry senior football team before the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park. Photo: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile.

by Adam Moynihan

Kerry senior footballers will not be lining out for their clubs in the upcoming district championships due to concerns over physical and mental burnout.

The players' decision has caused some consternation locally as club managers are set to be without their stars for this year’s Mid, East, West, North and South Kerry Championships, as well as the Tralee/St Brendan's Board Championship.

Speaking to the Killarney Advertiser, Beaufort boss Éanna O’Malley said he is “extremely disappointed” that Mike Breen and Seán O’Brien will not be playing for his side in their final competition of the season.

“The bigger picture from our point of view is that if we don’t have the players now, we’re probably not going to have them again for the Mid Kerry Championship as long as they’re Kerry players, which would mean we’re probably not going to win a Mid Kerry Championship again.

“Mike and Seán have loyalties to two groups and you want the best for them. I just think there’s plenty of scope for a bit of sense to prevail. If you look at the data, these guys aren’t overworked and they aren’t overtrained.”

In an email sent to the Kerry County Board that has been seen by the Killarney Advertiser, Beaufort argue that the “one size fits all approach which will see all members of the Kerry panel being precluded from playing for their clubs in the district championships is arbitrary and is not based on each player’s playing time throughout the season”.

They go on to point out that Mike Breen has played nine club and county matches this year while Seán O’Brien has played 15.

“We put in a huge effort and a huge amount of time into it, and it just feels like the rug has been pulled from underneath us and all our effort was in vain. It’s a competition we were really looking forward to.”

Beaufort play Milltown/Castlemaine in the opening fixture on Sunday. Milltown/Castlemaine’s only current Kerry player, Cillian Burke, has missed all of the club season so far due to injury. None of the other four teams in Mid Kerry are affected by the situation.

O’Malley also suggested that if the best players are not participating in the games then the long-term futures of the local championships are now in doubt.

Kerry GAA chairman Patrick O’Sullivan has confirmed that the decision to sit out the district championships was made by the senior squad themselves. “We’re not stopping the players from playing at all,” he told the Killarney Advertiser. “It’s not a County Board policy. It’s a decision made by the players based on burnout.”

Player burnout has been a hot button topic in recent times with both current Kerry manager Jack O’Connor and his predecessor Peter Keane stating that too much is being asked of the modern intercounty footballer.

The new split season has been greeted warmly at club level but it appears to have done little to ease the burden on county men who can still be on duty for the majority of the year, particularly in Kerry where two separate county championships and the keenly-contested district championships have often kept players busy right up until Christmas.

It is this writer’s understanding that players felt something had to give and it is hoped that a rest period and having their full panel starting pre-season on time will give them the best possible chance of winning an All-Ireland in 2025.

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Email: sport@killarneyadvertiser.ie

Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamMoynihan

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Numbers Game: How Kerry can reach league final – or get relegated for first time in 24 years

Published

3 days ago

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22 March 2025

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by Adam Moynihan

Men’s NFL Division 1

Galway v Kerry

Sunday 3.45pm

Salthill

Live on TG4 YouTube

Kerry travel to Galway on Sunday knowing that defeat could well consign them to relegation for the first time since 2001. Win and they could be Croker-bound. It’s that tight heading into the final day of Division 1 of the National Football League. Anything could happen.

Let’s get the lay of the land before we wade into the murky waters of permutations. We currently have a three-way tie at the top of the table with Galway, Dublin and Donegal all level on eight points. Next up are Mayo on seven, followed by Kerry on six, Armagh and Tyrone on five, and already-relegated Derry on one.

PWDLPDPts
1Galway6321178
2Dublin640288
3Donegal640248
4Mayo6312-37
5Kerry6303116
6Tyrone621305
7Armagh6213-85
8Derry6015-291

In the seventh and final round of the league, Galway play Kerry, Mayo are at home to Donegal, Armagh host Derry, and Tyrone welcome Dublin to Healy Park, Omagh. All four matches are being played simultaneously at 3.45pm on Sunday.

So, who will be joining the Oak Leafers in Division 2 in 2026?

If Kerry lose they will remain on six points, which means that if Armagh and Tyrone both win, they will move onto seven points, relegating the Kingdom. However, if Kerry lose they will stay up if one or both of Armagh or Tyrone lose.

If Kerry lose and either Armagh or Tyrone draw and the other win, Kerry are safe on the head-to-head rule. If Kerry lose and both Armagh and Tyrone draw, there will be a three-way tie on six points. In this event, points difference will come into play, and Kerry will survive if they lose to Galway by less than 20.

If Kerry draw with Galway, they will almost certainly be safe. Such a result would move them up to seven points, and even if Armagh and Tyrone both win, Kerry’s superior points difference would, barring an incredible set of results, see them over the line. Kerry are currently on +11 with Armagh on -8 and Tyrone breaking even on zero. So Armagh would need to beat Derry by 20 points and Tyrone would need to beat Dublin by 12 for them both to overtake Kerry.

Now, let’s fix our gaze upwards rather than down. A place in the league final is also on the cards – if all those cards fall kindly.

If Kerry win, they will wind up on eight points, guaranteeing their status as a Division 1 team for the 24th year in a row. If they win by three points (or more), that’s where things get interesting. Such a margin of victory would see them overtake their direct opponents, Galway, on ‘points for’ (if they win by three) or ‘overall points difference’ (if they win by more than three).

It would also guarantee that they would slip in between Mayo and Donegal, with the winner of that game moving into first, and the loser missing out on the league final. (A draw would be enough for Donegal, but not enough for Mayo.)

Kerry’s fate (again, if they win) would then depend on the result in the Tyrone v Dublin game. If Dublin win, they will advance to the league final. If Dublin draw, they will advance to the league final. But if Dublin lose, they will be passed out by Kerry, and Jack O’Connor’s men will sneak into the Croke Park decider via the side entrance.

That would be a remarkable turn of events considering the team’s spotty form up to this point, but the main priority will simply be to win and ensure survival. Anything on top of that would be a hard-earned bonus.

Tyrone v Dublin will be shown on TG4 with all other Division 1 and Division 2 games available live on the TG4 YouTube channel.

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Spa GAA Club unveil hi-tech solar panels

Published

3 days ago

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22 March 2025

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This week has seen Spa GAA swap their traditional blue and gold colours to go green, all for the sake of climate change and the environment.

In partnership with solar energy specialist REC Ireland they have just installed a 28.5 kW Solar PV system at their club grounds in Tullig.

The system, comprising 60 PV panels and supported by 10 kW battery storage, is mounted on the south-facing roof of their multi-purpose sports hall. It represents a state-of-the-art installation and it comes on foot of the club being one of the first GAA club recipients of Kerry County Council’s Climate Action Grant Scheme, launched in 2024.

“This is a hugely positive initiative in terms of reducing our on-site carbon footprint, promoting renewable energy and reducing our dependency on oil and gas,” club chairman Tadhg Hickey said.

In a further sign of Spa’s commitment to the green agenda, the club have recently been shortlisted as the only GAA club in Kerry in the Shared Island Sports Club Electrical Vehicle charging scheme, under which funding is provided to install a network of publicly accessible chargers for communities through local sports clubs.

Along with ramping up public EV charging facilities in local communities, the scheme offers significant potential for clubs to generate income, and is another example of the positive contribution of sports clubs in their locality.

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