Kerry boss Jack O’Connor believes whoever emerges victorious from this weekend’s four provincial finals may well be at a disadvantage heading into the quarter-finals of the All Ireland compared to the four qualifiers who come through the back door.
O’Connor is preparing his troops for Saturday’s battle against Limerick at Fitzgerald Stadium which is due to throw in at 3pm. However, the winner of the Munster final alongside the other provincial winners will have to wait four weeks before the next competitive fixture due to the back door teams competing.
The first weekend of the qualifiers due to take place next Saturday and Sunday week, June 4th and 5th, contains mouth-watering clashes such as Tyrone v Armagh and Mayo v Monaghan. The four winners from the qualifiers will then meet the runners-up of the four provincials to see who will make up the last 8 of the competition.
The back door teams will have the benefits of back-to-back competitive fixtures, followed by a two week preparation period before the quarter final showdown. It leaves the provincial champions kicking their heels in for a month. Speaking at a media event on Monday, O’Connor said:
“I know myself when I went through the back door a couple of times with Kerry in the past that it stood us in good stead. It can help you get your form back but look, that is the system that is there and we are hoping to go the direct route if we can.”
“It’s there in front of us and it’s up to us as a group to manage it as best we can. But I agree that it can be a huge disadvantage to travel the direct route and we will manage it as best we can if it comes to it.”
The Dromid Pearses man understands that the biggest problem for inter-county players and management is the long wait between games. Anything longer than three weeks can become an issue.
“Obviously there is going to be a different system there next year. The only thing that is a bit disconcerting is the length of time you are waiting around. I mean eight games in the league in ten weeks and potentially three games in 12 weeks in the championship, so that had to be fixed anyway,” he added.
The Kingdom boss confirmed wing-forward Dara Moynihan will be missing again for this weekend’s clash as he continues his recovery from a quad muscle injury that saw him miss the Cork game.
O’Connor is confident, however, that whatever the outcome of the weekend clash with Billy Lee’s Limerick side, the Spa attacker will be available for Kerry’s next match in the competition, while Stefan Okunbor, Dan O’Donoghue and Mike Breen (for the season) also remain sidelined. The 81 times winners will be looking to make it 82 in Killarney.
“Dara Moynihan is still rehabbing his injury, which is a quad injury. With Dara, it’s not the same injury as he had in the Sigerson Cup, it’s a different one. It’s just one of those things, he’s an all-action player, he doesn’t hold back, maybe he puts the body under a bit of stress. I wouldn’t think he would make the panel for the Munster final, but he should be in contention for the next game after that.
“Stefan injured himself in the warm-up against Cork, which I would say is probably a product of the fact that he had been sitting exams for the week. He injured his calf, so he hasn’t trained since. Dan is back training, he played a bit of football the other night, so that’s a positive, and it’s good for him. But obviously he will need a bit more football, and possibly a club game or two if we can manage it.”
