National Football League semi-finals: Ian O'Riordan finds the Kerry and Limerick managers refusing to be sidetracked either by talk of absent stars or speculation about the championship.
The day after probably the biggest comeback of any Irish sporting superstar it was the obvious question to ask Kerry football manager Jack O'Connor. Yet for now, it seems, there will be no such dramatic reappearance of Maurice Fitzgerald, who since September of 2001 has chosen not to play for his county, as distinct from his country.
O'Connor has been often hounded on the issue since taking over as manager from Páidí Ó Sé late last year. Yesterday he was cautiously approached for another low-down and this time at least he had a straight answer.
"Well there isn't even a low-down," he said. "Maurice is not even playing club football at the moment because of injury so the question of his coming back is just not an issue at the moment. And he knows he'll need to be playing club football for a good while before he should consider coming back to the county."
Fitzgerald played some of the finest football of his 13-year senior career in the summer of 2000, albeit mostly as a substitute, when helping Kerry win the All-Ireland title. A year later he played a somewhat similar role when Kerry went as far as the All-Ireland semi-final, only to fall heavily to Meath. Fitzgerald played the entire second half of that game but hasn't appeared in the county colours since.
"Well I've gone on the record with this many times before," added O'Connor, "that we asked him at the beginning of the year if he was interested in rejoining the panel. And he said he'd see how he was going with the club football and that he'd make a decision based on that.
"So the fact that he's not playing club football at the moment means it's just not an issue. He has a problem with ligaments in his ankle and until he gets over that there is nothing more to say."
Meanwhile, O'Connor is calmly getting on with his own career, which entailed a slightly uneasy transition from Kerry under-21 manager and successful colleges coach. And on Sunday comes his biggest outing to date - the National League semi-final against Limerick.
"It's more enjoyable when you're winning matches," he admitted, "and I suppose that's the bottom line. We had a poor start to the league when losing up in Longford, and that was tough. But we managed to turn that around and since then the league has been very positive for us.
"It was a help as well when you've already worked with a lot of the players at underage level. The only big difference is the profile of the job. You can make mistakes at under-21 level and colleges level but you have to be a lot more careful at senior level, and put a lot of thought into it."
Sunday's date with Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds is a repeat of last year's Munster final, where Kerry gradually wore down their less experienced opponents and eventually emerged comfortable winners. But O'Connor has no fear that what happens here will have a bearing on any potential championship meeting this summer.
"Well, we'd see any championship meeting with Limerick as something well down the line. We have to overcome Clare first above in Ennis and then try to overcome Cork in Killarney, who I know will be a very tough nut to crack this summer under Billy Morgan. So that's not an issue at the moment."
For Limerick manager Liam Kearns it will provide his team with an important measure of their progress: "Well, I'd hope we'd have closed the gap a little more, and Sunday will give us an indication of just how far. Kerry were too good for us in the Munster final last year but we feel we have improved, and hopefully we can show everyone that we have.
"And I'm delighted to be playing at the Gaelic Grounds, and that Kerry agreed to it. We've been playing well there this year, but I'm sure Kerry won't be bothered by it either. They're an experienced team and are well used to playing there. And I mean it's a pitch with two goalposts."
