"We are going to give it one right blast this year"

There were Kerry folk walking about the streets of Dublin and in and out of pubs, and it still hadn't fully registered with them that their heroes had been unceremoniously knocked from their pedestal. They couldn't believe that Seamus Darby had delivered a coup de grace in the final seconds of last year's All-Ireland final. Months afterwards Mikey Sheehy used to lie awake at night wondering had it really happened. He still finds it hard to believe. By Eamon Horan.

One dyed in the wool follower, who has gone with the team from one end of the country to the other over the past 35 years remarked that he couldn't stomach it and didn't ever want to see any recordings of the game.

This Kerry team had become a phenomenon. They made it to the big time in 1975 when they devastated Dublin. In those eight years they have been involved in seven All-Ireland Finals and one semi-final. They were magnificent.

Gerald McKenna, silver tongued Kerry GAA administrator, will tell you that Kerry have been preparing for this year's All-Ireland since a week after last year's defeat. He claims that any despondency which may have resulted from the defeat by Offaly was promptly replaced by resilience.

"Remember, the team had an easy enough League campaign because they needed the rest, and they are fully rested now and prepared to get back to business", he says. "Last year Kerry had two trips, one around the world and the other with the All-Stars. They also had a drawn Munster Final and a drawn League Final. That, by any man's reckoning, is a heavy schedule. The same burden is not on the team this year."

Gerald McKenna managed the Bank of Ireland Football All-Stars on their US tour in April/May this year. There were five of the this year. From the manner in which they played one could well believe that the appetite for football is as keen as ever."
It was no surprise that Kerry turned in some lack lustre performances in the early stages of the National League last year. They opened their campaign with a win over Derry but then, before the Christmas recess, they had lost three games on the trot against Armagh, Dublin and Cork.

By the time February came around they were struggling to stay up in the premier division.

They had to make changes time and time again as key players dropped out through injuries of one kind or another. They were making heavy work of it against Mayo in mid-February until they introduced the Bomber Liston after half-time and he turned the game Kerry's way. Two weeks later they renewed their rivalry with Offaly in enemy territory and displayed most of the courage and fluency in coming out on top. They subsequently drew with Down in their final match in the competition and so stayed up in Division One.

Perhaps the day they showed more than any other that they are far from being a spent force was that brisk February afternoon in O'Connor Park, Tullamore, when they faced their conquerors of the previous September once again.

The Offaly fans were there in great number. They were deeply confident, let it be added, of another triumph over Kerry. But the grin was on the other side of their face as Kerry got stuck in at an early stage and never gave the home side the opportunities that came their way on that fateful day in Croke Park in 1982.

That victory over Offaly was just what Kerry needed. The players simply thirsted for it as much as the mentors and eager followers hungered for it.
Gerald McKenna is of the opinion that all last year's fifteen will be on the panel this time. "But, I think two or three or maybe four changes are necessary", he says. "I wouldn't nominate any particular places. Just three or four. Time marches on and a bit of fresh blood is needed."

But when it comes to naming names as to who will still survive to do battle for the current championship one would need to be a clairvoyant. There has never yet been a person who could read the minds of the Kerry selectos when it comes to contesting Munster and All-Ireland championships.

Kerry selectors are notoriously unpredictable. In the past they have often sat late into the night before naming the team. And it has often been found that after all their deliberations it was just one position they were in doubt about.

As the championship war drums begin to roll so speculation increases as to the future of certain playes. There is a problem about Tim Kennelly who has been laid low with varucca, the dreaded foot fungus common among athletes, and has spent some time on crutches. John O'Keefe, Jim Deenihan and Paudie Lynch may be just too old to devote the necessary time and energy for training for just one more year.

It is very doubtful if Pat Spillan e can make it back. "The chances of him getting his place are very remote. All the players are prepared to accept that," says Gerald McKenna. "If Pat Spillane resumes it will be a bonus."
KERRY'S Central Council Representative and the man who was at the head of affairs as county chair• man during some of the great successes of the present team has no doubts about the dedication and resolve of the present Kerry bunch of players.
"Each one of the playen is prepared to get down to the grim task of training and fighting for his place", he emphasises. "It isn't just a question of 1983. A lot of them intend to be around as well in 1984, the centenary year of the GAA."

Could they be beaten by Cork in a Munster Final this year? "Any Kerryman who does not believe that Cork are capable of winning a Munster championship in any year is a fool, and thanks be to God, we have very few fools", says McKenna.

Of players about whom certain doubts are being expressed, he had this to say: "John Egan is playing as well as he ever was. John O'Keefe had as good a game in last year's AllIreland Final as he ever had."

"Jimmy Deenihan is still fighting for his place and Paul Lynch did nothing wrong last year. I think Ger Power is likely to be on the panel. Ger was beset by injuries for a few years and the rest from football won't have done him any harm at all. "

Gerald McKenna does not subscribe to the often expressed view that the days of the present team are numbered and that they should bow out and give way to a new generation of footballers. "These fellows will keep on and they probably realise now more than ever what is expected from them and they are prepared to give what is extra", he said.

If John O'Keefe did step down from the full-back position the man most likely to replace him there is corner-back Paudie Lynch who has had several runs in the No.3 jersey. In the League match against Mayo, Lynch excelled at full-back and the position apparently holds no fears for him.

On the law of averages a few of the players may be finding it more and more difficult to maintain the level of fitness required for success at this level of football. But there are men on the way up who are quite capable of stepping into the breach, men like wing-back Ger Lynch and forward John L. McElligott and Ambrose O'Donovan. There is also Michael McAuliffe who was last year's Kerry minor captain and who is sure to break through as a forward sooner or later.

With players like Paud O'Brien in defence, Jack O'Shea and Sean Walsh at midfield and Mikey Sheehy and John Egan in attack still to the good, Kerry can be relied on to a certain extent to retain the cohesion and understanding which have been the salient features of their dominance of the game in recent years.

Mick O'Dwyer was never a man to tolerate anything other than one hundred per cent commitment from his squad. Last year when Vincent O'Connor was unable to attend regular training because of job commitments Mick dispensed with the Dingle man's services forthwith.

The continued presence of O'Dwyer as trainer is perhaps one of the most significant factors in any assessment of Kerry's prospects.

"That man can perform things with players that I don't think any other person I have seen could perform with players", says Gerald McKenna. "The players respect him enormously. They are prepared to do what he requires and he knows better than any other what is required."

"I see them as potential All-Ireland winners. They will not be so arrogant as to think that they will be definite All-Ireland winners. But we regard their chances as being as good and better than most."

Kerry have been training on one evening a week for the past few months. Recently this was stepped up to two evenings a week.

"It's going to be a tough championship to win this year", says Mick O'Dwyer. "Cork are going to be a big obstacle again this year. They may not have had a good league run but they always reserve their best form for Kerry."

"I think Offaly, Galway and Down will come out of the other provinces, even though I feel Down may be still that bit immature. But we are going to give it one right blast this year."

The fear of injury, as expressed by Mick O'Dwyer, was further accentua• ted on Sunday May 15, when the Bomber Liston himself was laid low. Playing with his club Beale in the County Intermediate Championship, the full-forward took a heavy fall on his shoulder and dislocated it when jumping to punch a ball.

It is quite likely that Liston will now miss Kerry's opening game against either Limerick or Tipperary on June 26. But he is hopeful that he will be ready to play in the provincial final on July 17 – assuming, of course, Kerry are still in it.