NEWS: IRELAND MANAGER Seán Boylan is likely to be without Kerry's Tommy Walsh for the International Rules series later this month.
It was confirmed yesterday the Kerry County Board were not in a position to change its fixtures, which list the county championship semi-finals for Sunday week, October 26th, right in the middle of the Test series in Australia.
Walsh's club Kerins O'Rahilly's are due to play South Kerry at that stage and the player is expected to stay behind to assist his club but Boylan is still trying to see if any resolution can be found. "I have been hoping for the best and hoping lads who want to play for their country would be in a position to do so," said Boylan last night. "I'll be giving it a little longer to see if anything can be sorted out."
Hopes Croke Park might get involved in trying to broker player releases have been fading, as on top of the genuine dates' snooker facing the Kerry county board, there is a sensitivity to club fixtures given the amount of work at national level to rebalancing GAA schedules in order to address grievances among club players.
County secretary Eamonn O'Sullivan said: "There's no way to accommodate a change in fixtures because this Sunday we have a junior championship quarter-final and Renard (Killian Young's club) are involved in that so the South Kerry game can't be brought forward. Then the Kerry representatives are meant to be playing Nemo Rangers in the Munster championship on November 9th so our final has to be on the week after the semi-finals."
Walsh's county team-mate Killian Young is likely to travel even though he was on the South Kerry team that defeated champions Feale Rangers at the weekend. Young will remain behind to play with Renard in their quarter-final replay against Cromane but it is believed in Kerry he will travel to Australia after that.
Ireland captain Seán Cavanagh will be a late arrival next week, as he has a club match on Sunday. Moy have reached the intermediate final against Trillick. Cavanagh scored five points in the 0-15 to 1-7 win over Derrylaughan on Sunday. If Moy win, he will be in another dilemma, as the Tyrone champions are due to play in the Ulster championship a week later. Unless the provincial council refix that game, Cavanagh will miss out.
