East Kerry Championship: Final
Killarney Legion v Dr Crokes
Sunday at 2.15pm
Fitzgerald Stadium

If a drawn match is like kissing your sister (not my words, a popular Americanism) then what does that make a postponed one?

As early as last Friday night, rumours swirled around Killarney that the O’Donoghue Cup final could fall victim to the oncoming Storm Atiyah and as the winds swirled through town the morning of the game, the East Kerry Board decided to postpone the fixture in the interest of public safety.

My understanding is that the players were not best pleased with the call but a red weather warning is a red weather warning; it’s hard to fault the board on this occasion.

I’m not going to lie, it’s challenging enough to preview the same game two weeks in a row. (I was tempted to just print the same article again.) But I’ll give it my best shot.

One interesting angle is how the postponement might affect each team’s respective line-ups. For Legion, key player James O’Donoghue was reportedly a doubt for last weekend’s fixture as he picked up an injury in his side’s semi-final victory over Gneeveguilla. Whether or not the Kerry star would have been fully fit is unclear but Legion will be hoping that the extra week off will have given him ample time to recover.

As for Dr Crokes, Jordan Kiely, David Shaw and Fionn Fitzgerald are longer-term concerns but the extra seven days could aid the return of established half back David O’Leary.

Sunday is likely to be cold and wet but nothing on the scale of last weekend, so we’ll get it played this time with the help of God. I honestly don’t think I can handle previewing this match three weeks in a row.

LEGION TEAM (POSSIBLE): Brian Kelly; Darragh O’Doherty, Podge O’Connor, Cian Gammell; Jonathan Lyne, Damien O’Sullivan, Rob Leen; Shaun Keane, Jack O’Neill; Billy McGuire, Jamie O’Sullivan, Denis Sheahan; James O’Donoghue, Pádraig Lucey, Conor Keane.

DR CROKES TEAM (POSSIBLE): Shane Murphy; John Payne, Mike Moloney, David Naughton; David O’Leary, Gavin White, Brian Looney; Johnny Buckley, Daithí Casey; Micheál Burns, Gavin O’Shea, Michael Potts; Tony Brosnan, Mark O’Shea, Kieran O’Leary.

Pic: Séamus Healy.