O'Mahony set for quick return to Kerry fold

GAELIC GAMES:KERRY MAY be missing up to seven of their All-Ireland winning team when they open the defence of that title on Sunday at Semple Stadium, although the large absentee list is somewhat compensated by the impending return of Aidan O'Mahony.

The combination of retirements and defections had already denied manager Jack O’Connor the services of four big-name players; Darragh Ó Sé and Diarmuid Murphy both retired, while Tadhg Kennelly and Tommy Walsh took up professional contracts with AFL clubs the Sydney Swans and St Kilda respectively. The two other Ó Sé brothers – Tomás and Marc – are now doubtful for Sunday’s game against Tipperary through injury, and it’s unclear yet whether Mike McCarthy will make his first start since last September’s final having only returned to the panel a month ago.

Marc Ó Sé sustained an ankle injury during last Saturday’s trial game in Killarney, and a decision on his participation won’t be made until later in the week. Tomás Ó Sé was already doubtful due to a leg muscle injury sustained earlier this month, and his chances of starting would appear to be a lot slimmer.

In the meantime speculation O’Mahony would soon be returning to the panel was supported by Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe, although it doesn’t appear likely that return will take place before Sunday’s game. O’Mahony opted out of the panel at the end of last month, citing personal reasons, but it now seems inevitable he will be back on board sooner rather than later.

“Aidan still has a few bits and pieces to sort out, but he will more than likely be back all right,” said O’Keeffe. “The door is certainly not closed. We’ll see whatever sort of shape he’s in, but the hope is to have back on board soon. He just had some personal problems he wanted sorted. We wanted to leave him alone, didn’t want to pry into it.”

O’Keeffe also hinted McCarthy is poised to return to his centre back position: “Mike is in good shape. We’d certainly hope he’ll play some part on Sunday. The situation with Marc Ó Sé is he got a knock on Saturday but we’d be hopeful it’s nothing serious. We’ll have to see how he goes at training tomorrow (Tuesday night).”

On a more positive note Colm “Gooch” Cooper is fine to start, having fully recovered from the eye injury sustained in the final league game against Monaghan on April 11th. Cooper’s injury required surgery but he played a full part in Saturday’s trial game. The one other doubtful starter for Sunday remains defender Daniel Bohan, who recently pulled a hamstring, while definitely out is David Moran, with a broken thumb.

Other notable player involvement in various challenge games over the weekend was that of Denis Glennon, who scored 0-7 for Westmeath under new manager Pat Flanagan – having opted out under preceding manager Brendan Hackett. Cork’s Graham Canty also played for his club, Bantry, having missed last month’s league final with a shoulder injury, while in Meath, 1999 All-Ireland winner Nigel Crawford has been announced as team captain for the championship.

Tyrone’s preparations for their Ulster championship opener against Antrim on Sunday week have suffered a setback with the news midfielder Aidan Cassidy will miss out after dislocating an ankle over the weekend, while Kyle Coney remains doubtful with a back injury.

On a related matter, the Ulster Council have declared their interest in staging the provincial football final in Croke Park on July 18th. GAA headquarters is available, as the Leinster football final takes place the previous Sunday, although Ulster Council secretary Danny Murphy said they would be waiting until the potential finalists are known before making the decision.

With Tyrone and Down on one side of the draw, and Armagh and Monaghan on the other, there is the potential for a heavyweight showdown.

The Ulster final made the historic move to Croke Park for three successive years, between 2004 to 2006 – including the Tyrone-Armagh draw in 2005 – but has since returned to its more familiar environs of Clones.

Finally, the GAA announced that beaten league finalists Cork have come out on top in the hurling fair play index, and with that claim the €10,000 prize towards their panel development fund. Over the course of their eight-game campaign Cork players received just 12 cautions, at an average of 1.50 per game, which saw them top the table from Waterford in second place.

Two other finalists, Clare and Galway (the Division One winners) finished in joint third place. The least four impressive counties, by the way, were South Down, followed by Cavan, Fermanagh, and bottom-placed Longford.