by Adam Moynihan

All-Ireland Preliminary Quarter-Final

Kerry v Cavan

Saturday 3.30pm

Fitzgerald Stadium

Key players Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Diarmuid O’Connor and Seánie O’Shea are back in Kerry’s starting 15 for tomorrow’s All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final against Cavan, with playmaker Paudie Clifford also returning to the 26.

All four were sorely missed in last Saturday’s jarring nine-point defeat to Meath in Tullamore, a result which unexpectedly left Jack O’Connor’s men in second place in Group 2. They must now earn the right to play in next weekend’s quarters by defeating the Breffni County in a straight knockout tie at Killarney’s Fitzgerald Stadium.

The return of O’Connor in particular has lifted the spirits of Kerry supporters. The highly-rated midfielder has only played once since injuring his shoulder against Armagh in the league almost 100 days ago. He did feature in the Roscommon match on the opening weekend of the group phase – playing all 70 minutes – but he was a notable absentee in the subsequent fixtures against Cork and Meath.

With little to no information emanating from the camp about his status, rumours claiming that his season was over had swirled. That gossip was wide of the mark going by the Kerry line-up that was unveiled on Thursday night as the man from Na Gaeil has been selected at right half forward.

O’Shea, who was not risked against Meath due to a tight hamstring, will line out alongside O’Connor on the 40. Ó Beaglaoich reclaims his number five jersey having missed the last outing, presumably due to injury or illness.

Tadhg Morley, Micheál Burns and Tony Brosnan make way for the returning trio. It is believed that Brosnan has sustained a hamstring injury.

Three-time All-Star Paudie Clifford is fit enough for a place amongst the substitutes after sitting out the Meath defeat with a hamstring issue.

Kerry’s other changes see Seán O’Brien replacing Mark O’Shea, and Conor Geaney coming in for Killian Spillane.

Paul Geaney (shoulder) is not included in the match day squad but it is hoped that he will be back in the mix for the quarter-final if Kerry progress.

KERRY TEAM TO PLAY CAVAN:

1. Shane Ryan

2. Paul Murphy

3. Jason Foley

4. Tom O’Sullivan

5. Brian Ó Beaglaoich

6. Mike Breen

7. Gavin White (c)

8. Joe O’Connor

9. Seán O’Brien

10. Diarmuid O’Connor

11. Seánie O’Shea

12. Graham O’Sullivan

13. David Clifford

14. Conor Geaney

15. Dylan Geaney

SUBS: Shane Murphy, Dylan Casey, Killian Spillane, Tadhg Morley, Armin Heinrich, Micheál Burns, Evan Looney, Tom Leo O’Sullivan, Mark O’Shea, Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan.

Meanwhile, Cavan manager Raymond Galligan has made one change to his starting line-up for the trip south as midfielder Ryan Donohoe replaces Oisín Kiernan.

Gearóid McKiernan, the 34-year-old forward who has scored over 400 points for his county, is named amongst the 26 having recuperated from injury.

CAVAN TEAM TO PLAY KERRY:

1. Liam Brady

2. Niall Carolan

3. Killian Brady

4. Cian Reilly

5. Brían O’Connell

6. Ciarán Brady

7. Pádraig Faulkner

8. Ryan Donohoe

9. Evan Crowe

10. Gerard Smith

11. Dara McVeety

12. Oisín Brady

13. Cormac O’Reilly

14. Paddy Lynch

15. Cian Madden

SUBS: Gary O’Rourke, Luke Fortune, Killian Clarke, Oisín Kiernan, Jason McLoughlin, Ruairí Curran, Luke Molloy, Gearóid McKiernan, Thomas Edward Donohoe, Ryan O’Neill, Seán McEvoy.

Cavan caused an upset in Round 1 of the round robin by turning over Mayo in Castlebar. They subsequently found the going tough against Donegal (19-point defeat) and Tyrone (13-point defeat), but they scraped through to the last 12 thanks to Donegal’s dramatic late winner against Mayo on Sunday.

In the other preliminary quarter-finals, all of which take place this weekend, Dublin host Cork at Croke Park (Saturday 6.15pm), Down play Galway at Páirc Esler (Sunday 1.45pm), and Donegal welcome Louth to Ballybofey (Sunday 4pm). All four preliminaries are being streamed live on GAA+.

The four group winners – Armagh, Tyrone, Monaghan and Meath – await the winners in the quarters, which will take place the following week at Croke Park.

If Kerry manage to beat Cavan, and the other favourites also advance (i.e. Donegal beat Louth, Dublin beat Cork, and Galway beat Down), the only team Armagh can draw in the last eight is Kerry. The reigning champions would not be able to face any of the other challengers as they have already crossed paths in either the provincial final (Donegal) or the group stage (Dublin and Galway).

Of course, none of that is set in stone yet. Far from it. For now, Kerry’s full focus will be on beating Cavan – ideally without suffering further injury setbacks in the process.

Legendary Kerry ladies’ player Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh will be inspiring the next generation of superstars at the new Laochra football camp, which takes place in Killarney in August.

Aimed at girls aged 12 to 16, the camp is being run by three leaders who were central to Kerry’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph in 2024: Darragh Long (joint manager), Declan Quill (joint manager) and Anna Maria O’Donoghue (selector).

Camp ambassador Louise will be on hand to offer guidance in a coaching capacity, as will some members of the current Kerry team.

“We want you to train with your heroes so you can be the next hero,” explains Darragh Long.

“We feel very strongly about ladies’ football. It has been brilliant to myself and Declan over the last five or six years, and it has been brilliant to Anna Maria and Louise over their full careers, so we just see it as an opportunity to give something back to a sport that gave an awful lot to us.

“We’re aiming at an age group of 12 to 16, girls who will hopefully be starting on their intercounty journey. We will be able to give them a skillset they will be able to use as their steps to success. To try and be the next Louise or the next Síofra O’Shea.

“We have three workshops planned. One with Eric McDonnell, who was our strength and conditioning coach when we won the All-Ireland. One with Michelle O’Connor, an All-Ireland winning performance coach. And one with Claire O’Sullivan, our nutritionist when we won the All-Ireland.

“It’s all about giving the girls the skills and the bits and pieces they’ll need if they want to make it to the top. We really think we can give them a good grounding. We’ll also be providing a huge amount of coaching throughout the week.”

Many teenage girls give up on sport around the ages of 15 or 16. Long and his fellow camp founders are hopeful that attending Laochra might encourage girls to stick with it that bit longer.

“We would see it as a huge success if 10, 15, or 20 of the girls who come to the camp continue to play football after the camp because they got a bit of a buzz or a bit of energy from us during the week.”

The Laochra camp will run from August 12-15 at Dr Crokes GAA grounds in Killarney. You can register here.