New Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice is pleased he has Eoin Brosnan on board as captain for 2013 and feels it will enable Colm Cooper to focus more on his own game
“We are delighted with the choice of Eoin as captain. Firstly, I would like to say that Colm Cooper did a fantastic job over the past two years. I was particularly impressed with Colm last year when he acted as a conduit between the management and the players.
“I suppose Colm felt it was time to pass the baton on to somebody else so he could focus solely on his own game, because a lot goes with the captaincy.
“So first of all it is important to acknowledge how good a captain Colm was. Moving on to Eoin, it is a massive honour for himself and a huge honour for his family. I have no doubt that Eoin will do a great job as Kerry captain.
“He is an experienced player, he has been around the block, he is a natural leader and he has been a leader in the dressingroom over the past number of years and every player in the squad has huge respect for Eoin and for all that he has achieved with club and county.”
Fitzmaurice feels Brosnan brings many other qualities to the table: “He is very level-headed and a real calm individual. He is a very intelligent guy and I think it is a great appointment and I am looking forward to working with Eoin, in terms of the management with the captain once he is finished with Crokes, which hopefully will go on until March 17th when they will win their All-Ireland Club and after that he will be back into us and we will be looking forward to working with him.”
McGrath Cup
Turning to the McGrath Cup, Fitzmaurice confirmed that despite the absence of Brosnan, Cooper and vice captain Kieran O’Leary, a Crokes player will lead out Kerry in Killarney on Saturday, when they take on IT Tralee.
“There will be a Crokes player as captain on Saturday, as we have three of the younger lads in with us as we felt that it was important that they would be involved in the set-up early and get their foot in the door and we are delighted to have them for a couple of McGrath Cup games if we get past the IT.
“We are looking forward to the McGrath Cup now and players are looking forward to getting a few games and hopefully we will be competitive on Saturday and will take it from there.”
Fitzmaurice confirmed Saturday’s experimental Kerry team will not contain any regulars.
“It will be experimental and we will be experimental for the McGrath Cup and it will give the management a chance to look at some fringe players, with the aim of being able to strengthen our hand going forward for the National League.
“So we are looking forward to see how some of the younger players who might not have got too many opportunities in the past, deal with the step up.”
The three Crokes players involved are defender Fionn Fitzgerald, midfielder Johnny Buckley, the likely captain, and wing forward Brian Looney who has been starring for his club.
The anticipated return of David Moran is not going to happen as he is being given time to recover from a second cruciate injury suffered last spring and he will not play for Kerry until March. Kerry will name their McGrath Cup side after training tomorrow night.
