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O’Connor hails Kerry for adapting to stormy weather

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Adam Moynihan reports from the Fitzgerald Stadium

National League: Division 1

Kerry 1-13 Donegal 0-7

Fitzgerald Stadium

Jack O’Connor praised the manner in which his players handled the atrocious weather conditions after Kerry defeated Donegal by nine points in Killarney.

With Storm Franklin in full effect, The Kingdom opted to play with the strong wind in the first period and they built up a seven-point half-time lead.

The elements were in Donegal’s favour in the second period so a fightback seemed imminent, but the hosts held firm and ran out deserved winners.

“Our fellas showed a good attitude and they adapted well [to the conditions], as did Donegal to be fair to them,” O’Connor said. “Against the wind in the first 15 minutes, I thought they were excellent. At half-time you wouldn’t say the game was sealed by any stretch of the imagination - I don’t know what ye thought but seven points didn’t appear to us to be enough.

“So we knew we’d have to score a bit in the second half and I thought our fellas controlled the game pretty well.”

WRETCHED

It was a wretched afternoon for the brave souls on Fitzgerald Stadium’s uncovered terrace and the early pattern of play provided little by way of distraction.

Donegal’s into-the-wind tactic of holding possession at all costs was equal parts boring and frustrating; on several occasions the home crowd became audibly irritated as the visitors idly passed the ball over and back across the pitch. With goalkeeper Shaun Patton joining in to give them an extra man, there wasn’t much the Kerry forwards could do about it. One of the biggest cheers of the day came in the closing stages of the half when Adrian Spillane burst forward and shunted Patton to the ground.

In terms of actual football, i.e. kicking, Kerry settled quite nicely and racked up nine first-half points. Seán O’Shea’s spectacular sideline kick sent them on their way and further overs by Killian Spillane (two), Dan O’Donoghue, Paul Geaney and Paudie Clifford opened up a healthy half-time lead of seven (0-9 to 0-2).

At the other end, Donegal managed two fisted scores via Eoin Bán Gallagher and Shane O’Donnell. Even allowing for the gale force wind that was doing its utmost to blow them backwards for the entirety of the half, manager Declan Bonner must have been displeased with the fact that his team failed to register a single kick at the posts.

SUN

Luckily for Kerry, the sun burst through the clouds for the beginning of the second half, although conditions were still pretty dire out there.

The irrepressible O’Shea almost put the result beyond doubt within seconds of the restart but his sneaky attempt cannoned back off the foot of the post. Jack Barry nearly lobbed Patton shortly after but we had to wait until the 12th minute of the period to see a change on the scoreboard. Chris O’Donnell pointed for Donegal into the Lewis Road end to cut the deficit to six.

Jack O’Connor held his best player in reserve until the 44th minute but when he did come on, David Clifford was typically engrossing. There was more than a dash of good fortune about his 50th-minute goal – his attempt at a point dropped well short and somehow deceived the Donegal netminder – but in general he provided a much-needed spark during what could have been a very difficult half.

O’Shea almost goaled just seconds after Clifford’s effort but his shot cleared the crossbar, and then Shane O’Donnell and Paddy McBrearty brought it back to eight.

Clifford came within centimetres of snatching a second goal when his improvised soccer shot struck the underside of Patton’s bar. When Chris O’Donnell and McBrearty struck again, it was back to a six-point game with eight minutes to go.

The men from Tír Chonaill squandered a glorious chance to halve that gap when Ryan McHugh’s square hand pass forced McBrearty too far wide. McBrearty pushed the subsequent attempt at a point to the left and wide.

That was as good as it got for the Ulster side as a wonderful point by Clifford, sandwiched between two fisted efforts by O’Shea, capped a deserved nine-point win.

The result leaves Kerry joint first at the top of Division 1 with a tricky trip to Monaghan next on the calendar. That game will take place in Inniskeen next Sunday.

KERRY: S Murphy; D O'Donoghue (0-1), J Foley, T O'Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, B Ó Beaglaoich; D O’Connor, J Barry; A Spillane, S O'Shea (0-7, 2f, 1s), D Moynihan; P Clifford (0-1), P Geaney (0-1), K Spillane (0-2).

Subs: S O’Brien for A Spillane (13-22, 58), D Clifford (1-1) for K Spillane (44), T Brosnan for P Geaney (58), J Savage for P Clifford (65), G Horan for J Barry (66).  

DONEGAL: S Patton; C Ward, B McCole, EB Gallagher (0-1); R McHugh, P Brennan, O McFadden Ferry; J McGee, C Thompson; P Mogan, S O’Donnell (0-2), R O’Donnell; P McBrearty (0-2, 1f), H McFadden, C O’Donnell (0-2).

Subs: S McMenamin for P Brennan (41), N O’Donnell for R O’Donnell (43), O Gallen for H McFadden (50), D Ó Baoill for S O’Donnell (66), E O’Donnell for O McFadden Ferry (70).

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Injured Kerry quartet return for do-or-die showdown with Cavan

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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.

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Kerry’s All-Ireland heroes launch new football camp for girls

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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.

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