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

Published

9 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

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

Published

3 weeks ago

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20 June 2025

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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

Published

1 month ago

on

31 May 2025

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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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