Pictured at the launch of the 2024 EirGrid GAA Football U20 All-Ireland Championship is Kerry U20 manager Tomás Ó Sé, Dublin U20 manager Ciaran Farrelly, and Kildare U20 captain Niall Dolan. EirGrid, the operator of Ireland’s electricity grid, is leading the transition to a low carbon energy future. 2024 marks the 10th year of EirGrid’s sponsorship of the competition.
By John Harrington
Tomás Ó Sé says it would be a ‘huge loss’ for the Kingdom if the injury Kerry defender Jason Foley sustained in Sunday’s Allianz Football League victory over Roscommon is a serious one.
Foley will undergo a scan on the ankle when the swelling has subsided, and Ó Sé believes people will only realise how important the reliable defender is if he’s ruled out for a considerable period of time.
“He's been a great player for the last few years,” says Ó Sé. “You always need a player in the full-back line who can mark fellas and he's been given tough jobs the last few years and has done really, really well and quietly gone about his business.
“Suddenly we're all talking about him when he has an injury. He's one of these fellas that negates players and is key for Kerry and would be a huge loss. I don't know how serious the injury is. I saw this morning they were talking about him missing a Munster Championship and all that but he'd be a huge loss.
“It's not as if Kerry have huge strength in depth. They've Brian Ó Beaglaoich to come back and Tom O'Sullivan to come back so they have players, they're not going to be caught, but at the same time if they're thinking bigger things you need all your best players and he's one of them. You'd be hoping he'll be back sooner rather than later.”
Kerry defender, Jason Foley.
The mood in Kerry seems muted after last year’s All-Ireland Final defeat to Dublin, especially after losing to their great rivals even more convincingly in the League this year.
But Ó Sé believes optimism could return quickly enough if they can successfully address some defensive frailties.
“I think it's the same as last year,” says Ó Sé. “Everybody is looking towards Dublin at the moment and they flexed their muscles lately. But give it a few weeks.
“I think the mood in Kerry is that we're possibly going to have to improve defensively, but that you'll always have a chance if you can keep the forwards that we have fit and that's the general feeling.
“There's talk about strengthening midfield but, look, wait until they get to the starting line. It tends to happen in Kerry that they lose an All-Ireland and it doesn't matter how close they were or that they were in a final, it doesn't matter anything. They lose a final and it's treated in such a way and they'll look at all the negatives and suddenly they'll come up and they might win a Munster championship and they mightn't.
“But if they do win a couple of games and if they make progress in the championship then the hope will start coming again. So you can't make a real call on Kerry until they get into the middle of that All-Ireland series if they get there.”
Kerry manager Tomás Ó Sé with Armin Heinrich of Kerry after the 2023 EirGrid GAA Football U20 Munster Championship Final match between Cork and Kerry at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Ó Sé managed the Kerry U20s to the EirGrid Munster title in 2023 and is in charge of the team again this year and hopeful they can give a good account of themselves once more with their campaign starting on April 10 against the Munster Championship group phase runners up.
“This year we have a young enough team,” he says. “I don't know have we any survivors from last year's team playing this year so we'll be depending on younger lads.
“They're very committed and good group of lads. We're happy out. They’re learning and developing and we're trying to get as much into them as we can.
“All we want to do after all the hard work and effort is to just give what we can when we get to the start. At U-20 and minor level in Munster it's a good championship because there's nobody miles ahead.
“I know Cork are strong this year and from watching Tipp and Limerick the last night the same fear just isn't there. The same fear of Kerry and Cork just isn't there like it has been. At underage level it's great to see because they go out to win which I don't think is true at senior level.”
Kerry haven’t won an All-Ireland U20/U21 championship since 2008, and in the last eight years of the competition there have been seven different winners. Ó Sé believes it’s wide open again this year.
“I think there's a bit of luck involved in winning the U20 championship as it is at the moment,” he says. “If you can get to the semi-final stage anybody can have a chance.
“The fact that there isn't that much time to prepare your team as tactically as a senior team makes it that bit more open. It's a good brand of football to actually watch.
“I can't make sense out of it to be honest. Kerry won five minors in a row and not one U20 after it. Logic doesn't seem to...I think if you get a run at it and if you get a bit of confidence going the matches are coming so quick that if you get a bad loss you have to raise that team to get back into it straight away a week after.
“Right now there's any one of seven or eight teams who could win it again this year.”
