JOHN CROWLEY, who came into the Kerry team as a substitute in the Munster final against Cork, has retained his place in the starting line-up for Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo at Croke Park. He replaces Gene "Bingo" Driscoll who drops to the substitutes bench in the only change in the Kerry line-up. Mayo have made two changes in their team.
It was believed that the Mayo team would not be announced last night but it was then learned that David Brady, their mobile mid-fielder, had failed a fitness test and the veteran Pat Fallon was called up to fill the gap.
The other change involves the introduction of David Nestor at right corner forward in place of Anthony Finnerty. Nestor was a member of the under-21 team of last year and is expected to add some more bite to the attack. The most significant change, however, is that of the introduction of Fallon at midfield instead of Brady but Mayo observers believe that this will not, in any way, reduce the effectiveness of that aspect of the side.
Kerry, who beat Cork on a score of 0-14 to 0-11 in the Munster final to earn Kerry's first Munster championship title for five years and only their second in 11 attempts, seem reasonably pleased with their situation.
Under the guidance of the inspirational Paidi O Se Kerry have revived some of the spirit which seemed absent for a while. Whether that will be sufficient to upset the Mayo rhythm remains to be seen.
O Se has injected his own determined, uncompromising attitude into the present side having brought them through from the under-21 grade.
He has managed to install his own characteristic "up and at them" approach without risking any of the compact set-up in defence so reminiscent of the Mick O'Dwyer era and has made the most out of the players utilised by former managers Mickey "Ned" O'Sullivan and Den is "Ogie" Moran.
As far as Mayo are concerned one of their priorities will be to limit the influence of Maurice Fitzgerald. He has been selected at centre forward on this occasion in the hope that he can provide the Kerry attack with a focus which they have lacked for some time.
Fitzgerald has regained both his fitness and appetite for the game and now selected again in the central attacking role "on the 40" he will certainty be a handful for the Mayo defence.
Crowley retains his position having come on as a substitute for the injured Sean Burke after 41 minutes against Cork. He played well enough on that occasion to earn a starting place in the side at the expense of Driscoll who was replaced by Sean Geaney after 51 minutes but Geaney is now back on the bench while Donal Daly, who came into the side in place of Gene Farrell after 60 minutes, also reverts to the bench.
It would appear that the inclusion of Crowley on the right wing of the forward line is designed to give more bite and width to that sector. Gene Farrell plays in the right corner while the left wing pairing is made up of Billy O'Shea and Dara O Cinneide, Kerry's top championship scorer with 1-15. Fitgerald is in second place with 2-7.
Mayo's top scorer is Maurice Sheridan with 1-18 to his credit out of a total of 4-34.
An interesting inclusion in the list of subs is Liam O'Flaherty who was one of four players called up to the panel for a trial match last week. On that occasion he played very well when given the task of marking Maurice Fitzgerald and his reward has been a place in the side where he fits in as a replacement among the defenders standing by. Brian Clarke from the Dr Croke's club gets the place vacated by Morgan Nix who is injured.
The goalkeeper's jersey remains with Declan O'Keeffe from Rathmore with the former regular in that position Peter O'Leary from Legion on the bench.
The teams are meeting for the 15th time at the semi-final stage including two draws. On the last occasion they met the present Kerry manager Paidi O Se was playing at right half back for Munster. That was in 1981 when Kerry won by 2-19 to 1-6. Kerry will be playing in their 63rd semifinal.
Their record is 48 wins, and 14 defeats including 11 victories over Mayo. The Connacht champions have beaten Kerry only three times at this stage. Mayo last appeared in the All Ireland final in 1989 when they lost to Cork while Kerry's last appearance in the final was in 1986 when they beat Tyrone.
In the meantime RTE has prepared a radio programme about Paidi O Se which will be presented by Colm Keane and broadcast on RTE Radio 1 on Monday, August 9th. He was part of the great revival of Kerry football in the seventies after starting his senior club career at the age of 14.
In 1975 he played for Kerry when they beat Cork in Killarney in the Munster final of 1975, the team which went on to beat Sligo (semi-final) and the reigning champions Dublin that year.
Dublin won in 1976 and '77 but O Se then figured in the great four-in-a-row team for Kerry from then until beaten by Offly in 1982 and was captain of the Kerry team which beat Dublin in the final of 1985 winning eight All Ireland medals and five All Star awards before retiring.
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