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Adam Moynihan: JOD is still a serious weapon to have in your arsenal

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4 years ago

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James O'Donoghue during the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship Final. PICTURE: BRENDAN MORAN/SPORTSFILE
James O'Donoghue in action for Kerry in 2016. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.

When Tony Leen reached out to me back in May, just before the intercounty GAA season started, I had no idea what he wanted me for. The Irish Examiner Sports Editor had DMed me asking if I could help him with an article he was writing. When the phone rang the next day, that was as much as I knew.

I answered the call and the question he put to me caught me on the hop. “Is there a kick in your clubmate James O’Donoghue?”

For a brief moment I considered taking evasive action. Going full Peter Keane. “Yerrah, I wouldn’t know much about that kind of thing, Tony. I’ll tell you, we had a neighbour there going back years ago and he used always say…” etc. When you’re a journalist, talking about your own club and your own clubmates is never easy. Say something positive and you’re being biased. Say something negative and you’re being disloyal. Some people can accept that it’s just your job and you’re giving an honest opinion. Others only see things in terms of “agendas” (perhaps because that’s how their own minds operate).

In the end, I didn’t really have time to formulate a masterplan with Tony waiting for my answer, so I told him the truth. James is an unbelievable player. He has shown that he can still do it in the recent past. If he stays injury-free, he will do it again. I said I couldn’t see him packing it in.

I know James reasonably well going back as far as our UL days and while the general public recognise him as someone with a cheeky, devil-may-care attitude towards the game and towards life, there is a fiercely determined side to him as well. Like all great players, he is ultra-competitive and extremely driven. Without ever asking him about it explicitly, I have no doubt whatsover that he desperately wants to get back to the highest level.

Considering how plagued he has been by injuries since that glorious 2014 campaign, he probably would have quit years ago if he didn’t have that appetite to come back in and contribute to the team.

That’s why the news that he was stepping away from the panel came as such a surprise to me. The narrative going around is that he has been forced to make this decision due to those aforementioned injury concerns, but, to the best of my knowledge, he has been injury-free of late. In fact, word on the street is that he did very well in a recent training match prior to the Munster semi-final.

He didn’t make the squad for that trip to Thurles, however, and apparently he also did not feature in a subsequent A versus B game, despite being available for selection. That would appear to have left O’Donoghue as the 13th choice forward on the panel. At best. Supporters might have assumed that his absence from the matchday squad was due to injury, but Peter Keane simply wasn’t picking him. Which, to be fair, is his prerogative as manager.

In my opinion, for whatever that’s worth, you would be very hard-pressed to find two forwards in Kerry who are more talented than James O’Donoghue, let alone 12. A fit O’Donoghue is such a great weapon to have in your arsenal – it’s certainly not one I’d be inclined to leave behind going into battle.

Whether or not this “step away” amounts to an actual retirement in the longer-term remains to be seen. The general feeling in the media and amongst supporters is that he’s done with Kerry for good but personally I think he would have just retired if he wanted to retire. O’Donoghue is 31, which isn’t exactly ancient, and County Board chairman Tim Murphy has spoken of the Killarney man's desire to play some club football "to see could he get some form back and see where that would take him”. He scored 1-2 in 30 minutes for Legion at the weekend. He can still do it if given the opportunity.

O’Donoghue will have plenty of fire in the belly for the upcoming County and Club Championships, that’s for sure. Then again, he always does.

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Home cup tie for St Paul’s could be epic

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3 weeks ago

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7 November 2025

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Paudie O’Connor National Cup (Round 1)

Utility Trust St Paul’s v GCU Brunell

Saturday 7.30pm

Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre

The St Paul’s women’s team will be hoping to get their National Cup adventure off the ground on Saturday when they welcome 2024 champions Brunell to Killarney. Tip-off in the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre is at 7.30pm.

Paul’s have displayed some fine early season form, although their unbeaten start in the Super League came to an abrupt end last weekend when they lost to the Trinity Meteors in Dublin. James Fleming’s side weren’t at their best on the day but they were well in contention heading into the final quarter with the scores at 47-45 in favour of the hosts. The Meteors pushed on in the fourth, however, eventually running out 63-53 winners.

St Paul’s scorers on the night were Maisie Burnham (13), Tara Cousins (12), Lorraine Scanlon (12), Lovisa Hevinder (9), Denise Dunlea (5) and Leah McMahon (2).

The Killarney club are now joint second in the table alongside the Meteors with both teams holding a 4-1 record. Killester are top having won each of their first five games.

Paul’s opponents on Saturday, Brunell, have won three out of five league matches so far.

LAKERS

The Utility Trust St Paul’s Lakers have now won three of their last four games in Division 1 of the Men’s National League following an impressive home victory over Moycullen in Killarney.

Eoin Carroll and Jack O’Sullivan made significant contributions of the Boys in Black; Carroll hit 17 points and collected 13 rebounds while O’Sullivan had 14 points, 12 rebounds and some spectacular blocks.

Steve Kelly posted 30 points and the durable Sam Grant played every second, adding 21 points along the way.

The Lakers started well before the visitors found their footing and the sides went in level at the half-time break after scores by home captain Carroll. There was still nothing to separate the teams entering the fourth quarter (68-65) but buckets by Carroll, Pablo Murcia and Grant opened up a nine-point lead. Moycullen fought back admirably, however, cutting the deficit to just four, but Luke O’Hea’s charges held firm to prevail by eight (88-80).

Next up is a cup tie against the Tipperary Talons, a side they defeated by 30 points just a couple of weeks ago. The cup can be very different to the league, though, and they will need another solid performance to advance to the next round. Tip-off in in Killenaule is at 6.30pm on Saturday.

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Chances of Kerry v Cork Munster final in 2026 decrease as Munster GAA delay seeding plan

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4 weeks ago

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7 November 2025

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After facing a backlash from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipperary players, Munster GAA have postponed their plan to keep Cork and Kerry separate in the 2026 Munster Football Championship.

The new seeding system – which gives the two highest ranked Munster teams in the National League byes to separate semi-finals – will now come into play in 2027, twelve months later than initially planned.

This will give Clare and Limerick a chance to earn promotion to Division 2 of the league, potentially overtaking Cork if the Rebels were to get relegated to Division 3.

Despite traditionally being the two main contenders for Munster football honours, Kerry and Cork haven’t met in a provincial decider since 2021. The Kingdom have won each of the finals since then (one versus Limerick and three versus Clare) by an average margin of 15.75 points.

More high-profile Kerry v Cork finals might be desirable for fans of those teams, businesses in Killarney and Cork, and neutrals alike but Munster GAA’s plans to effectively keep the great rivals on opposite sides of the draw understandably drew criticism from the other participating counties. A statement by the GPA confirmed that players from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipp had met via Zoom to discuss the matter. They were said to be “deeply disappointed and concerned” by the decision.

The 12-month delay will at least give two of those disaffected teams an opportunity to benefit from the new seeding process.

The draw for the 2026 Munster Football Championship will take place on November 27 under the old rules. As 2025 finalists, Kerry and Clare will get byes to the last four (but they will not necessarily be kept apart).

Nine members of Kerry’s squad are up for All-Stars at tonight’s awards ceremony in Dublin with Joe O’Connor and David Clifford also in contention for the prestigious Footballer of the Year award.

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